Social Sciences Project Abstract
CORRUPTION IN THE CITY THAT WORKED: CHICAGO AND THE RICHARD J. DALEY ADMINISTRATION
Presenter:
Christine Foster, Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy, 1500 West Sullivan Road, Aurora, IL, 60506; itsme@imsa.edu
Advisor:
Dr. Christian Nokkentved, Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy, 1500 West Sullivan Road, History/ Social Science, Aurora, IL, 60506; 630-907-5961; drnok@imsa.edu
Abstract:
Beginning in the late nineteenth century and continuing well into the twentieth, big city political machines dominated urban politics. For many ordinary citizens the machine gave access to the halls of power even though it depended on extortion, misconduct, and dishonesty. Despite corruption, Chicago, under the leadership of Richard J. Daley (1955-76), "worked" at a time when the majority of cities deteriorated. Daley governed Chicago during one of its most substantial and consequential periods of change that included the immigration of thousands of Blacks and Hispanics and the flight to the suburbs of other groups. Examining interviews with politicians on several levels of the machine in the years following the death of the mayor provides qualitative evidence about the workings of the machine, while statistics like voting patterns, demographic changes, and municipal service delivery illuminate the effects of corruption on the city. Newspaper articles from the time period in question give information specific to events, scandals, and public opinion about the involvement of the machine in city government. Corruption provided immediate benefits for significant sectors of the population, but in the long term, the machine hurt even greater numbers of people and, more importantly, degraded the quality and integrity of the law.