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1992-09-25
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December 7, 1987"A Loss in the Family"Harold Washington: 1922-1987
When the near religious fervor of black voters combined with
enough support from white "lakefront liberals" to propel him to
a second term last spring, Harold Washington predicted that he
would serve 20 years as Chicago's first black mayor. But his
bid to establish a political dynasty that would rival Richard
J. Daley's legendary machine came to a sudden end last week.
Seated at the desk in his city hall office, the portly,
65-year-old Washington collapsed from a massive coronary while
going over the day's appointments with his press secretary.
Despite the speedy intervention of bodyguards and paramedics,
the mayor suffered irreversible brain damage and was pronounced
dead at Northwestern Memorial Hospital 2 1/2 hours later.
Washington's death stunned Chicago's black community. "He was
a role model," said Congressman Charles Hayes, a Washington
crony who represents the South Side district that sent the mayor
to the House from 1981 to 1983. "I never believed Harold could
open up a city and turn it around as he did." Roy Larson,
editor of the monthly Chicago Reporter, called Washington's
death a "loss in the family in the way Jack Kennedy's was."
A flamboyant former ward heeler in Daley's Cook County
Democratic organization who served a month in prison in 1972 for
failing to file income tax returns for four years, Washington
broke away from both the machine and his past to become a symbol
of black political empowerment. Turmoil marked his 4 1/2 years
in city hall, as he fought to consolidate his political control
over a city evenly divided between blacks and whites. After
winning a bitter, racially tinged election in 1983, Washington
told rejoicing black supporters, "It's our turn now." But his
attempt to take charge of the city hall machinery was frustrated
for three years by die-hard opposition from the city council's
white majority, led by the mayor's archenemy, Edward R.
Vrdolyak.
Not until a court-ordered special election in 1986 did
Washington, who castigated Vrdolyak's allies as "crooks and
lowlifes who climb out from under rocks," finally gain an
effective majority on the 50- member city council. He tightened
his grip on power with his overwhelming victory over Vrdolyak
in April's mayoral election. So thorough was the drubbing that
many of Vrdolyak's aldermanic supporters defected to
Washington's camp. Vrdolyak, who presided over the tattered
remnants of Daley's machine as chairman of the Cook County
Democratic central committee, quit the party and became a
Republican.
Vowing a war on patronage, Washington pushed through a tough
ethics law for city officials and expanded city contracts for
women and minorities. Yet his tenure was not entirely free of
scandal: seven city officials, including two black councilmen
who are allies of the mayor, have been indicted on federal
bribery and kickback charges. Despite the mayor's soaring
rhetoric, there were few improvements in Chicago's notoriously
inadequate public schools or the city's crime- ridden public
housing projects.
Vice Mayor David Orr, 43, a white liberal, is serving as
interim mayor while the city council selects one of its members
to become acting mayor until a 1989 election. But the
succession could turn contentious if Washington's political
heirs cannot agree on a candidate or their foes make an attempt
to force a special election next year. Either way, the power
of Chicago's black voters and their determination to retain
control of the city's highest office make it likely that the
next mayor will be black. The leading contenders: Timothy
Evans, 43, Washington's bland but competent city council floor
leader, and Eugene Sawyer, 53, the council's president pro tem.
--By Jack E. White. Reported by Gavin Scott/Chicago