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September 1955            43

DALEY, RICHARD J(OSEPH) May 15, 1902- 
Mayor of Chicago
Address: b. City Hall, Chicago 2, Ill.; h. 3536 S. Lowe Ave., Chicago 9, Ill.

The mayor of America's second largest city, Chicago, and a leading figure in the Cook county Democratic party for twenty years, is Richard J. Daley. Elected on April 5, 1955 for a four-year term, he defeated two "reform" candidates, Republican Robert E. Merriam and incumbent Mayor Martin H. Kennelly, a Democrat. National attention was focused on the campaign and Daley received the support of former Governor Adlai E. Stevenson of Illinois, Democratic Presidential candidate in 1952, and senior Senator Paul H. Douglas of Illinois. Both the Democratic and Republican National Conventions were held in Chicago in 1952, and the Democratic party has announced that its 1956 Convention will also be held there.

Daley had served in the Illinois General Assembly (state legislature) from 1936 to 1946, as deputy comptroller of Cook county, and as director of the state department of finance when Stevenson was Governor. He had been serving as Cook county clerk and chairman of the county's Democratic party at the time of his election as mayor.

Richard Joseph Daley, of Irish descent, was born on the e side of Chicago, in the neighborhood of the stockyards, on May 15, 1902, the only child of Michael and Lillian (Dunn) Daley. As a youngster Dick sold newspapers at the corner of 35th and Halsted Streets, and upon graduating from DeLaSalle High School, went to work in the stockyards during the day, while he attended classes at De Paul University at night. He obtained both his college and law school education at De Paul, graduating with the LL.B degree in 1933. In the same year he was admitted to the bar and became a practicing attorney. He later served as private secretary to four Cook county treasurers. 

His first bid for public office took the form of a write-in campaign when the Democratic candidate for state representative from the ninth district died just before the primary. The campaign was a success and Daley was a member in the Illinois House of Representatives from 1936 to 1938. Elected to the state Senate in 1938, he served for two four-year terms. He was minority leader of the Senate from 1941 to 1946.

While in the legislature, Daley was an active exponent of public welfare measures. He fought to exempt food from the sales tax and worked for passage of a law to make Cook county tax assessments more equitable. He also supported the state grants to municipalities for housing developments. His only political defeat was for the post of Cook county sheriff in 1946.

After being appointed deputy comptroller of Cook county in 1946, Daley served in that post until 1949, when Governor Adlai E. Stevenson appointed him director of the Illinois department of finance. As Stevenson's legislative consultant as well, Daley helped to guide Stevenson's programs through the General Assembly. When the county clerk, Michael J. Flynn, died early in 1950, Daley was appointed to fill the vacancy. He was elected to a full term in the fall of 1950, and re-elected in 1954. He resigned that office after his election as mayor.

[Image: photo of Richard J. Daley]] 
[[caption]] RICHARD J. DALEY [[/caption]]
[[photo credit]] Wide World [[/photo credit]]

As county clerk, Daley supervised the microfilming of records. He also installed an International Business Machines system which made statistics concerning the citizens of Cook county readily available. (The population of Chicago had grown from 2,185,283 in 1910 to 3,620,962 in 1950.) Chicago was incorporated as a city in 1837, and was largely destroyed in the great fire of 1871. Today it is the largest meat-packing center in the world, one of the major grain centers, and is noted for its Merchandising Mart, the second largest office building in the world, exceeded only by the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. Its Natural History Museum ranks among the world's foremost museums, its Art Institute of Chicago wields much influence in the field of art, and its University of Chicago is noted for its faculty of outstanding scholars.

When Colonel Jacob M. Arvey retired in 1953 from the Cook county chairmanship of the Democratic party, Daley succeeded him. One of his innovations was to give the voters a choice in the county judicial elections. Previously the practice had been for the two parties to agree on identical slates of candidates for the Superior and Circuit courts. Daley announced that the Democrats were abandoning the coalition system and running their own slate of candidates. "I have implicit confidence in the ability of the people to make the right decisions in all elections including judicial elections," said Daley at the time.

Daley's name was entered in the Democratic primary, held on February 22, 1955, and opposing him were Martin H. Kennelly, the incumbent mayor, and Benjamin S. Adamowski. As a businessman Kennelly had made a fortune