Viewing page 75 of 136
This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.
44 CURRENT BIOGRAPHY DALEY, RICHARD J. - Continued in the storage and trucking business, and had been drafted in 1947 by the Democratic party as a nonprofessional "reform" candidate. He had been Chicago's mayor for two terms and was popular with businessmen and the press. Time (April 16, 1951) observed that "Kennelly had tidied up the civil service and improved the police department a bit, but Chicago's crawling slums were as bad as ever, and crime was still a big problem. His own reputation for honesty was widely respected, but graft still bit deep into the city's pockets, and Kennelly did little to control the politics-ridden city council." Kennelly received 234,775 votes and Daley 364,839 votes in the primary election. After Kennelly lost the primary, three of Chicago's four newspapers transferred their support to his Republican opponent, Robert E. Merriam, former alderman and the son of the late Professor Charles E. Merriam of the University of Chicago (who had twice been a candidate for Chicago's mayor). The younger Merriam had been an active Democrat until the fall of 1954 when he renounced Chicago party leaders as "machine-run." The Republicans took him over as their candidate for mayor, but the conservatives in the Republican party could remember that he had supported Stevenson for the Presidency of the United States in 1952. During the campaign Daley's supporters argued that Merriam was "immature." The Republican contention was that Daley, because of his long political affiliations, would be beholden to an organization which had its seamy side. Both promised a streamlined city council, a cleanup in the police force, improved public schools, better transportation and increased civil service. Mayor Kennelly also entered the race, and it is believed that he reduced Daley's majority. While Daley's personal integrity was not questioned, even by his political opponents, his linkage with city politics and the so-called "machine" became a vital issue in the 1955 campaign. The election was reported in the press throughout the nation. Only one Chicago newspaper, the American, belatedly supported him. Of the city's 1,956,477 registered voters, 1,289,121 voted, and Daley defeated Merriam by a vote of 708,660 to 581,461. Chicago has been Democratic since 1931, and the Democrats have lost only two mayoralty elections in the last sixty-seven years. Summarizing the election issues, Godfrey Sperling, Jr., (Christian Science Monitor, March 26, 1955) wrote: "In the minds of a large segment of the public the battle is not Merriam vs. Daley. It is Merriam vs. the machine. Exaggerated or not, it is this viewpoint which lends the dramatic proportions to a fight which has become a temporary focal point of American politics." The U.S. News & World Report for May 27, 1955, printed an extensive study of Chicago politics, and included an interview with Mayor Daley. When he was asked "What do you regard as your biggest opportunity, your biggest task, that you can accomplish in [your] four years?" Daley replied, "First . . . restore, rebuild and revitalize the spirit of Chicago which did so much to build this city. Our forefathers who came here had great courage and great imagination and boldness. . . . My big task will be to dedicate myself to restoring that kind of thinking about the city." Daley is a member of the American, Illinois State and Chicago bar associations. He married Eleanor Guilfoyle in 1936, and the couple have seven children, Patricia, Mary, Eleanor, Richard, Michael, John and William. Popular at ward meetings, Daley is a dynamic speaker who presents his ideas energetically rather than with intellectual finesse. His close associates admire his intelligence, and note that he has a temper, which was revealed during television programs when newspapermen asked him insinuating questions. (Most political leaders avoid showing hostility to reporters during campaigns.) He is short and stocky. His religion is Roman Catholic. Mayor Daley has "a friendly, but unaffected, directness of manner which seems to characterize every phase of his busy life," wrote Alan Whitney in the North Side (Chicago) Sunday Star (September 24, 1950). "Dick Daley impressed us as a man who, in a unique degree, has become well educated and has achieved leadership without losing contact with the people." References Christian Sci Mon p9 Mr 26 '55 por; p 1 Ap 6 '55 por Life 38:52+ F 21 '55 pors N Y World-Telegram p5 Ap 6 '55 por Newsweek 45:18+ Ja 3 '55 por North Side (Chicago) Sunday Star S 24 '50; O 11 '53 por Time 65:22+ Mr 7 '55 por; 65:27 Ap 18 '55 por U S News 38:81 Mr 4 '55 por; 38:16, 35 Ap 15 '55; 38:46+ My 27 '55 por DARRELL, R(OBERT) D(ONALDSON) (dăr' ěl) Dec. 13, 1903 - High-fidelity critic; editor; discographer Address: Balmoral, The Vly, Stone Ridge, N.Y. An expert in electronically recorded music, R. D. Darrell has been called the "Bach of high fidelity." His pioneer work, Gramophone Shop Encyclopedia of Recorded Music (Gramophone Shop, 1936), instituted discography and made him nationally known. He has been editor and writer for a number of leading periodicals in the field of recorded music, and in 1952 was discographic consultant to the music division of the New York City Public Library. His book, Good Listening (Knopf, 1953), appeared in 1955 in the New American Library reprint "Mentor" series in a revised edition. Currently, Darrell writes a semi-technical column, "Highs and Lows," for the Saturday Review, and an audio and music book review column "Listener's Bookshelf," for High Fidelity.
