Requiem : The Decline and Demise of Mayor Daley and His Era

by Len O'Connor

Book Overview

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0809274094
• ISBN13: 9780809274093
• Release Date: January 1978
• Publisher: Contemporary Books, Incorporated
• Length: 203 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Revealing ! Honest ! READ IT !

After the death of any tyrant,when there is no longer any real threat of retaliation or worse,the truth often comes out..And just as often the truth about a tyrant is revealed to the world by associates,friends,those who were close enough to see,but who were also the most vulnerable to damage had they spoken while the tyrant still lived.. So it is with this volume,"Requiem"by the late reporter Len O'Conner..The tyrant is question here was Richard J.Daley,late mayor of the city of Chicago,and late party chairman of the Cook county democratic organisation..O'Conner gathered together interview material with many of those close to Daley,including Mike Howlett,a one time canidate for govenor on a Daley slate,Dr.Eric Portman,A daley school board appointee,and many others who saw and worked with the late boss daily and told O'Conner thier stories shortly after Daley died in 1976..While other books have either been sugar-coated fables(like"HIMSELF"by Kennedy)or political tirades from an enemy(like"Boss" by Mike Royko),this volume is almost like getting the scoop directly from Daley himself,inasmuchas the stories come not from close friends who might skip over the rough spots in deference to thier friendship with Daley,or Screeds from those who despised Daley and would recount only those public things,such as investigations and corrupt associates that would make the old boss look like a complete monster,but instead from the vast crowd in the middle,neither real friend nor dedicated foe..And what a tale is told...Not so much a rehash of the public daley as a revealation of the private daley;Power hungry,grasping,unreliable,only in it for himself... If you have any interest in what the real,day to day Richard Daley was like read this book...it is an eye-opener.

Good Look at Mayor Daley's Last Year

This is the second book by political reporter Len O'Connor (1912-1991) on Mayor Richard J. Daley (1902-1976) of Chicago, and this one concentrates on the mayor's political moves during his 21st and final year in office. The author suggests that Daley's keen mind had faded in the aftermath of his 1974 stroke. We see how the Mayor made several strikingly bad political moves in that election year (1976). To begin, the mayor paid little heed to the rise of Georgia's governor Jimmy Carter during that year's presidential primaries. Daley also opposed a black Congressman (Raplh Metcalfe) who dared protest against police brutality, backed a talented yet doomed candidate (Mike Howlett) for Governor, and was unable to win the state's electoral votes against the Republicans. We also get a highly engaging look at the Mayor's last hour on earth (in the initial chapter) as he was felled by a heart attack a few days before Christmas.