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The Chicago Press and the Making of a Mayor
| Article
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12239 |
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Section : |
MODERN THOUGHT
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| Issue
Date : |
2 / 1987 |
5,290 Words |
| Author
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Thomas Landess
Thomas Landess was a professor of English and politics for 24
years, 16 of which he spent at the University of Dallas, where
he was academic dean. He is the author of four books and
numerous articles. |
In November, the New York Times News Service declared the 1987 Chicago mayoral race officially open. Though apparently no one had yet announced for the office, several names were mentioned on the Republican side, including a former Illinois governor, a U.S. attorney, and a defensive back for the Chicago Bears. The article contained no reference to the Republican who had run against and almost beaten Harold Washington in 1983. Was Bernard Epton really through with politics, as he angrily maintained the day after Washington had won their close and bitter battle? Having studied that campaign, I was curious and called Epton to ask him if he were going to run again.
"Sure," he said. "I've just been drafted by a Citizens Committee, though I probably won't be endorsed by the Republican Party here."
Did the press know about the "draft?"
"Of course, they knew," Epton said. "I've told them I'm already booked on a couple of talk shows."
The failure of the Times even to mention his name reminded me of how his campaign had begun in 1983. That year Epton was also ignored, first by his own party, and then, for a while, by members of the working press, who were too busy covering the three-way Democratic primary to pay attention to anything as insignificant and unlikely as a Chicago Republican. So Epton was left to shuffle around the city alone, talking to small professional clubs and literary groups, sometimes with five or six bodies present. The three Democrats were locked in mortal combat. At front, Mayor Jane Byrne seemed a sure winner, but by the end of the campaign, both State's Attorney Richard M. Daley and Rep. Harold Washington clearly had a chance. Only on primary election night, when Washington was named winner, did reporters remember the thin, balding man with a gray beard, who had just won the Republican nomination with 100 percent of the vote.
Ordinarily Epton's unopposed victory would have been no more than a final paragraph account of the Democratic results. This time things were slightly different for two reasons. First, the Democratic race had been bitter, with all three candidates saying things that would not be easily forgotten. Second, Harold Washington was black, and race had been one of the key issues in the campaign, in part because Harold Washington himself had made it an issue.
The black community, which constituted
...
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