Overview

“You have to have passion. You have to have honesty in office. You have to love the people.” Those words summed up the outlook, if not always the actions, of Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley. Elected to govern a city roiled by racial and economic crises, Daley adroitly wielded the tools of power in the rough-and-tumble world of Chicago politics. Under his rule, Chicago rebuilt a dying downtown, becoming a cultural and tourism mecca punctuated by construction of the iconic Millenium Park. To drive growth, he engineered a massive expansion of O’Hare Airport. To correct a historical injustice, he razed the city’s notorious public housing high rises as part of a sweeping plan to transform the lives of the city’s poorest residents. Yet corruption and graft, City Hall’s role in calamities like the 1995 heat wave, and Daley’s inaction in the face of evidence of police torture, tarnished his many accomplishments. A two-time Daley chief-of-staff, Forrest Claypool draws on his long career in local government to examine the lasting successes, ongoing dramas, and disastrous failures that defined Daley’s twenty-two years in City Hall. Throughout, Claypool uses Daley’s career to illustrate how effectual political leadership relies on an adept and unapologetic use of power--and how wielding that power without challenge inevitably pulls government toward corruption. A warts-and-all account of a pivotal figure in Chicago history, The Daley Show tells the story of how Richard M. Daley became the quintessential big city mayor.

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9780252046193

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Reviews

“Claypool takes us behind the curtain at City Hall to show how and why so much actually got done during Rich Daley’s twenty-two years in office. Not ‘gets done,’ for Daley-style coalition building and vote counting have become lost arts of late, too often replaced by virtue signaling and showoff crusading. Instead RMD cut subtle deals with GOP governors and presidents, with labor leaders and minority contractors, even tacitly with the Mob. Claypool’s is a warts-and-all account, with duds like Daley’s closing of Meigs Field or parking meter give-away getting as much attention as his triumphs. Consider a reborn Navy Pier, expanded airport and convention trade, street beautification, Millennium Park and, most impressive of all, his federally funded replacement of blighted and inhumane public housing high-rises. Rarely have we been guided so engagingly through a time and place when a major American city actually worked.”--John McCarron, urban affairs columnist, Chicago Tribune “If you love politics and cities, Forrest Claypool’s book is a terrific read, full of behind-the-scenes stories and insights into the career and mayoralty of Richard M. Daley, who revived a metropolis ready to grow again. Claypool’s insider account brings to life Chicago’s bare-knuckles ward politics, and how Daley wielded power so effectively for so long, and the lessons for today’s urban leaders.”--John Norquist, former mayor of Milwaukee and author of The Wealth of Cities

Author Information

Forrest Claypool has served as the Chief Executive Officer of the Chicago Park District (1993–1998), the Chicago Transit Authority (2011–2015), and the Chicago Public Schools (2015–2017). He was the chief-of-staff to Mayor Richard M. Daley in his first and third terms.

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