YouSaid · the spoken record

Bill Daley

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76
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2017-06-22
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2017-06-22
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  1. “All of that. And made sure that the ballots, you know, the candidates were balanced with race and religion and all of that. But there's no doubt Chicago's had a history for a very long time of a segregated city and race, a big piece of it. Obviously there was an enormous influx of African Americans in the forties and fifties into Chicago from the south and the clash of that ethnic city with that was a challenge for his entire period.”

    2017-06-22 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 158 - Bill Daley · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  2. “1955, absolutely, or a big part of it. Bill Dawson, Ralph Medcalf, you know, they were down. I remember him telling a story back when they were down in the legislature. And one of the hotels wouldn't allow an African American legislator. It may have been Ralph Medcalf at the time. A room so they, you know, all the other, the rest of the Democrats, and there weren't that many. There were so few in the legislature, all moved out of that hotel and to another hotel. And Cecil Partee was the first president, was one of the highest ranking, was a former state center, was became the president of the Illinois Senate at the time when he may have been one of the highest ranking local black officials in the country.”

    2017-06-22 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 158 - Bill Daley · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  3. “You know, he was of a different generation and he was of the generation that believed or much of it, that the order was paramount. And the system had to be protected. Obviously, he was head of the system in Chicago. So he believed that. On the other hand, there was this sort of African Americans were very much part of the political system and had a lot of power in that system. In Springfield, you had, you know, they were part of the system.”

    2017-06-22 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 158 - Bill Daley · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  4. “I'm sure it's accurate. Brundridge had an office for the Olympics out of that hotel, was on Lasselle Street and ended up the Democratic Party of Cook County ended up moving in those offices. Brundridge moved out. But that was how politics was in those days. You worked it out, and for my dad for Brundridge or the Olympic Committee because it was about their money and they're protecting it. That wasn't as important to him as doing the right thing. And if he used his power for that purpose, great.”

    2017-06-22 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 158 - Bill Daley · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  5. “It meant a lot, a lot. I mean, it was the thought that, you know, my dad grew up in an era that Catholics were very much shunted aside in many ways. Obviously many Catholics went into politics because that was one area you could succeed. So it played an enormous part, the thought that you'd get that boogeyman off the back of Catholics, the next generation and for the future understood though that it was a difficulty for Kennedy that he had to overcome. And when you went to a lot of the opposition to Kennedy downstate especially in Illinois, there was a big piece of the anti-Catholic thing.”

    2017-06-22 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 158 - Bill Daley · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  6. “And Eleanor Roosevelt called my dad. She was leading the charge to try to get Stevenson to stop Kennedy and asked, she said, I want to come to meet with you. And he said, no, I'll come to see you. He drove out to, or was driven out to Pasadena to see her on my brothers went with him and told her, I'm sorry, I'm with Kennedy and we're staying with Kennedy. And then Adelaide came onto the floor of the convention hall that night with a big demonstration that we were trying to orchestrate. And they thought because he wasn't a delegate, he wouldn't give a seat, but my dad had somebody get up and leave and had Adelaide sit there. But my dad always respected Adelaide, went to when he passed away in London, went to his funeral, went to London with a delegation that Johnson appointed. But he had enormous respect for Stevenson, but he also knew that he was hesitating, and you couldn't hesitate.”

    2017-06-22 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 158 - Bill Daley · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  7. “My dad knew that Adelaide Wasn't going to make the decision early enough and the system was changing. Primaries prepared.”

    2017-06-22 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 158 - Bill Daley · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  8. “I remember answering the phone one night and voicey there. I said no. He said, who's this? I said, Bill. He said, well, this is Jack Kennedy. He said, will you tell him? I called. And I'm like, okay, no problem. But they were close. And it was the second time I ever saw my father cry. Once when his dad died, and then November 22nd, 1963.”

    2017-06-22 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 158 - Bill Daley · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  9. “We sat for like 12 hours the day of the nomination on the floor with signs and we had signs, my brother John and I, I was like 12 or something. And we had a sign Oregons for Kennedy. We were sitting in the Illinois delegation. Not quite sure why we had that sign. But we were there like for 12 hours and then the acceptance speech and then that summer we were, my parents had a home up. They rented up in Michigan at the time.”

    2017-06-22 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 158 - Bill Daley · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  10. “Own the merchandise bar. Sergeant Trever was running it. And my dad knew Joe Kennedy after he bought the merchandise mark. So there was a connection city-wise and then Kennedy came. So he came out and spoke to the Democratic Party of Cook County in 55 or 54 even before my dad was mayor. So they had a long relationship. And in 56, my dad tried to be helpful at that convention when he tried to be vice president. And then leading up to 1960 and played a big role at the convention. We were there.”

    2017-06-22 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 158 - Bill Daley · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  11. “I remember my dad was close to him for a long time. Matter of fact, one of the first beaches Senator Kennedy gave was right after my dad became chairman of the Democratic Party, I think in 54 or 55. He came out as a guest speaker. It was one of the first speeches west of the Alleghenies that Kennedy did.”

    2017-06-22 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 158 - Bill Daley · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  12. “What did your dad tell him? He had plenty of people come in when there'd be an opening for a big job as a commissioner. He'd say, well, look, I got a deputy commissioner spot. It pays $5,000 left, take a small job, you last longer. As I was going through my life in lots of different occasions in Washington and other places the wisdom of that thing, it really is. And you look at a lot of people, as you know, plenty of people who've run for office or wanted big jobs.”

    2017-06-22 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 158 - Bill Daley · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  13. “There were the hex there. I said not just hex. But he also was very good at finance as revenue director for the state. And so his forte was the finances for the city and kept them very strong and was a big believer in unions, even though there was never a city contract. There was no union that had a contract with the city of Chicago during his 21 years. It was a handshake and his attitude was if my handshake's not good, well, that's too bad for you. But he didn't believe in city and contracts with the city employee unions, but yet they did quite well under him.”

    2017-06-22 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 158 - Bill Daley · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  14. “Reformers all on his staff. He brought in the Wiz kids, sort of they called them in a number of departments. It wasn't just a bunch of old political hacks. And so he, and he had a hack.”

    2017-06-22 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 158 - Bill Daley · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  15. “And I said, boy, they really buttered you up tonight, everybody who spoke, including President Carter, but then Governor Carter. And he said, yeah, but he said, you know what, I really want to be remembered for is what we did in the city and the change in the city. So he was a reformer as a governing mayor and doing things to protect the city, building the neighborhoods, and was viewed nationally as someone who was really bringing Chicago back from a pretty dark period, at least viewed nationally in a dark way, to a city that had a lot going on. Modern city. Modern city. Global city. He had young.”

    2017-06-22 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 158 - Bill Daley · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  16. “About a month before he died it was after a rally for Jimmy Carter. It was one of those old riding home and everybody who spoke that night really laid it on about how great he was and the politics and Jack Kennedy's election and blah blah blah blah blah.”

    2017-06-22 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 158 - Bill Daley · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  17. “The phrase he liked most, which he used in his first inaugural, I think, in 1955, was good politics is good government and good government is good politics. If you do your politics right, That's good governing and vice versa. So there was enormous consolidation of power, but, you know, it wasn't unchecked because in spite of the fact that there was a system, the voters really did vote. And at times his candidates lost. Not everybody won. And not every, he went to the voters one day, one year with a bond issue to vote on more police state, more police and more construction. And it lost. And that was one and only time you ever went to the voters with a bond issue because it meant a tax increase and people didn't like that.”

    2017-06-22 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 158 - Bill Daley · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  18. “Well, it's hard to see. We've reformed the system. In those days, the organization raised the money and dole the money out for candidates, basically. Now everybody raises their own money. Every wealthy person can throw in hundreds of millions of dollars or whatever. Is that really a better system? I don't know. I think it's debatable, to be frank with you. You also have...”

    2017-06-22 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 158 - Bill Daley · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  19. “He was revenue director for Governor Stevenson back in the late 40s after he had run for sheriff and lost, the only election he lost, and his mother told him she was glad he lost because in those days the sheriff was the executioner of people. So she didn't want him to have that role. But so there was a system that everyone relatively worked within that then began to break down in the 60s and 70s and then after his death it really began to diminish and his government.”

    2017-06-22 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 158 - Bill Daley · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  20. “Gave him, you know, he was the chairman of the Democratic Party of Cook County and ran against incumbent sitting mayor of Chicago and beat him. And then kept those two positions, obviously, so no one could really challenge him politically within the organization. And there wasn't at the time the sort of out of the box. There were a few what would be called reformers Adelaide Stevenson or Paul Douglas who were not part of the organization but yet lived within that my dad your dad started working for”

    2017-06-22 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 158 - Bill Daley · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  21. “And generally got it, sometimes maybe a little too much loyalty. But it worked. It brought government down. It wasn't an 800 number. You didn't call if you had a problem, an 800 number to report a tree down or a pothole. You went to the preaching captain and he somehow magically maybe. And obviously if the captain or the ward committeeman was more important, they got quicker results. And there was just a system. It was obviously developed in the early 20th century, very much around immigrants. Chicago was one of the last cities, big cities, with that structure still pretty much in place.”

    2017-06-22 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 158 - Bill Daley · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  22. “Well, there was a system. The system was an organization, opponents called it a machine, that was broken down from the bottom up at a precinct level with a precinct captain, almost all the captains or helpers were employees of different government entities, the city or the state if it was Democratic control in county. And it was a real organization from bottom up, very structured, very organized, and then from a precinct level to a ward level. And then the ward committeeman was on the Democratic Central Committee's organization. And it was a system that honored loyalty and results. And the precinct captain was the contact city government from a broken down tree to a problem with a family. And obviously that captain then hoped for loyalty on election day. The candidates of the Democratic Party. So it was an entire system.”

    2017-06-22 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 158 - Bill Daley · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  23. “And then he'd go out to Wakeser in a reception. He rarely stayed for dinner at events. And we'd jump in, you know, and talk to him on the way to Wake. I remember going with him one night. He said, come on, we'll go. And he said, well, you come on into the wake. I said, I don't know this guy. I don't know who it is. And he was like, I don't worry about it. So he'd go in. And it was always a big deal. And I still had people come up to me today and say, oh, your father came to my grandmother's wake or my grandfather's wake. And it was part of the politics of the day. It was all personal.”

    2017-06-22 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 158 - Bill Daley · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  24. “Right. He come home with the usual MO and we only lived where we lived in Ridgeport was only about 12 minutes from downtown. So he could come home. We'd go out in the backyard, throw the baseball around, play catch for a while. He'd have dinner, he'd shower, put a fresh shirt on. He was pretty meticulous about his appearance. Yeah.”

    2017-06-22 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 158 - Bill Daley · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  25. “All around us. It was, you know, my dad was early on was, you know, he had a pretty good temper in public. And, you know, when he wanted to make a point, he could make it. So my mother was always trying to get him to, you know, calm down, relax. But we talk politics a lot. He'd come home at dinner just about every night at home and sit around the table and talk. But it was... It wasn't all consuming, but it was, yeah, we talked about it all the time.”

    2017-06-22 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 158 - Bill Daley · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  26. “You know, early on, obviously, when my dad was first selected, I was only seven, so the impact was not as great as it was for my older siblings. And times were different. It wasn't as though it wasn't as public people didn't press gave wide birth to families they didn't focus on it. And so it was, we always thought we were pretty normal, lived in a neighborhood with walked to school with a mix of economics. Yeah, my dad was mayor and he had cops in front and back of the house. But other than that, it was not too different than every other house. And my grandparents live with us as most did in the neighborhood. And we went to school with everybody whose parents were everything from cops to son unemployed and maybe some prison. You didn't feel it until as you got older, obviously, in the sixties when the social change and then the war and the impact of all of that and the sort of press attention that came to it later on.”

    2017-06-22 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 158 - Bill Daley · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source