Remembering Harold Washington, 25 Years After His Death
By Chuck Sudo in News on Nov 25, 2012 9:00PM
I was three months shy of my 18th birthday when Harold Washington was re-elected as Chicago’s mayor in 1987. Had I been old enough to cast a ballot, I’m sure I would have voted for Washington, to the consternation of many in my family. When he died of a heart attack in his office Nov. 25, 1987, the least I and other Chicagoans could have done was pay our respects.
An estimated 125,000 mourners passed through City Hall, where Washington’s body lay in state throughout that fateful weekend, to say goodbye. I was among that number, and remember the persistent freezing drizzle and how it failed to dampen the resolve of those who waited in line for a first, and last, meeting with "Harold."
Before Barack Obama promised change we could believe in, Harold Washington made history here in Chicago with an identical message, being elected mayor with the perfect storm of a coalition of blacks, lakeshore liberals, and voters who were simply fed up with the remains of the Daley machine. There are some parallels to be drawn between the Council Wars that marked Washington’s first term and the Beltway gridlock of Obama’s first four years in office.
By the time Washington earned his second term—and, boy, did he did earn it—he was finally in a position to effect some lasting change by holding the tiebreaking vote in City Council.
Like Obama, Washington was a masterful politician and an amazing orator who was able to motivate and inspire the people who believed in him to demand more from their representatives. It also didn’t hurt that Washington spoke of the Chicago Democratic Machine publicly in the same manner most of us do over beers at your corner tavern. Truth is absolute. Council Wars proved his resiliency, his willingness to fight, and may have contributed to his decline in health and, ultimately, his death.
Alas, we’ll never know: Harold Washington’s unrealized second term is the great “What if?” of Chicago politics. Who knows what he could have achieved if he was in good health and able to govern?
The dirt hadn’t even settled on Washington’s grave before his allies and opponents began maneuvering to replace him, with Eugene Sawyer (backed by the remains of the Vrdolyak 29) elected to serve out Washington’s term over then-Ald. Timothy Evans. Two years later Richard M. Daley was able to capitalize on the vacuum in much the same way Washington did in 1983. By the time he was re-elected in 1991 Daley had rebuilt the Machine in his image and it was back to politics as usual in Chicago. Rahm Emanuel, for all his talk of governing by consensus, has exhibited many of the same autocratic tendencies of his predecessor. Would Washington have avoided that? Again, we’ll never know.
One of our favorite This American Life episodes first aired in 1997 and, even with all the tributes pouring in for Washington this week, remains the gold standard. We've embedded it below.
The Sun-Times timeline has put together a simple and informative timeline of Washington's life. We also recommend reading Neil Steinberg's look back at Washington's death.