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ABSTRACT
The rise of the Latino population in Chicago during the 1960s and 1970s appeared to coincide with the inevitable breakdown of an aging political machine hobbled under the weight of the urban crisis. Instead, that old machine—defined by a patronage system, corruption, and voter intimidation—continued functioning, even as the city’s wards became browner. Through an examination of the relationship between Mayor Richard J. Daley, the political boss of the Democratic machine, and Mexican Chicagoans, this article demonstrates how the machine endured and maintained white political control in Mexicanized wards long after white constituents fled the city in large numbers. Contrary to previous understandings of the time, Daley’s machine did not neglect Latinos—or at least not all of them. Instead, it incorporated proactive moderate and conservative elements of the community to help Daley endorse his agenda and quell protest. These supporters, known as “Amigos for Daley,” stewarded changes to a revised machine in the barrio that became critical to its survival. In exchange, they were given the power and license to profit from the business of white flight and brown place-making. By shifting the focus from cultural nationalism and the New Left to the more moderate and conservative influences of the Latino Daley Democrats, this article expands our understanding of the range of Latino political mobilization during the 1960s and 1970s.
Acknowledgments
The author wishes to thank Natasha Zaretsky and Jeremy Varon, the editors of The Sixties. Additional thanks to the anonymous reviewers for their comments, suggestions, and critical feedback. Heartfelt appreciation goes to Mireya Loza, Anitra Grisales, Timothy J. Gilfoyle, and M.J. Rymsza-Pawlowska. An early version of this paper was presented to the Urban History Seminar at the Chicago History Museum. Thank you to the organizers, including D. Bradford Hunt, Michael H. Ebner, Ann Durkin Keating, and Russell Lewis. A special note of gratitude to the librarians and archivists in the Special Collections and University Archives, Richard J. Daley Library at the University of Illinois at Chicago, especially Daniel Harper and David Greenstein.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes
1. Rose, “Election ’75,” Reader, February 21 1975, 1.
2. Cohen and Taylor, American Pharaoh, 554.
3. Mojica Hammer, “Now That the Mayoral Primaries are History,” El Clarin Mexico-Americano, March 15 1975, 5.
4. Interview with Rich Gasca by author, December 1 2016, in author’s possession.
5. Homer B. Alvarado to Jack Reilly, re: “mass rally,” February 19 1975, folder 7, box SIIss1B120, Richard J. Daley Collection, Special Collections and University Archives, Richard J. Daley Library, University of Illinois at Chicago (hereafter RJD-UIC). A population study conducted by the City of Chicago’s Department of Development and Planning found that Latinos made up a low 7.3 percent of the city’s population based on the 1970 census. However, sociologist Joanne M. Belenchia found that “by 1977, it was estimated that the population had more than doubled. Latinos are thought to make up 25 percent of the city’s population, and account for 15 percent of the greater metropolitan region. Of the estimated one-half million persons of Spanish Language in the city, 72,596 are registered to vote, comprising 4.5 percent of the city’s electorate.” See Belenchia, Latinos and Chicago Politics, 1.
6. Perlstein, Nixonland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America, 119–20; Cohen and Taylor, American Pharaoh; Biles, Politics, Race, and the Governing of Chicago; and Grimshaw, Bitter Fruit, 1931–91.
7. Discontent with Mayor Daley and his machine has been a prevalent theme in the scholarship on Latino Chicago, producing a rich body of literature. For more on Latino radical politics and the Chicano Movement in Chicago see Fernandez, Brown in the Windy City, esp. chapters 5 and 6; See also Badillo, “From La Lucha to Latino,” 37–53; Torres, “In Search of Meaningful Voice and Place,” 81–106; Córdova, “Harold Washington and the Rise of Latino Electoral Politics in Chicago, 1982–1987,” 31–57; and Belenchia, Latinos and Chicago Politics.
8. Several histories of Richard J. Daley do not include a discussion of his relationship with Latinos at all. These include Royko, Boss: Richard J. Daley of Chicago; O’Connor, Clout: Mayor Daley and His City; and Cohen and Taylor, American Pharaoh.
9. A sampling of recent studies, but certainly not a comprehensive list, includes, Lee, Building a Latino Civil Rights Movement; Behnken, Fighting Their Own Battles; and Krochmal, Blue Texas.
10. Oropeza, ¡Raza Sí! ¡Guerra No!; Ramírez et al., Chicanas of 18th Street; Fernandez, Brown in the Windy City; Badillo, “From La Lucha to Latino”; and Alvarez, “A Community that Would Not Take ‘No’ For an Answer.”
11. The people I refer to as the “Amigos” were often members of other organizations as well, including but not limited to the MADO, Mexican Chamber of Commerce, Azteca Lions Club, Illinois Federation of Mexican Americans, and other civic and business organizations. Politically speaking, the Amigos would in time come to include liberal and conservative Democrats, liberal and conservative Republicans, and progressives united only by their support for Mayor Daley. In some ways, this group was not unlike those found in South Chicago in the 1960s referred to as “immigrant brokers” in Kornblum’s Blue Collar Community, described as “brokers between ward party organizations and their neighbors in the precincts. Generally, they are small businessmen and church leaders, with second-generation families. The unionist leaders regard this group as conservative ‘Tio Tacos’ (Uncle Toms)” (165). I do not use this term because “immigrant” does not accurately capture their fluid social categories as Mexican nationals, immigrants, and Mexican Americans at different times in their lives.
12. Fernandez, Brown in the Windy City, ch. 3; Seligman, Block by Block, ch. 4; Johnson, Citizen Participation in Urban Renewal; and Rosen, Decision-Making Chicago-Style.
13. “Story of Pilsen Neighbors,” Chicago Daily News (hereafter CDN), February 18 1963, 9; This type of residential discrimination is also described in Bernice Stevens Decker, “Mexican-Americans Win Help in Citizenship in Chicago,” Christian Science Monitor, October 13 1951, 13.
14. This information is gathered from visual evidence of a 1958 meeting hosted by Arturo Velasquez and other Latino civic and business leaders with guest speaker Mayor Richard J. Daley (courtesy of Arturo Velasquez Family, in author’s possession). This came at a time when Daley’s staff was putting a together a short list of Latino representatives to serve on an Advisory Committee for the Mayor’s Committee on New Residents, for which Velasquez was short-listed. See Margaret S. Madden to Fred K. Hoehler, re: “A small list of persons to be appointed,” January 13 1959, folder 496, box 50, Fred K. Hoehler Papers, Social Welfare History Archives, University of Minnesota Libraries; Interview with Arturo Velasquez, Sr. by Juan Andrade, Jr., in Andrade, Jr., “A Historical Survey of Mexican Immigration,” 253.
15. Frank Duran to Richard J. Daley, re: “Mexican-American Democratic Organization,” July 2 1962, folder 14, box SII ss1B53, RJD-UIC; Arturo Velasquez, “Nuestros Comerciantes Deben Interarse,” Prensa Libre, February 25 1963, p. 8, Folder 22, Box 1, Florence Scala Collection, Special Collections and University Archives, Richard J. Daley Library, University of Illinois at Chicago (hereafter FSC-UIC); Interview of Arturo Velasquez by Timothy J. Gilfoyle, page 18, April 19 2002, in the Oral History Collection in the Chicago History Museum.
16. Interview with Arturo Velasquez, Sr. by Andrade, Jr., in Andrade, Jr., “A Historical Survey of Mexican Immigration,” 253.
17. Interview with Rich Gasca; Interview with Mary Bogardus by author, November 22 2016, in author’s possession.
18. Interview with Arturo Velasquez, Sr. by Andrade, Jr., in Andrade, Jr., “A Historical Survey of Mexican Immigration,” 253; Interview with Rich Gasca; Velasquez interview by Gilfoyle, 18.
19. Interview with Arturo Velasquez, Sr. by Andrade, Jr., 255; Velasquez, “Nuestros Comerciantes Deben Interarse.” Prensa Libre, February 25 1963, p. 8, folder 22, box 1, FSC-UIC.
20. Interview with Velasquez, Sr. by Andrade, Jr., 253–254.
21. Velasquez interview by Gilfoyle, 12.
22. Ibid.
23. “Quiz Owner, Find No Juke Bombing Clew,” CT, August 27 1964, A1.
24. Interview with Velasquez, Sr. by Andrade, Jr., 253; Mexican Chamber of Commerce & Industry to Richard J. Daley, “[…] you have, in no small measure helped to bring those changes about,” March 17 1967, folder 6, box SIIss1B 80, RJD-UIC.
25. Interview with Arthur R. Velasquez by Juan Andrade, Jr., in Andrade, Jr., “A Historical Survey of Mexican Immigration,” 257.
26. On the machine maintaining its role as a “service broker” to white ethnics, see Erie, Rainbow’s End, 162.
27. Interview with Mary Bogardus.
28. Rakove, Don’t Make No Waves, 50–1.
29. Visual evidence of these events throughout the sixties, such as banquet dinners and patriotic celebrations with members of the Amigos for Daley and Mayor Daley are in folder 6, box S4 ss1B31, RJD-UIC.
30. Interview with Rich Gasca.
31. Letter from Jack Reilly re: “Arthur Velasquez,” March 9 1966 (courtesy of Velasquez Family, in author’s possession); MADO’s name changed to Spanish Speaking Democratic Organization and other slight variations over the course of the 1960s and 1970s.
32. Córdova, “Harold Washington & Latino Electoral Politics,” 36–7.
33. Cáceres and Fernandez, “Lost in the Machine,” 14–5.
34. Police and Public: A Critique and a Program.
35. I thank Malachy McCarthy for bringing to my attention the early efforts of the St. Jude Police League and their work with Latino community leaders.
36. Interview with Rich Gasca; Interview with Mary Bogardus; Rev. Patrick McPolin was police chaplain from 1943–52 and 1956–1965, in Martinez, “Ex-Chicago Priest Recalls Colorful Life,” Chicago Tribune [hereafter CT], October 24 2004, 9.
37. Sussman, “The Mexicans,” 83–7; Betancur, Córdova, and Torres, “Economic Restructuring and the Process of Incorporation of Latinos into the Chicago Economy,” 109–32.
38. Betancur, Córdova, and Torres, “Economic Restructuring and the Process of Incorporation of Latinos into the Chicago Economy.”
39. Blanco, “Latins Speak Up,” CT, October 6 1967, 20.
40. Badillo, “From La Lucha to Latino,” 42.
41. Bruno, “Chicago Riot: ‘Venganza!’,” Newsweek, June 27 1966, 23; For more on the machine’s treatment of Puerto Ricans during and after the Division Street Riots, see Fernandez, Brown in the Windy City, 164–174.
42. Bruno, “Chicago Riot.”
43. Fernandez, Brown in the Windy City, 168.
44. Claudio Flores was a member of MADO, see MADO, Mexican American Democratic Organization—Annual Program, October 27 1972, Arthur R. Velasquez Personal Collection, in author’s possession.
45. “Puerto Rican Given Position,” Florence Morning News, June 23 1966, 8A.
46. Richard J. Daley to Samuel H. Shapiro re: Arturo Velasquez and Latin-American community, and attached memo from Jack Reilly to Richard J. Daley, re: Velasquez biographical information, folder 5, box SIIss1B89, RJD-UIC.
47. Interview with Arthur R. Velasquez by Juan Andrade, Jr., in Andrade, Jr., “A Historical Survey of Mexican Immigration,” 265.
48. Neil Elliott, “It’s a Picasso…It’s a Parade…Its Jack Reilly,” CT, May 4 1969, 44–56.
49. “Mexicans Tired of Demo Fist,” Daily Calumet, June 16 1966, 2.
50. Ibid.
51. Ibid.
52. Biles, Richard J. Daley, ch. 7.
53. Interview with Julie Guerrero by author, October 16 2017, in author’s possession.
54. Interview with Julie Guerrero; Interview with Rich Gasca; Plaque from Little Village-26th Street Chamber of Commerce to Richard J. Daley, 1968, folder 7, box SVIss3B16, RJD-UIC.
55. On Brown Power groups in Chicago and community activism see, Ramírez et al, Chicanas of 18th Street; Fernandez, Brown in the Windy City; Badillo, “From La Lucha to Latino”; Alvarez, “A Community that Would Not Take ‘No’ For an Answer.”
56. Watson and Wheeler, “Baffling Game of Numbers,” Chicago Sun-Times (hereafter CST), September 12 1971, 4.
57. “Amigos For Daley On the Move,” 9; “Two Experts Preach Gospels of Politics,” CT, December 17 1971, 10.
58. Watson and Wheeler, “Slim Slice of Political Pie,” CST, September 13 1971, 4.
59. “Chicago’s Half Million Hispanos,” 34.
60. Friedman News, April 2 1971, folder 2, box 40, David S. Broder Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, DC; and “Two Experts Preach Gospels,” CT, December 17 1971, 10.
61. Visual evidence of Viva Daley rally in Pilsen’s St. Pius Church, folder 7, box SIVss1B18, RJD-UIC.
62. Ibid.
63. For examples of Brown Power criticism of the Amigos For Daley see Cayer, “Latins Set Boycott March,” Daily Calumet, March 23 1971, also “Two Experts Preach Gospels,” CT, December 17 1971, 10.
64. Rendon, “Discrimen Racial en la Comision,” 192.
65. Hispanic American Ministries of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA (SOHAM), “The Hispanic American Crisis in the Nation,” September 21–25, 1970, Chicago, Illinois, folder 582, box 37, Institute on the Church in an Urban-Industrial Society Records, Special Collections and University Archives, Richard J. Daley Library, University of Illinois at Chicago.
66. “Jose Carlos Gómez,” El Informador, July 16 1972, 11,14–15.
67. “Comision Para Oportunidad Igual,” El Informador, June 25 1972, 4; “Programa Piloto para Negocios,” El Informador, June 4 1972, 1.
68. “Los Jóvenes Hispanos para la reelección del Presidente [Nixon],” El Informador, October 29 1972, 1.
69. MADO, Mexican American Democratic Organization—Annual Program, October 27 1972. Arthur R. Velasquez Personal Collection, in author’s possession.
70. Community Renewal Society, “Report: Symposium on Economic Development in the Latin Community, July 1972,” folder 6, box 2, Reuben A. Sheares II Papers, Amistad Research Center, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA.
71. Ibid.
72. Ibid.
73. Mojica Hammer, “The political groups in support,” El Clarin Chicano, January 10 1975, 5.
74. Robinson, “Four Illinois Congressmen Face Challengers,” Sterling Daily Gazette, March 18 1972, 1; “Leadership of Natl. Womens Political Caucus,” El Clarin Chicano, July 17 1974, 2.
75. Mojica Hammer, “In our edition,” El Clarin Chicano, December 25 1975, 5.
76. Miriam I. Cruz to Richard J. Daley, “Frobel School Incident,” June 6 1973, folder 11, box S1ss1B121, RJD-UIC.
77. Mojica Hammer, “The political groups in support.”
78. Miriam I. Cruz to Richard J. Daley, “Frobel School Incident.”
79. Esqueda, “¿Quién es Quien?,” 6; and Arturo Velasquez, Sr. interview by Andrade, Jr., in Andrade, Jr., 254.
80. Rose, “Election ’75.”
81. Biles, Richard J. Daley, 228.
82. Cáceres and Fernandez, “Lost in the Machine,” Nuestro, April 1979, 15–16.
83. Belenchia, Latinos and Chicago Politics, 14, quoting Walton and Salces, The Political Organization of Chicago’s Latino Communities.
84. Walton and Salces, “Structural Origins of Urban Social Movements: The Case of Latinos in Chicago,” 248.
85. Stuckey, “Put a Little Whump in Your Life,” CT, December 12 1971, 68; “Los Jóvenes Hispanos para la reelección del Presidente [Nixon],” El Informador, October 29 1972, 1.
86. Bernardo Cardenas, liner notes to Con Sabor a Mexico, Bernardo Cardenas, Paisano Records 02, LP, 1971.
87. “Supermercados Maria Cardenas,” advertisement, El Clarin Mexico-Americano, February 23 1975, 12.
88. It was no secret that the machine encouraged low voter turn-out in wards with large Latino concentrations, see Belenchia, Latinos and Chicago Politics, 21.
89. “Supermercados Maria Cardenas,” advertisement, El Clarin Mexico-Americano, February 23 1975, 12; Interview with Pedro Loza by author, August 21 2015, in author’s possession.
90. Olivo, El Clarin Mexico-Americano, March 29 1975, 2.
91. Galvan, “Ambrosio Medrano: Part of New Breed,” 20.
92. “Amigos For Daley On the Move,” 10–1.
93. Salces stopped short of calling it support for Daley and the machine, but referred to it as “the preeminence achieved by the organization in wards populated by blacks and Spanish Americans.” See Salces, “Spanish American Politics in Chicago,” 110; Predominantly Mexican American wards voted for white machine candidates over Latino candidates, see Belenchia, Latinos and Chicago Politics, 20–1.
94. Hernandez, “Publisher’s Letter,” 5.
95. “Amigos For Daley speech,” March 26 1975, McCormick Place, Chicago, IL, folder 7, box SIss1B1, RJD-UIC.
96. Although the election of Irene C. Hernandez as Cook County Commissioner in 1974 was the first of its kind for any Latino in Illinois politics, that Daley personally selected Hernandez after consulting with the Amigos makes it less an openly elected position than a machine-appointed one. See “Irene Hernandez,” El Clarin Chicano, June 7 1974, 1.
97. Gómez-Quiñones, Chicano Politics, ch. 3 discusses the Chicano Movement as a “stimulant” to greater electoral participation and victories but mostly in California and Texas.
98. “Area Latinos: Represented by Very Few,” CST, November 5 1978.
99. Lyon, “In Death as In Life,” CT, December 23 1976, 1.
100. Córdova, “Harold Washington and the Rise of Latino Electoral Politics.”
101. Ben Joravsky and Jorge Casuso, “Hispanic Vote Emerges as New Battlefront in Council Wars,” Chicago Reporter, September 1984, 6.
102. “Fue un Exito la Inscripción de Latinos en los Precintos Electorales,” La Raza, February 25 1976, 3.
103. Miriam I. Cruz and Carmen Rivera to Richard J. Daley, re: “Public Works and Civil Service Commission meeting with Spanish Speaking community groups,” August 2 1973, folder 11, box SIss1B121, RJD-UIC; “Walker Introduce Examenes en Español,” La Raza, February 25 1976, 4.
104. These achievements were brought about with the help of the United Neighborhood Organization (UNO). Interview with Graciela Silva-Schuch with author, February 23 2016, in author’s possession.
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Mike Amezcua
Mike Amezcua is Assistant Professor of History and Urban Studies at New York University.