Chicago In The 60’s & 70’s.

There are two main themes in this week’s readings and film viewing.  First is the political climate in Chicago during the 60s and 70s.  Second, is the development and destruction of the Chicago landscape during the same time. 

Dominic Pacyga’s biography of Chicago gives a history of Richard J. Daley Sr.’s rule over Chicago.  His desire for power and recognition resulted in both tragedy and triumph for Chicago.  Chicago had not seen much growth since the Great Depression.  One of Daley’s first accomplishments was building the Prudential Building in the 1955.  This mark a new reform in downtown Chicago.  Over 7,000 people held jobs in the building.  It was a major attraction for people visiting the loop.  Next on Daley’s agenda was public housing and expressways.  Daley along with the Chicago Housing Authority (CHA), developed housing in three stages.  The stages included 3-4 story walk-ups and two-story row-house projects, townhouses for war veterans and finally high-rise public housing.  Access to the city was a high priority for Daley.  Automobiles had become the main source of transportation.  The Congress Expressway was construction to provide easy access from the north side of the City to the south side.  Congress Expressway was followed by the Dan Ryan and the Kennedy Expressways. 

Jacob Burck’s carton on June 23, 1960, in the Chicago Sun-Times.

Daley Sr. was a powerful figure in the Democratic Party.  He was considered highly influential in getting John F. Kennedy elected as the 35^th President of the United States in 1960.  However, back in Chicago, his influence was being questioned by African American leaders.  After his 1963 re-election, Daley experience clashes between his white and black supporters.  School integration was a major source of concern for both sides.  Martin Luther King Jr. came to Chicago in 1966 in hopes of bringing attention of the Civil Rights Movement to the North.  Unfortunately, Daley needed support from both white and black supporters and did not want to side with one or the other.  Daley’s lack of commitment did not help the Civil Rights Movement or King.  King left Chicago without the success he needed to move forward in Chicago.  Daley only alienated both sides of his supporters by not taking a stand for either side.  As for King, he was tragically shot by James Earl Ray on April 4, 1968 in Memphis.  Riots broke out across the country including Chicago’s West Side.  Daley’s mishandling of the riots marked one of the worse mistakes of his life.  While white supporters backed him, he completely lost credibility with his African American supporters. 

Recognizing the need for positive attention to Chicago (and himself), Daley convinced President Johnson and the Democratic Party to hold the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago.  Unfortunately for Daley and Chicago, the attention that was given to the City was not the one desired.  The nation was in a crisis.  The assignations of John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. along with the Vietnam War created strong feelings of dissatisfaction with the US Government.  Protestors set out to use the 1968 Democratic Convention as a way to have their voices heard.  The first confrontation between protestors and the police came on August 25^th in Lincoln Park.  The next day the confrontation became more violent when the 2 groups meet again in Grant Park.  The unusual police force against the protestors was televised for the world to see by networks there to cover the convention.  Daley’s and Chicago’s reputation again was tarnished.  In 1972, Daley was not allowed into the Democratic Convention.  His status and power had taken a serious beating. 

“The police are not here to create disorder, they're here to preserve disorder.”
Richard J. Daley after the 1968 Democratic Convention. 

He often confused words when he spoke.

The 1968 Democratic Convention is the backdrop for the film Medium Cool.  The film is part fiction and documentary.  The main theme of the film is whether the media is there to become part of the news or just to document it.  I am taking an Ethnographic Film class this semester and this same topic comes up repeatedly.  In documentary films, the question that is always asked is “whether the art of the film or the facts recorded  are the most important aspects of the film’s final cut?”  While, Medium Cool, is a fictional movie, the main character, cameraman Joe Cassellis, struggles with simply reporting news or injecting himself in his stories.  Cassellis appears unaffected by his stories until he realizes the TV station he works for is using his footage to assist the FBI.  It is then he realizes his footage serves a role greater than reporting a story.  He does not like the fact that he has been used by the TV station.  It is at this point, that he meets a woman and her son who have moved from West Virginia to Chicago.  The three of them grow close especially the boy, Harold and Cassellis.  Harold  wonders off to Grant Park during the 1968 Democratic Convention.  While his mother frantically looks for him she is caught in the crowds and the police.  At the end of the film, she meets up with Cassellis and they start driving to find Harold.  In a scene reflective of the first scene of the movie, Joe and Eileen are in a car accident.  A cameraman is close by but only captures the scene on film and does not call for help or stop to assist them.  The unrest in the City causes pain and loss of life.  The protestors and police both take a stand for what they believe is right but does either side take it too far?  Is this not unlike the riots we are seeing today in Libya and Egypt?  We have to stand up for what we believe but how and why the government reacts can cause more problems than the initial issues. 

 When viewing this film, I had to think about the scenes in Grant Park in 1968 and then in 2008 when President Obama spoke after being elected President. 

1968 Photo of Grant Park

2008 Photo of Grant Park

On a side note:  I kept thinking about how far we have come in technology.  I kept thinking how much a cell phone could have been used to help respond to the accident or in the search for Harold. 

The final reading was To Collect Photographs is to Collect the World, Chapter 6, which centers on Richard Nickel.  Nickel was a photographer who preserve Chicago’s architecture at a time when many buildings were being demolished for parking lots or new housing.  He believe that photography was a way of saving the buildings for future generations.  His main concentration was on architect Louis Sullivan.  He try to capture what the average pedestrian would not see.  The details of the building such as the sweep of a staircase, the marquee of a theater or the detail in the walls were captured in his photographs.  Nickel strongly opposed the demolished of the buildings.  He protested the destruction of what he saw as important history of Chicago.  However, his photographs are not harsh.   They treat the buildings like a family taking a photograph in a studio.  You can almost feel that Nickel had a friendship with some of the buildings.  He cared deeply for them. 

On June 8, 1960, Nickel organized a sidewalk protest in front of the Garrick.  (right) 
Richard Nickel Photograph inside the Garrick.  (left)

A lot has changed in Chicago since the 1960s, some things are better and some are worse.