Bóthar go dti an
Whitehouse is a
TG4 series telling the story of how the
Irish changed the face of
American politics charting the history of Irish-American politicians from the 1800's up to
JFK's election as the first, and only,
Catholic president of the
United States.
Richard Joseph Daley was born in
Bridgeport, a working-class neighborhood of
Chicago on May 15,1902. He was the only child of
Michael and
Lillian (Dunne)
Daley, whose families had both arrived from the
Old Parish area, near
Dungarvan, County Waterford,
Ireland during the
Great Famine. Daley would later state that his wellsprings were his religion, his family, his neighborhood, the
Democratic Party, and his love of the city.His father was a sheet metal worker with a reserved demeanor. Michael's father,
James E. Daley, was a butcher born in
New York, while his mother,
Delia Gallagher Daley, was an Irish immigrant.
Richard's mother was outgoing and outspoken. Before women obtained the right to vote in
1920, Lillian Daley was an active
Suffragette, participating in marches.
Mrs. Daley often brought her son to them. She hoped her son's life would be more professionally successful than that of his parents. Prior to his mother's death, Daley had won the
Democratic nomination for
Cook County sheriff. Lillian Daley wanted more than this for her son, telling a friend, "I didn't raise my son to be a
policeman.
He served as the
Mayor of Chicago for a total of 21 years (
1955–
1976) and chairman of the Cook County Democratic
Central Committee for 23 years, holding both positions until his death in office in 1976. Daley was Chicago's third consecutive mayor from the working-class, heavily
Irish American Bridgeport neighborhood on
Chicago's South Side, where he lived his entire life. Daley is remembered for doing much to avoid the declines that some other "rust belt" cities like
Cleveland,
Buffalo and
Detroit experienced during the same period. He had a strong base of support in Chicago's
Irish Catholic community, and he was treated by national politicians such as
Lyndon B. Johnson as a pre-eminent Irish American, with special connections to the
Kennedy family. Daley played a major role in the history of the Democratic Party, especially with his support of
John F. Kennedy in 1960 and of
Hubert Humphrey in
1968.
- published: 21 Mar 2016
- views: 413