City of Scoundrels: The 12 Days of Disaster That Gave Birth to Modern Chicago (42 page)

  
4.
 Bukowski is particularly insightful on Thompson’s appeal to blue-collar Chicago (while not being particularly pro-labor) in 1919; see the introduction to
Big Bill Thompson
as well as the same author’s PhD thesis, “According to Image: William Hale Thompson in the Politics of Chicago, 1915–1931,” pp. 1–10, and his chapter on Thompson in Green and Holli,
Mayors
, pp. 61–81. “Slangy, vulgar, and alive” is from Bright,
Hizzoner Big Bill Thompson
, p. 3. “I have been requested by petition” is from the
Republican
’s reproduction of the text. “Big, boozy, bellowing” roar is from White,
Masks in a Pageant
, p. 485.

  
5.
 In later years—as was common in the early twentieth century—Thompson often lopped two years off his age by citing his birth year as 1869. Some people, including Bright and Stuart, apparently believed him.

  
6.
 The State Street Bridge incident is reported in Wendt and Kogan,
Big Bill of Chicago
, pp. 17–18. They are also the best source for details about Thompson’s childhood, youth, and early cowboy years.

  
7.
 For the account of Thompson’s pre-political life, I have relied most heavily on—in addition to the four mentioned biographies—White,
Masks in a Pageant;
Luthin,
American Demagogues;
Leinwand,
Mackerels in the Moonlight;
Thompson’s entry in the
Dictionary of American Biography;
and the
CDT
’s premature obituary for Thompson, published in error in 1931 and reprinted by Thompson in the campaign booklet
A Tragedy with a Laugh
.

  
8.
 The Jenney incident (“This money says Bill Thompson is scared!”) is from Wendt and Kogan,
Big Bill of Chicago
, p. 33.

  
9.
 The account of Thompson’s announcement speech (“An examination”) comes principally from the text as reprinted in the
Republican
of January 18. Much of the text is illegible in the surviving microfilm, however, so I have supplemented it with quotations cited by the other newspaper accounts of the Arcadia Hall speech (particularly that in the
CDT
) and with excerpts from Thompson’s standard stump speech for the 1919 campaign as recorded by a stenographer in the employ of Victor Lawson (Victor Lawson Papers, series 4, box 125, folder 828: “Mayor William Hale Thompson—Speeches 1919”).

10.
 The listing of Thompson’s achievements comes from the text in the
Republican
, as are the quotations in this section (“with less revenue” and “I know that a vast majority of the people”).

11.
 Bukowski,
Big Bill Thompson
, p. 4, explicitly makes the point that Thompson played politics as an extension of sports. “I’m spending $175 a day” is quoted in Wendt and Kogan,
Big Bill of Chicago
, p. 41.

12.
 Bukowski,
Big Bill Thompson
, pp. 13–14, has the best account of the politics behind Thompson’s aldermanic misadventures. “No one’s going to beat Bathhouse” is quoted in Wendt and Kogan,
Big Bill of Chicago
, p. 49.

13.
 Fred Lundin’s history and peculiarities are described in the four Thompson biographies (Bright devotes a whole chapter to him). But some of the best material comes from Zink,
City Bosses in the United States
, and from Eric R. Lund, “Swedish-American Politics and Press Response: The Chicago Mayoral Election of 1915” in Anderson and Blanck,
Swedish-American Life in Chicago: Cultural and Urban Aspects of an Immigrant People, 1850 to 1930
. “Get a tent” is quoted in Wendt and Kogan,
Big Bill of Chicago
, p. 49, as is “He may not be too much on brains,” p. 77.

14.
 “The Five Friends” and their political ambitions are best outlined in Stuart,
20 Incredible Years
, pp. xv, 1–4. The author claimed (in 1935) that the plan had never before been revealed in print. “A thrust for power never before attempted” is from ibid., p. 1.

15.
 Quotations and paraphrased assertions in this section come from the speech transcripts in the Victor Lawson Papers (box 125, folder 828) and from the text as printed in the
Republican
of September 18.

16.
 The
Tribune
’s observation about Thompson being the mouthpiece, with Lundin supplying the song, is quoted in Lund, “Swedish-American Politics.” The unique symbiotic quality of the Thompson-Lundin relationship, with the Poor Swede controlling his protégé from behind the scenes, is accepted by virtually all writers on the topic, though Stuart and Bukowski give Thompson more credit for being an independent thinker.

17.
 The scene at the Auditorium Theatre is best described in Bukowski,
Big Bill Thompson
, p. 10, and in Lovett, “ ‘Big Bill’ Thompson of Chicago,” p. 380. “I could no longer hold out agin ’em” is quoted in an unpublished lecture by Merriam, “Analysis of Some Political Personalities I Have Known,” p. 4. The most thorough account of the long odds against Thompson in the 1915 election come from Shottenhamel, “How Big Bill Thompson Won Control of Chicago,” p. 33.

18.
 For newspaper reaction to Thompson’s candidacy, see especially O’Reilly, “Colonel Robert Rutherford McCormick,” p. 68ff. Lawson’s judgment of Thompson as “simply impossible” is from Schmidt, “
Chicago Daily News
and Illinois Politics, 1876–1920,” p. 101. “Just who is this Bill Thompson?” is quoted in Wendt and Kogan,
Big Bill of Chicago
, p. 101.

19.
 Thompson’s campaign promises as per Wendt and Kogan,
Big Bill of Chicago
,
pp. 95, 103, and elsewhere. “You’re going to build a new Chicago with Bill Thompson!” is from ibid., p. 93.

20.
 “When in doubt, give a parade” is from Bright,
Hizzoner Big Bill Thompson
, p. 69. Election results as per Stuart,
20 Incredible Years
, p. 16. “Hoorah for Bill!” “Fred, you’re a wizard,” and other quotations in Thompson headquarters on election night are from Wendt and Kogan,
Big Bill of Chicago
, p. 114. “In six months we’ll know” is from ibid., p. 122.

21.
 “Between the people, on the one hand” is from a Thompson speech quoted in the
CDT
of January 18. “If continued in the office of mayor” is from the text in the
Republican
of January 15. “The audience stood on its feet” is from the same article.

CHAPTER THREE: ENEMIES

  
1.
 The Landis demurral (“I would just as soon have you ask me to clean a shithouse”) is quoted in Watkins,
Righteous Pilgrim
, p. 177.

  
2.
 Merriam’s life and work is most completely discussed in Karl,
Charles E. Merriam and the Study of Politics
. For the progressives’ preference for middle-class, educated experts over working-class ethnic politicians who might share the same goals, see Lissak,
Pluralism and Progressives
, p. 66. The Jane Addams quotations are from her endorsement in the Charles E. Merriam Papers, section 3, box 75, folder 5. Merriam’s attacks on Thompson are from ibid., section 3, box 76, folder 5.

  
3.
 The most complete source for details about Olson is Willrich,
City of Courts
. “Thanks to Mayor Thompson” is from the
CDT
of February 10. “They made the school treasury” is from the
CDT
of February 5. The list of scandals outlined by Olson is summarized in Hoffmann, “Big Bill Thompson,” p. 18. “Have used the vast public expenditures” is from the
CDT
of February 8.

  
4.
 There have been many books devoted to an analysis of urban political machines. Most useful to me were Gosnell,
Machine Politics
, and Allswang,
Bosses, Machines, and Urban Voters
. “Ceaseless devotion” is from Bright,
Hizzoner Big Bill Thompson
, p. xxii. See also Merriam,
Chicago
, p. 137.

  
5.
 “No mayor ever entered the City Hall” is quoted in Wendt and Kogan,
Big Bill of Chicago
, p. 120.

  
6.
 Thompson’s letter about the “fair manner” with which the
Trib
treated him, reproduced in the
CDT
of April 7, 1915, is cited in Bukowski,
Big Bill Thompson
, p. 37. The scene beginning “Victor Lawson listened” is recounted in Dennis,
Lawson
, pp. 318–19.

  
7.
 “We’re going to drive every crook” is quoted in Luthin,
American Demagogues
, p. 84. “No shadow of corruption” is cited in Wendt and Kogan,
Big Bill of Chicago
, p. 120.

  
8.
 “I’m not going to let them leave” and the model boat incident is from Wendt and Kogan,
Big Bill of Chicago
, p. 125. “I am here to emphasize the grief and indignation” is cited in Bukowski,
Big Bill Thompson
, pp. 41–42. The popularity of “Big Bill hats” after the
Eastland
disaster is noted by Stuart,
20 Incredible Years
, p. 19.

  
9.
 “Here it is.
You
play with it” is from Wendt and Kogan,
Big Bill of Chicago
, p. 126. “A roster of his nearest and dearest friends” is from Bright,
Hizzoner Big Bill Thompson
, p. 68. The discontent over appointments is best summarized in Chenery, “Fall of a Mayor,” p. 37. Chicagoans’ mistrust of their hometown papers is cited in Shottenhamel, “How Big Bill Thompson Won Control of Chicago,” p. 40.

10.
 Lundin’s early image maneuvering and machine building is recounted in an article on the Poor Swede in the
CDT
of March 31. See also Stuart,
20 Incredible Years
, p. 16. “To the people of Chicago” is quoted by Bukowski,
Big Bill Thompson
, p. 51. “Unscrupulous politicians should be thwarted” is cited in Wendt and Kogan,
Big Bill of Chicago
, p. 143. The suicide note was printed in the
CDT
and
CDN
editions of April 3, 1916.

11.
 “The people don’t want it” is from a diary kept by Max Loeb, quoted in the
CDT
of September 1, 1918.

12.
 “Chicago is the sixth largest German city” is cited ubiquitously, as in Wendt and Kogan,
Big Bill of Chicago
, p. 151. They also cite “This war is a needless sacrifice” on p. 155.

13.
 “I think that Mayor Thompson is guilty of treason,” “a disgrace to the city,” and “a low-down double-crosser” are cited in Wendt and Kogan,
Big Bill of Chicago
, pp. 156–57.

14.
 Big Bill’s response to his attackers is best described in Stuart,
20 Incredible Years
, p. 50ff. The results of the primary vote come from ibid., p. 56. Bright,
Hizzoner Big Bill Thompson
, p. 118, and Luthin,
American Demagogues
, p. 87, discuss the unpopularity of the war among Chicago’s ethnic groups. The analogy with Lincoln’s loss to Douglas was made in the
Republican
of September 21, 1918.

15.
 Bukowski,
Big Bill Thompson
, pp. 4, 17ff., has the best discussion of Thompson’s shifting image over the course of his first term and his turn away from the increasingly powerless reform element and toward immigrants and workers.

16.
 “Who are the other two candidates” is from the
Republican
of February 22.

17.
 Thompson’s invitation to debate was reported in the
CDT
of January 25 and 26. The February 11 confrontation was widely covered, with slightly varying details, in most of the papers. I have relied most heavily on the account in the
CDT
of February 12, from which the quotations in this paragraph come.

18.
 “
FIGHT FOR YOUR RIGHTS
!” is from a Thompson campaign letter collected in the Charles E. Merriam Papers, series 3, box 75, folder 3.

CHAPTER FOUR: THE FOURTH ESTATE

  
1.
 There have been several biographies of Robert R. McCormick, the most complete of which is Smith,
Colonel
. Also useful (and often more sardonic) are Gies,
Colonel of Chicago
, and Morgan and Veysey,
Poor Little Rich Boy
. McCormick’s accent as per Gies,
Colonel of Chicago
, p. 8ff.
Tribune
book critic Burton Rascoe’s memoir,
Before I Forget
, provides an unforgettable portrait of the Colonel (see pp. 8 and 267 for details on his dogs and his rooftop polo practice). McCormick’s height is from his entry in the
Dictionary of American Biography
. “Working for McCormick is a little like working for God” is quoted in O’Reilly, “Colonel Robert Rutherford McCormick,” p. 3.

  
2.
 The authoritative biography of Lawson is Dennis,
Lawson
. Third-largest-circulation newspaper as per ibid., p. 140. The firing of the pressman is also from ibid., p. 29, as is Lawson’s habit of testing advertisers’ claims, p. 137. “A man of mental and moral poverty” is quoted in ibid., p. 321.

  
3.
 “Some newspapers” is from a Thompson campaign booklet in the Charles E. Merriam Papers, series 3, box 75, folder 3. The two newspaper “scandals” are widely reported in the biographies and elsewhere. Lawson discusses the tax bill issue in correspondence in the Victor F. Lawson Papers, series 4, box 125, folder 827. “Robbing the school children” and “tax dodger” are from Thompson stump speeches transcribed in ibid., folder 828.

  
4.
 The two quotations in this paragraph are from a letter from Lawson to Arthur Brisbane dated March 13 (Victor F. Lawson Papers, series 1, box 74).