American Pharaoh by Elizabeth Taylor, Adam Cohen
Authors: Elizabeth Taylor, Adam Cohen
Tags: BIO000000
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is not blinded by hate, prejudice, and bigotry.” At the same time, Kelly
offered an olive branch to the black gambling operations that had been Cermak’s special target. The same police that had conducted
aggressive raids under the previous mayoral administration now had firm orders to hold back. The new, warmer relations between
gambling operations and City Hall were reflected in a 1934
Chicago Daily News
report that the machine was now taking in $1 million a month from illicit vice, and that precinct captains, particularly
in the black wards, were running gambling houses. 14
Kelly’s outreach to Chicago’s black community came against the backdrop of a major party realignment occurring in black America.
The Great Depression pushed many Americans into the Democratic camp: Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected in 1932 with roughly
60 percent of the vote, and he swept Democrats into office with him at every level. Although blacks were among the nation’s
worst off citizens, many were reluctant to abandon the party of Lincoln for a Democratic Party in which the segregationist
Dixiecrat wing was so strong. In Roosevelt’s landslide 1932 victory, blacks gave him only 32 percent of their votes. Once
in office, though, Roosevelt quickly began to win black voters over with his evident compassion for the victims of hard times.
His New Deal initiatives — the NRA, the CCC, the WPA, and other programs designed to get Americans working again — earned
him considerable gratitude in the black community. Roosevelt was regarded as a kind of secular savior by many blacks — “Let
Jesus lead you and Roosevelt feed you!” was one black preacher’s rallying cry. In 1936, Roosevelt took 49 percent of the black
vote, and four years later he won 52 percent. This black movement toward the Democratic Party was helped along by the fact
that the party was beginning to break with its southern wing and express greater support for civil rights. In 1944, after
Roosevelt endorsed equal opportunity for all races and an end to the poll tax, his national share of the black vote jumped
to 64 percent. In 1948, after Hubert Humphrey’s civil rights platform was adopted at the Democratic National Convention and
President Truman issued his order integrating the armed forces, 75 percent of black America voted Democratic at the presidential
level. 15
In large part because of Mayor Kelly’s efforts, Chicago blacks began to defect to the Democratic Party slightly ahead of the
national trend. In 1934, the Democratic machine embarked on a mission of virtual lèse majesté, challenging the South Side’s
legendary three-term Republican congressman, Oscar DePriest. The first black elected to Congress since 1901, DePriest was
a heroic figure to blacks across the country. He battled tirelessly against segregation and in support of black institutions
such as Howard University. But for all of DePriest’s popularity and good works, it was becoming increasingly hard to be a
black Republican. It also hurt him that he was a loyal party man, who regularly voted against the New Deal programs that were
so popular with his constituents. In an outcome that marked a sea change in the city’s politics, a black Democrat, Arthur
Mitchell, took DePriest’s seat. Any doubts that the movement toward the Democrats was real were dispelled the following year
when Kelly ran for reelection. Days before the voting, black Republicans turned out for a massive pro-Kelly rally in Congressional
Hall. “Lincoln is dead,” a former Republican alderman told the crowd. “You don’t need no ghost from the grave to tell you
what to do when you go to the polls Tuesday.” The Democratic ticket, with Kelly at the top, swept the black South Side, taking
more than 80 percent of the vote. 16
This political realignment led to the birth of a remarkable political organization: the black submachine. This new force in
Chicago politics was
offered an olive branch to the black gambling operations that had been Cermak’s special target. The same police that had conducted
aggressive raids under the previous mayoral administration now had firm orders to hold back. The new, warmer relations between
gambling operations and City Hall were reflected in a 1934
Chicago Daily News
report that the machine was now taking in $1 million a month from illicit vice, and that precinct captains, particularly
in the black wards, were running gambling houses. 14
Kelly’s outreach to Chicago’s black community came against the backdrop of a major party realignment occurring in black America.
The Great Depression pushed many Americans into the Democratic camp: Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected in 1932 with roughly
60 percent of the vote, and he swept Democrats into office with him at every level. Although blacks were among the nation’s
worst off citizens, many were reluctant to abandon the party of Lincoln for a Democratic Party in which the segregationist
Dixiecrat wing was so strong. In Roosevelt’s landslide 1932 victory, blacks gave him only 32 percent of their votes. Once
in office, though, Roosevelt quickly began to win black voters over with his evident compassion for the victims of hard times.
His New Deal initiatives — the NRA, the CCC, the WPA, and other programs designed to get Americans working again — earned
him considerable gratitude in the black community. Roosevelt was regarded as a kind of secular savior by many blacks — “Let
Jesus lead you and Roosevelt feed you!” was one black preacher’s rallying cry. In 1936, Roosevelt took 49 percent of the black
vote, and four years later he won 52 percent. This black movement toward the Democratic Party was helped along by the fact
that the party was beginning to break with its southern wing and express greater support for civil rights. In 1944, after
Roosevelt endorsed equal opportunity for all races and an end to the poll tax, his national share of the black vote jumped
to 64 percent. In 1948, after Hubert Humphrey’s civil rights platform was adopted at the Democratic National Convention and
President Truman issued his order integrating the armed forces, 75 percent of black America voted Democratic at the presidential
level. 15
In large part because of Mayor Kelly’s efforts, Chicago blacks began to defect to the Democratic Party slightly ahead of the
national trend. In 1934, the Democratic machine embarked on a mission of virtual lèse majesté, challenging the South Side’s
legendary three-term Republican congressman, Oscar DePriest. The first black elected to Congress since 1901, DePriest was
a heroic figure to blacks across the country. He battled tirelessly against segregation and in support of black institutions
such as Howard University. But for all of DePriest’s popularity and good works, it was becoming increasingly hard to be a
black Republican. It also hurt him that he was a loyal party man, who regularly voted against the New Deal programs that were
so popular with his constituents. In an outcome that marked a sea change in the city’s politics, a black Democrat, Arthur
Mitchell, took DePriest’s seat. Any doubts that the movement toward the Democrats was real were dispelled the following year
when Kelly ran for reelection. Days before the voting, black Republicans turned out for a massive pro-Kelly rally in Congressional
Hall. “Lincoln is dead,” a former Republican alderman told the crowd. “You don’t need no ghost from the grave to tell you
what to do when you go to the polls Tuesday.” The Democratic ticket, with Kelly at the top, swept the black South Side, taking
more than 80 percent of the vote. 16
This political realignment led to the birth of a remarkable political organization: the black submachine. This new force in
Chicago politics was
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