Former Chicago Mayor Jane Byrne, who died on Friday, battled to keep her job in a very contentious 1983 Democratic primary where, for the first time, TV commercials played a role. Byrne was running for re-election against then Cook County State’s Attorney Richard Daley and then Rep. Harold Washington D-Ill. who won the contest and went on to battle then State Rep. Bernie Epton D-Chicago in the general election and win. I thought at the time the commercials were an important part of Chicago’s political history, so I collected the tapes from the contenders and produced a segment for Tom Weinberg’s WTTW’s “Image Union.”
Jane Byrne, rest in peace.
Thanks for the stories.
