The 1996 Democratic National Convention in Chicago wasn’t political to then-Mayor Richard M. Daley. It was personal. He didn’t have to say a word to his top aides. It was understood.
Daley was determined to showcase a new and different Chicago on the world stage and erase the ugly memory of the clashes between anti-Vietnam War protesters and Chicago police that marred the 1968 Democratic convention during his father’s tenure.
He managed to do that in spectacular fashion, putting on a convention that was almost picture-perfect — right down to the cloudless skies and star-filled nights. Delegates attending Bill Clinton’s nomination as president left singing Chicago’s praises. Headlines hailed the new Chicago.
When it was over, Daley was like a giddy child on Christmas morning during a celebratory news conference at Navy Pier. The weight had been lifted from his — and Chicago’s — big shoulders.
“We knew that ’68 footage would be coming up again and again and again. His interest was less about any sort of vindication about his dad. … It was more about people who were giving Chicago a raw deal,” said Leslie Fox, executive director of the 1996 convention’s host committee.
“He saw this as an opportunity to show a city that does work — not a city that crumbles under the pressure of protesters. The stakes were pretty high.”
Fox quarterbacked a close-knit Daley team that helped deliver a nearly flawless convention — a lofty achievement not easy to duplicate. (Through representatives, the former mayor declined to be interviewed for this story.)
Twenty-eight years later, members of that team fondly recall Daley’s efforts to beautify and transform Chicago in the run-up to the convention, and the logistical plan they executed during those four days.
‘Fix things up a little bit’ on Near West Side
Terry Teele is the longtime Daley confidante who served as the mayor’s point-person on all things development. At the time, Daley told him to “laser focus on the convention” and “fix things up a little bit” on the Near West Side.
“I knew what that meant. I already had the bible of Rich Daley’s vision for Chicago neighborhoods,” Teele recalled.
In 1994, Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley (from left), Gov. Jim Edgar and Blackhawks owner Bill Wirtz were at the still-under-construction United Center to announce the city would bid to host both the Democratic and Republican national conventions in 1996. One corner of the soon-to-be demolished Chicago Stadium is at far right. The GOP convention wound up in San Diego.
Sun Times file photo
“The Near West Side was in transition — from the meat markets to McDonald’s headquarters. We engineered the last acquisition of Skid Row. We did senior housing, other housing and three campus parks. We took out a lane of traffic on Randolph and put in planters, ornamental lighting and wrought-iron fencing,” Teele added.
All the improvements south of Lake and west of Halsted, Teele said, “were things he wanted done long before the convention. The most important thing the convention did was set a timeline. It was an opportunity to fast-track a lot of things and cut through the bureaucracy. We used the convention to fast-track, but we didn’t just decide to do it because of a three-day convention.”
Peter Cunningham, a senior deputy chief of staff under Daley, agreed his boss used the convention “as an opportunity to leverage restoration of the West Side.”
“He wasn’t just saying, ‘I want to have a good convention.’ It was, ‘Since we’re having a convention, I want that convention to last,’” Cunningham said.
“The United Center had been built. We had already done a lot of housing. But he knew this was an area that could benefit from investment. He had a clear vision that it had to be something that would last.”
‘This is the most important thing to my family’
Chicago had already proven its mettle on the world stage, having played host to the 1994 World Cup soccer tournament. It was time to bring the band back together with higher stakes for a city where politics — not soccer—is the No. 1 sport.
“He was very hands on. He wanted the city to shine for the DNC and the world. He wanted the world to come to Chicago. He wanted everyone in his administration to be excited and feel a sense of ownership,” recalled Sarah Pang, who served as first deputy chief of staff.
“Mayor Daley would go around to the commissioners and even to the people working [in the streets] and sweeping. They were so excited to be a part it even though they knew they’d never get to the convention hall. Everybody had a role. We had meetings together every day. We had a lot of pride. You could see how important it was for Mayor Daley, that it was perfect. I would say to him, ‘There’s nothing perfect. But we’re doing everything we can so it’s gonna be great.’ And he just gave me that look.”
Fox recalled having to be “cajoled” by the mayor and Bill Daley, the mayor’s brother, into running the ’96 convention.
“I had done the World Cup. I was ready to go to the private sector. I wasn’t going to do it, but Rich and Bill said: ‘This is the most important thing to my family.’ … When you work for the Daleys, there are no offers you can refuse,” Fox said.
Equally convincing, Fox said, was the “undeniable, palpable support” from Daley’s City Hall.
“Rich told me he had my back. I told him, ‘I’m not hiring dopes.’ I had complete control. That support meant a lot because, if the White House was on my back, he didn’t care. I was able to say ‘no’ to the party, the DNC and the White House as much as I want. ... All of the noise of all of these different agendas, I didn’t have to deal with. Our only agenda was Chicago,” she said.
Power to say ‘no’
The issues over which Chicago’s interests clashed with the interests of the White House and the Democratic National Committee were “too many to cite,” Fox said.
“Traffic, money, money, money. No, no, no. Budget, budget, budget. ... More parking and cars for DNC staff outside the contract? Hard ‘no.’ Security for staff to make them feel important? Hard ‘no.’ Closing streets that would mess things up for city commuters? We need a better plan. ... Selling tickets to raise money? That would have been an outrageous concept,” Fox said.
She also kept a close eye on the budget. “I was so worried we wouldn’t have enough” money, Fox said, but “we actually did refunds [to donors] and pro-rated it.”
One of the few hiccups during the convention occurred the first night as credentialed delegates, alternates, VIPs and visitors lined up to go inside the United Center.
“There was a mash-up of people going through the metal detectors. People were getting really upset because they couldn’t get into the convention,” Pang recalled. “So, we got all of our volunteers to go out and get baggies. They went down every line and had them put their keys and things in plastic bags. And we cleared it out right away.”
Neal Sullivan, who served as “demonstration group coordinator” for the Chicago Police Department during the 1996 convention, said there were “dozens of permitted events” during convention week and “96% of the folks who had permits cooperated” with the city’s parameters.
“There was an area around the United Center where people could peacefully protest. ... Police stood around and monitored it and made sure nobody breached the perimeter,” Sullivan recalled.
“About a hundred people tried to go to an event at the Art Institute where JFK Jr. was the star attraction. They were stopped before they could get to the Art Institute. We made it through, basically, unscathed,” Sullivan added. “We didn’t have any flashpoints. No citizens were injured or shot. No officers were injured. It became a non-event, even though we were under the microscope.”
Sullivan said the formula for success was adequate training and having enough officers and staff to “respond to any situation.”
“It’s a psychological thing. If you don’t have the numbers, they push harder. If you want to prevent people from going in a certain direction, you form a line with supervisors behind them. If people start throwing rocks and bottles, you make sure that officers are not just running off on their own to chase. You maintain discipline,” Sullivan said.
“We didn’t let them act out. We were ready to employ mass arrests if necessary. But, we didn’t have to go into mass arrest mode.”
Daley prepped on ’68 questions
Former Daley press secretary-turned WBBM-TV Channel 2 anchor Jim Williams recalled the exhaustive mock interviews that he, Bill Daley and media consultant David Axelrod conducted with the mayor to prepare him for the conveyor belt of interviews he would have to do before, during and after the convention.
Daley’s answer to the ’68 questions were always the same. He never blamed his father, former Mayor Richard J. Daley. He “shifted the focus” to then President Lyndon Johnson, Williams said.
“We discussed the questions that were likely to be asked. We tried to get him to reflect on his father’s time in office. He wouldn’t go there. He was never going to be critical of his father,” Williams recalled.
“So we tried to figure out a better way to respond that made him comfortable talking about a person he loved and admired. What he came up with was, his father loved this country. He got information from the Johnson administration that Chicago was in danger. So he did the best he could to protect his city.”
After the celebratory news conference at Navy Pier, Daley hosted a dinner for Fox and roughly 30 members of her close-knit staff.
He thanked them all personally, and was impressed enough with their performance that he hired Fox’s entire staff.
“He offered them jobs and found them departments. They were all hired in City Hall. Some of them stayed. Some went on to do better things,” Fox said. “But every single person was hired.”
