Clout: Mayor Daley and His City

Despite efforts to capture him in

biographies and magazine articles,

Chicago s Mayor Daley has hitherto

defied encapsulation. No more. Len

O Connor, the leading Chicago

political analyst, has written what will

likely be hailed as the finest, and most

controversial, political biography of

the year.

From a political point of view,

Daley and Chicago are virtually synon-

ymous. Yet it was not always so, of

course, and O Connor explains, in

detail, how Daley came to power, how

he eliminated or otherwise brought his

opponents under control, how the

way was paved for him by allies he

later turned out. In short, O Connor

provides the definitive treatment of

Daley s early years.

No less important, and every bit as

interesting, is O Connor s treatment of

the twenty years during which Daley

has been mayor. Here are laid out, for

the first time, the workings of the

Daley machine, the successes and the

abject failures of one of the twentieth

century s most astute and puzzling

political animals.

O Connor, with his unequalled

political connections, takes the reader

into secret meetings, behind the

scenes in council meetings, into the

wards and precincts. Here the often

obscure but influential names of

Chicago s and the nation s political

present and past take on flesh, be-

come real: National Committeeman

Jacob Arvey; President Kennedy, his

father Joe Kennedy, and the rest of

the clan; President of the County

Board Dan Ryan; Alderman Paddy

Bauler; Federal Judges Kerner and

Lynch-and on and on. What makes