Legend: The Only Inside Story About Mayor Richard J. Daley [Hardcover]

Frank Sullivan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1989

Written by Daley's press secretary, this book tells what it was like working with America's most controversial urban politician, the powerful and controversial Mayor Richard Daley of Chicago.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

These are insider accounts by the press secretaries of Daley, who ruled Chicago for 21 years, and Washington, the city's first black mayor, who unexpectedly died in 1987 in the middle of his second term. Ironically, Daley's son, Richard M. Daley, has been elected to complete Washington's term.-- Ed. Journalist Sullivan's book is an anecdotal, repetitive, and disorganized attempt at describing Daley, a man the author feels few understood. Though contradictory rhetoric worked for Daley, it doesn't for Sullivan. He defends Daley against a host of media and political criticism, but excoriates him for tolerating police corruption and mismanagement. He defends Daley against charges of racism, but admits his boss "wasn't comfortable with Jews and blacks." Some of the author's stories add aura and authenticity to a fragmented narrative, but this is a far cry from Mike Royko's colorful Boss: Richard J. Daley of Chicago ( LJ 6/1/71). Miller's book is more sustained and much better written, and it creates a more coherent (if more favorable) view of his subject than Sullivan's. Discussing in detail how Washington appointed Miller press secretary despite limited political experience (Miller had been a dance company manager), Miller proceeds to paint a complimentary portrait of an earthy and complex figure whose mayoral career was permeated with constant fighting with alderman, the media, and various ethnic groups. This book gives readers a clear and partisan sense of Chicago's weirdly fractured politics. Other books to consult include Paul Kleppner's Chicago Divided (Northern Illinois Univ. Pr., 1985) and Melvin G. Holli and Paul M. Green's Bashing Chicago Traditions: Harold Washington's Last Campaign , published by Eerdmans this month.
- Ed. -- Jack Forman, Mesa Coll. Lib., San Diego
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 264 pages
• Publisher: Bonus Books (March 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0933893965
• ISBN-13: 978-0933893962
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,001,205 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A balanced account of a controversial urban politician, September 25, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Legend: The Only Inside Story About Mayor Richard J. Daley (Hardcover)

This is a memoir about the late Mayor Richard J. Daley of Chicago written by his press secretary. It explains how Daley was able to win support from substantial majorities of that city's voters from all racial and ethnic groups in six consecutive elections. The author, a former newspaper reporter, tells the story fairly but with obvious admiration for his subject.

3.0 out of 5 stars Choppy At Its Best, August 26, 2011

By 

AgnesMack (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Legend: The Only Inside Story About Mayor Richard J. Daley (Hardcover)

I've been wanting to learn more about Chicago history and so when I found Legend in the bargain bin a few months back I decided to pick it up. I'm not sure what I was expecting but I wasn't particularly impressed with it.

First of all, it was written by one of Richard J. Daley's Press Secretaries, whose background was in reporting. He clearly didn't know how to write a book-length story and so this book was cut up into tons of chapters, each only 2 or 3 pages long. There was absolutely no flow to it. It was not in chronological order and essentially repeated much of the information over and over again.

I guess I was hoping it would give me a good background of Richard J. Daley, and move into some of the high and lowlights of his political career. Instead, it basically only touched on isolated events and showed examples of his political savviness. However, I did not need 10 chapters to serve as examples of the same point.

Overall, I learned a few things but it really read like a series of newspaper clippings, most of which were covering the same few things. I would have liked a more cohesive, chronological narrative and more background on Mayor Richard J. Daley.

0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Excuses,Excuses,Excuses, March 25, 2008

By 

Charles H. Levenson "chubbybuns" (new jersey) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Legend: The Only Inside Story About Mayor Richard J. Daley (Hardcover)

Friends of a rogue usually cannot be expected to write an objective biography..This is especially the case when the writer was part and parcel of the rogue behaviour..Upon his election as Mayor of the city of Chicago in 1955 Richard J.Daley was already practiced at turning a blind eye to all of the political corruption going on around him.Daley wanted power,and was quite willing to ignore corruption in order to aquire and maintain it.Now some may say,and without apology,that this is the way of things in politics,it nonetheless is instructive that one of Daley's first official acts once he assumed the office of mayor was to abolish all independent investigative bodies and have that power transferred to the mayor himself.To make matters even worse,and more hypocritical,Daley made sure that this action allowed the mayor,Daley himself,to pass judgement on any allegations made,investigated,or uncovered by agents beholden to the mayor alone.Thus in one move Daley abolished corruption in his city because only he would have the means to discover all of the facts and only he would have the power to use these facts,or ignore them.So the many books,written by friends ,co-workers,and relatives which tiptoe past the real Richard J.Daley in order to present a sanitised version,or those works,like this one,that excuses Daley on everything that was wrong with himself and his long,dictatorial administration have little merit,except perhaps as fiction.
Daley was a"Boss",with all of the ego that such a term implies...And while,under his long administration,certain changes and improved conditions did occur,they only did so as to Daley's whim,rather than as any true response to the will of the public at large..Further,Daley tolerated the corruption of many of those around him..He knew about it,accepted it,and did all in his power to avoid having to clean house in the way that any HONEST politician might do..While Daley himself may have been without stain those around him certainly were not,and it is beyond belief that Daley knew nothing whatever about this..To further complicate matters,Daley rewarded first his family and then his close pals often at the direct expense of the people..If that was not indirect corruption then nothing is...
None of this is dealt with in a volume like this one..Instead we have a portrait that is highly selective,one showing only the "good" that Richard Daley alledgedly accomplished while ignoring or excusing all of the rest.