Picking Up the Pieces

Monday, Apr. 25, 1983 By WALTER ISAACSON
Article Tools
Print
Reprints
Sphere
RSS

(2 of 5)

Related Articles

For blacks nationwide, Washington's win was a symbol of the fruits of political participation. "This is the most significant black political movement since the Selma-to-Montgomery march" 18 years ago, said Civil Rights Leader Jesse Jackson. RIZZO IS NEXT read a banner at the victory celebration. Indeed, if Wilson Goode, now well ahead, beats former Mayor Frank Rizzo in next month's primary in Philadelphia and goes on to become mayor, the leaders of four of the nation's six largest cities will be black, an impressive buildup of political muscle.

The results in Chicago reflected the racial divisions evident in the campaign. Across the city, the turnout was a record: almost 80% of those registered cast ballots. Washington carried many black wards by more than 95% of the vote. In the 24th Ward on the heavily black West Side, for example, he tallied 24,259 votes to Epton's 129. He handily won all 19 of the city's black wards and took almost 60% of the Hispanic vote.

Conversely, the white ethnic wards, which have voted solidly Democratic since William ("Big Bill") Thompson was elected the last Republican mayor in 1927, went heavily for Epton. In the Polish-Irish-Russian 13th Ward on the Southwest Side, Epton took 34,856 votes to Washington's 1,457. Even the famed Eleventh Ward of Bridgeport, the bedrock Democratic base of the late Mayor Daley, voted overwhelmingly Republican. Holding the electoral balance were the city's six affluent "Lakefront Liberal" wards. Undecided until the very end, they finally gave Washington 40% of their vote, enough to assure his 51.8% majority.

During the final few days, Washington tried to capitalize on the growing revulsion, particularly in the Lakefront wards, with the squalid campaign. He took the offensive by publicly confronting baseless rumors that he had been arrested for child molesting. He also aired a powerful television ad that showed a series of violent scenes from America's past: a Ku Klux Klan rally, the assassinations of John Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr., the Kent State shootings. It culminated with pictures of Epton supporters jeering Washington at a church on Palm Sunday. "There are moments in our history of which we are thoroughly and profoundly ashamed," said the narrator. "One of these moments may be happening in Chicago right now."

The hard-hitting ad, which was pulled off the air after only four showings, caused dissension within Washington's already fragmented campaign staff. But the candidate was unfazed. With rising adrenaline, he spent 16-hr. days stumping in white, black and Hispanic areas, assailing the "greed merchants" who feed off the city's patronage trough. Through it all he remained upbeat. What had he learned about himself? "I have infinitely more patience than I thought I did."