Richard J. Daley, an only child, was born in 1902 into an Irish catholic neighborhood of south Chicago. He went to Catholic elementary school and a Catholic technical school where he learned secretarial skills. Following his mother's tradition, Daley attended Mass daily throughout his life.

Daley's political career began almost immediately out of school. After some odd jobs, he landed a position as a personal secretary to an alderman at the City Hall. In the evenings he attended classes at DePaul University School of Law. In 1934, he earned his law degree. He never practiced law, however, as he was soon elected to the Illinois Legislature.

Daley is best remembered as being the last "Big Boss" of Chicago. His long tenure as Mayor began in 1955 and ended with his death in 1976. He was reelected in 1959, 1963 and in 1967 he became the first Chicago Mayor to be elected for a consecutive fourth four-year term. On April 23, 1969, Mayor Daley set a new record for serving as mayor longer than any other man in Chicago's history - a total of 14 years and 3 days. In 1975 Mayor Daley once again broke precedent when he was elected for a sixth four-year term as Mayor of Chicago. He died in office on December 20, 1976. Daley headed the Cook County Democratic organization, perhaps the strongest political machine in the United States. He became an adviser to President John F. Kennedy and to President Lyndon B. Johnson. Under Daley's leadership, Chicago reorganized its police department, encouraged the construction of many major downtown buildings, and pushed an urban renewal and rebuilding program that removed many slums.

In the early 1970's, Daley's administration was rocked by several scandals and trials involving corruption. None involved Daley himself, though many high officials were found guilty. Over 50 police officers were convicted of taking bribes from tavern owners. As a Mayor, he was known for his heavy-handed ways and for being unacceptably tolerant of corruption, despite his own personal honesty. Although he opposed the war in Vietnam, he publicly supported President Johnson's actions. His loyalty won him the honor of hosting the 1968 Democratic National Convention.

Daley was delighted at the opportunity to be the center of attention. He made it clear to all of the organizers that he did not want people thinking the convention was merely being held in Chicago, but in "Daley's Chicago."

Daley "was not about to let his city host the unraveling of the Democratic Party by unruly protesters." To this end, in addition to his 12,000 police officers (whom he put on 12 hour shifts for the convention), he also called in 7,500 US Army troops and 6,000 national guardsmen. For the week of the convention, Daley had a bigger army than had General Washington.

Daley did become the center of attention as a result of the convention, though not in the way he had hoped. During the convention, Daley's police force clubbed and maced not only "unruly protesters," but also members of the press, clergymen, women, old, young, and anyone else who was within swinging distance. "Police riots" of this type had happened before in Chicago, but they had never been given much press coverage.

The morning after the worst of the police riots had taken place, Daley announced in an interview with Walter Cronkite that he had on his desk secret reports of threatened assassinations of himself and three of the Democratic candidates. He explained that having had this information, it was very appropriate that his officers had behaved as they did. He assassination reports were never substantiated.