Keeping Blacks happy

In 1972, Mayor Richard J. Daley needed to install a Black Congressman on Chicago’s west side to prevent a potential Black rebellion against the Machine, a possibility triggered by the recent killing of two Black Panther leaders in a raid led by Cook County State’s Attorney Ed Hanrahan.

A key part of the “keep Blacks happy” scheme involved the west side Congressional seat held by Frank Annunzio, a former 1st Ward Democratic Committeeman, whose tenure was important to organized labor and to elements of the Party who were said not to exist.

Annunzio was instructed to move into the northwest side district of Roman Pucinski in 1972 to face 47th Ward Republican Alderman John Hoellen, who was running again for Congress after having nearly won six years earlier.

Annunzio was promised strong party backing, not because the Machine cared about a Congressional seat, but because it cared about Annunzio.

Pucinski, rather than seek re-election, was slated in a hopeless race against Republican Senator Charles Percy. And in Annunzio’s old congressional district, the party slated State Representative George Collins for Congress, providing the west side Black community with representation at the national level for the first time.

Annunzio and Collins won. Pucinski lost by a wide margin and was elected 41st Ward Alderman the following year. For him, that was a big demotion. He lost a Mayoral primary race in 1977, after Daley’s death, and continued to serve as Alderman until 1991 when he was defeated for re-election.