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Nov 24, 2007 2:48 pm US/Central
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Mayor Harold Washington: A City In Mourning
Mayor Suffered Massive Heart Attack On Day Before Thanksgiving 1987
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
When people talk about Mayor Harold Washington, one of the qualities that is mentioned almost universally is his charisma and congeniality, which made strangers as comfortable and at ease as if he were an old friend.
Before the primary elections in 1987, an assistant commissioner with the Chicago Department of Planning brought his 6-year-old son to meet Mayor Washington, who was out campaigning with U.S. Sen. Paul Simon in the West Rogers Park neighborhood.
Mayor Washington laughed jovially as he walked down Devon Avenue to meet the boy and a group of other children who had come to meet him with their parents. The mayor shook the little boy's hand warmly and graciously accepted a drawing of the Chicago city seal that the boy had made the night before with pencil and Crayola crayon.
That little boy was me, CBS 2 Web producer Adam Harrington. I'll always remember the excitement and jubilation of that day. And I'll also always remember the heartbreak and grief that came over our house about 10 months later, on the day before Thanksgiving, when my dad came home from work and told me, "Something sad happened to day, and it happened to someone you met."
Earlier in the day, Washington appeared at a groundbreaking at 46th Street and Woodlawn Avenue, raising a shovel with the local alderman, Tim Evans (4th) and other officials. A news conference had followed the event.
"This morning, when the mayor was at the groundbreaking at 46th and Woodlawn, he looked OK; he was joking, and also serious – his same jovial self," said Robert Lucas of the Kenwood-Oakland Community Organizaton. "He appeared to be all right to me; I've known the man since 1963, and I didn't see any real difference this morning."
Afterward, Washington returned to City Hall, where he worked with his secretary and conducted the day's business. Around 10:58 a.m., Washington was talking with his press secretary, Alton Miller, when he collapsed at his desk.
"I thought he was reaching under his desk," Miller said. "I didn't understand that he had really slumped onto the desk for about 30 seconds." The mayor's security officers administered CPR, Miller said.
The mayor was rushed to Northwestern Memorial Hospital. His heart had stopped and his lungs had ceased to work, and he was unconscious as Miller rode the ambulance with him.
For two hours behind the doors of the hospital emergency room, friends gathered – praying, consoling, and hoping the mayor would pull through the devastating cardiac arrest.
But the doctors – even with their state-of-the-art equipment in one of Chicago's most modern hospitals – could not get the heart to resume pumping. He had been placed on life support in hopes that a "dramatic" form of CPR would reactivate his heart and brain, but that never happened, said attending physician John Sanders. At 1:36 p.m., Nov. 25, 1987, Mayor Harold Washington passed away. He was 65.
A City In Shock Miller told former CBS 2 anchorwoman Linda MacLennan that the only tougher day he'd ever had on the job was the day his own father died. That pain was felt throughout the entire city.
On the South Side, where many considered the mayor a hero and knew him simply as "Harold," there was a sense of tragedy in many places. One such place was Army and Lou's restaurant, at 75th Street and Vernon Avenue. Washington frequently dined at Army and Lou's, and it was one of many places where his picture hung on the wall in the entry way.
Lunchtime patrons at the restaurant gathered in front of a TV set, watching the unthinkable unfold.
Meanwhile downtown, Chicagoans gathered around any television or radio they could find, even displays in electronics stores. Many people were in tears.
"It's sad, because the mayor was a very bright individual, and the ultimate success of his goal was to do anything he put his mind to," said Judith Welch.
One woman, Sylvia Franklin, stopped CBS 2's Dorothy Tucker on the street and asked her if it was true that the mayor had died, after seeing people crying near Daley Plaza. At that time, the information was only an unconfirmed rumor.
But at a time when preparing Thanksgiving dinner, going on vacation, or bringing in out-of-town guests would likely be foremost on Chicagoans' mind, the reality set in that the mayor had died.
"I'm very saddened by it. I don't know how my holidays are going to go right now," said a man downtown. "Personally, I'm supposed to go back to work, and I don't think I really want to go to work."
"I don't know what to say, because I feel it in my heart," a young man said. "I just don't know what to say."
The coalition that Mayor Washington had built in the City Council did not always agree, and the aldermen were in for a week of bitter turmoil starting in the coming days. But the day the mayor died, they too were united in mourning.
Like other Chicagoans, there was confusion and uncertainty at first. But when word came, life at 121 N. LaSalle St. changed forever.
"What we can say to the people is stay strong, because this is not going to end, this is just the beginning of a legacy," said Ald. Marlene Carter (15th), "and that legacy is to continue on in Mayor Washington's spirit, and Mayor Washington was just the very beginning. It's nowhere near the end."
"He was an inspiration in our community," said Ald. Luis Gutierrez (26th), now a U.S. congressman. "Our community voted overwhelmingly for him, and he brought a new spark, a new life, a new vigor to civics; to getting involved; to showing that the neighborhood could move forward; to showing that there was a better day."
"Chicago has lost the very best that it has ever had. The United States of America and indeed the world has lost a true champion of justice, of equality and of leadership," said Ald. Danny Davis (29th), also now a U.S. congressman.
The aldermen gathered in prayer in City Council chambers late in the afternoon. Even those who had fought with the mayor in the Council Wars made a certain peace with him.
"He was tough and smart and tenacious, and even though he and I fought like cats and dogs at times, I think we have a mutual respect for one another's abilities," said Ald. Edward Burke (14th).
Chicago Mourns Two days later, the air was already thick with debate about the city's political future, but not for the average Chicagoan. As the mayor's body lay in state in the City Hall rotunda, thousands of people from every part of the city walked past his casket to pay their respects. Weeping supporters tried to reach and touch him one more time.
"As I look at him, I felt that here was a man who believed in himself, who believed in the future and who believed in the American way of life, and worked hard toward achieving it," said city Treasurer Cecil Partee.
Elected officials and other leaders also poured into City Hall, and the line stopped when the Rev. Jesse Jackson arrived. He had cut short a visit to the Persian Gulf, and was putting aside a campaign for President he had mounted for the following year to stop and encourage people to unify.
"Our pain does not spare us of the responsibility to have the level of conduct people expect of us; to assume the responsibility and keep the government going," Jackson said. "The people around this building have come from far and near, depending on you – the officials – city, county and state officials – to keep the dream alive. We've lost Harold. We have not lost the dream."
Prayers and impromptu services were also offered, as Jackson led the crowd in several verses of "We Shall Overcome."
Fred Rice had worked as Washington's police superintendent.
"He was an exceptional gentleman – his sense of proportion, his sense of fairness, his ability to want to serve the people, not only of the City of Chicago, but if you notice that he's been active nationally in urban problems," Rice said. "So his influence has transcended this local area here, and to the national picture."
Also that day, the city organized an interfaith memorial service in Daley Plaza. One young boy said he was simply "crying, sad, mad."
And it didn't take long for the atmosphere in the City Council to turn from sad to mad too.
Video Library
Mayor Washington Dies After Massive Heart Attack
Shock, Grief Across City For Mayor Harold Washington
Aldermen Join Together Mourning Mayor Washington
A Rare Personal Glimpse At Mayor Washington
Washington's Press Secretary On The Mayor's Death
A Look At The Mayoral Succession Process
Officials, Leaders Join City Residents In Mourning Mayor
People Of Chicago Gather To Remember Mayor Washington
Continue To PART IV: 7 Days That Shook Chicago
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