1915 Chicago mayoral election

In the Chicago mayoral election of 1915, Republican William H. Thompson defeated Democrat Robert Sweitzer.

1915 Chicago mayoral election
April 6, 1915
 
Nominee William H. Thompson Robert Sweitzer
Party Republican Democratic
Popular vote 398,538 251,061
Percentage 58.78% 37.03%
Mayor before election

Carter Harrison Jr.
Democratic

 Elected Mayor

William H. Thompson
Republican

Elections in Illinois

Five-term incumbent Democrat Carter Harrison Jr. had been defeated in the Democratic primary by Sweitzer.

This was the first mayoral election to take place in Chicago after Illinois granted women's suffrage.[1]

The election was held on April 6.[2]

Nominations

Democratic primary
Sweitzer poses outside of his house with his family on the day of the primary

Cook County Clerk Robert Sweitzer challenged incumbent mayor Carter Harrison Jr. in the Democratic primary.

Harrison's preceding fifth term had been hampered by an inner-party power struggle between Harrison and Democratic boss Roger Sullivan.[3][4] Sweitzer was considered to be a Sullivan loyalist.[3][4]

There had been calls for Sullivan himself to seek the mayoralty, but he declined.[5] After the a successful 1912 election cycle for Democrats, a significant number of people had been willing to run for mayor as candidates for Sullivan's faction of the party.[5] This included Chicago City Clerk Franics D. Connery, Cook County Circuit Court Clerk John W. Rainey, and Robert M. Sweitzer.[5] Sweitzer prevailed to become Sullivan's candidate.[5]

During the primary, Sullivan kept himself away from the spotlight, working behind the scenes in support of Sweitzer. He did this to avoid having Sweitzer's affiliation with him used for campaign attacks the way his connection with his hand-picked 1911 Democratic primary candidate, Andrew J. Graham, had been used a line of attack.[5] He still headed Sweitzer's campaign committee, which also featured prominent Chicago politicians such as Robert "Bobby" Burke, Patrick Nash, Frank Ryan, Cook County Treasurer Henry Stuckart, and Chicago City Clerk Francis D. Connery.[5]

Sweitzer's campaign's main therme was "efficiency in government".[5] His campaign focused on Sweitzer's competent record and Harrison's shortcomings.[5] He accused Harrison of running the city into debt, being a feeble administrator, and being responsible for the persistence of poor service on the city's street cars.[5]

Harrison was accused of being disloyal to the party for not having supported Sullivan's 1914 United States Senate campaign.[5]

Sweitzer was able to build a coalition of ethnic groups that were put off by Harrison's war on crime.[6] Sweitzer, being German (a group that made up 30% of the city's population), earned support from Germans.[5] Harrison was portrayed by Sweitzer's campaign as of being anti-Irish and anti-Catholic.[5] He was also painted as an "aristocrat", which was charge that was off-putting to the city's many recent European immigrants, who poorly regarded aristocracy.[5]

Harrison ran a poor campaign.[4] His campaign manager was John J. Sloan.[5]

Harrison angrily fought back at allegations made against him.[5]

Harrison sought to receive the support of every political ally possible.[5] He received the backing of Anton Cermak, Adolph J. Sabath, Sheriff John Traeger, Chicago City Comptroller Michael Zimmer, City Treasurer of Chicago Michael Danisch.[5] He also received a number of state legislators to back him, such as Michael Igoe.[5] He even received a few defections from Sllivan's factions, such as former alderman Thomas Little and Thomas F. Flynn, the official campaign manager of Sullivan's 1911 mayoral candidate Andrew Graham.[5] Harrison also managed to secure a tepid endorsement from Governor Edward Fitzsimmons Dunne, which Dunne stated that, despite his history of disagreements with Harrison, he felt that "by training, education, experience, and ability", Harrison was a better candidate.[5]

As he had in 1911, Harrison sought to make Sullivan a campaign issue, portraying him as a villain.[5] This did not work as well in 1915, with a Democratic electorate which had only months before had Sullivan as its party's standard-bearer for the United States Senate race.[5]

Harrison sought to weaken Sweitzer's appeal to German-American voters by challenging Sweitzer to deliver a speech in German, despite the fact that Sweitzer was not bilingual.[5] Harrison boasted of his own ability to speak German (he had received his education in Germany).[5]

Harrison also sought to link Sweitzer to criminal leaders.[5] This had little impact, as Harrison had his own history of ties to men or poor regard for the law.[5]

Harrison used the power of his office to his advantage. He ordered police to stop the mass posting of election posters, a favorite campaign tactic of Sullivan's faction.[5] He cracked down on legal misdeeds of loyalists that had defected from him.[5]

Harrison attempted to convince county judge Thomas F. Scully, to order every voter in the primary to be challenged.[5] Scully, a Sullivan ally, despised this as voter suppression.[5]

Late into the campaign, Harrison became sick. His wife Edith Ogden Harrison acted as an effective surrogate for him at rallies and meetings.[5]

Each candidate sought to take advantage of the new advent of women's suffrage in Illinois.[5] Harrison established special female committees tasked with canvassing the city's female electorate.[5] Sweitzer had a women's auxiliary of his campaign, which argued that he was the stronger advocate for women's right.[5] A key female endorser of Harrison was Margaret Haley, while a key female endorser of Sweitzer was Joanne E. Downes (president of the Illinois Women's Democratic League).[5] However, many prominent progressive women disregarded both Democratic candidates, and instead endorsed Republican primary candidate Harry Olson.[5]

Each candidate also sought to appeal to voters that opposed the prohibition of alcohol.[5] Harrison managed to secure the backing of the United Societies for Local Self-Government, the top pro-alcohol lobbying group.[5]

The primary also featured instances of violence.[5]

As the election came near to its end, each side touted its prospects of winning.[5] There appeared reason to believe the race might be close, but this did not prove to be the case.[5]

Endorsements
Carter Harrison, Jr.
Officeholders
Individuals
  • Thomas F. Flynn, campaign manager of Andrew Graham's 1911 Chicago mayoral campaign
  • Margaret Haley,[5] activist
Organizations
  • United Societies for Self-Government[5]
Robert Sweitzer
Individuals

Results

Sweitzer handily won, defeating Harrison by a broad margin.

Sweitzer's victory effectively cost Harrison the opportunity to further pursue a, then-unprecedented, sixth term as mayor. It would not be until 1975 that a mayor (Richard J. Daley) would win election to a sixth term.

Sweitzer carried 32 wards, while Harrison carried three.[5]

After bitterly conceding, Harrison refused to rule-out the possibility of a third-party campaign.[5]

Democratic primary (February 23, 1915)[7]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Robert Sweitzer 182,534 63.02
Democratic Carter Harrison Jr. (incumbent) 104,983 36.24
Democratic Frank J. Wilson 1,343 0.46
Democratic John J. Geraghty 318 0.11
Democratic Thomas O'Dwyer 205 0.07
Democratic Peter J. O'Reilly 112 0.04
Democratic James Traynor 88 0.03
Democratic R. P. Butler 84 0.03
Turnout 289,667

Republican primary

At the time of the primary, the Illinois Republican Party had been divided into two groups, one led by former governor Charles S. Deneen and another which was jointly led by William Lorimer and Frederick Lundin.[8] Illinois' Republican Party had been thrown into chaos along with the national party in the aftermath of the 1912 United States presidential election, in which former president Theodore Roosevelt ran as a third-party candidate and split the Republican vote.[4][9] The power balance in Illinois' Republican Party had also been altered by Lorimer's removal from the United States Senate and Deneen's 1913 loss in his bid to seek reelection as governor.[9]

William Hale Thompson and Lundin had formed a political alliance, along with George F. Harding (political boss of the second ward), and James A. Pugh.[8] Lundin orchestrated a "draft" effort in December 1914 to demonstrate popular support for Thompson's candidacy.[8] He managed to get 15,000 individuals to sign a petition urging Thompson to run in the Republican mayoral primary,[8][9] which was presented to him at a grand ceremony Lundin orchestrated at the Auditorium Theatre on December 22, 1914, where Thompson publicly declared he would run.[9][10] In actuality, Lundin and Thompson had actually been planning for his mayoral run since 1912.[9][11]

Thompson's chief opponent for the nomination was Harry Olson, Chief Justice of the Municipal Court. Olson was backed by Charles S. Deneen.[8] Olson was widely considered the most progressive candidate running for either party's nomination.[5] Olson received endorsements from many prominent progressive women, such as Jane Addams.[5]

Thompson was also challenged by Alderman Jacob A. Hey.[8]

Despite his support from Lorimer and Lundin, Thompson was seen as backing the support of an established political machine.[10] Lorimer was perceived to have had his prestige and influence decline following his 1912 ousting from the United States Senate.

Thompson benefited from his political alliance, as George F. Harding managed to secure Thompson strong support in the second ward, which proved to be critical in securing him his narrow margin of victory.[8]

Thompson worked hard to seek strong support from the African American community.[10] He also courted the city's German population, giving strong praise to Germans and their culture, and dismissing reports of atrocities being committed by the German forces in the German occupation of Belgium as British propaganda.[5] This would prelude the neutral stance on World War I and the evocation of anglophobia that would become notable characteristics of Thompson's political career.[5][12]

Endorsements
Harry Olson
Officeholders
Individuals
Bill Thompson
Officeholders
Individuals
  • George F. Harding[8]
  • James A. Pugh[8]

Results

Thompson won the Republican primary on February 23 by a narrow margin.[2] The Republican primary received less attention from both the public and the media than the Democratic primary.[8]

Republican primary (February 23, 1915)[14]
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican William H. Thompson 87,060 49.47
Republican Harry Olson 84,735 48.14
Republican Jacob A. Hey 4,207 2.39
Turnout 176,002

Progressive nomination

The Progressive Party nominated Charles M. Thompson.[5] Thompson ultimately withdrew from the race and backed Republican nominee William H. Thompson.[5]

Prohibition nomination

John H. Hill received the Prohibition Party nomination.

Socialist nomination

Seymour Stedman received the Socialist Party nomination.

Steadman had originally been planning to instead run for City Treasurer.[15]

General election

Campaigning
Thompson during his campaign

Initially, many thought Sweitzer to have the advantage in the race, as 50% more people had voted in the Democratic primary than the Republican primary.[10] Many newspapers in the city discounted Thompson's prospects.[10]

After the primaries, both candidates faced the immediate challenges of unifying their parties after contentious primaries.[5]

A major blow to Sweitzer's campaign occurred when, bitter over his loss in the primary, Carter Harrison Jr. endorsed Thompson.[8] Harrison's endorsement bolstered Thompson's support from business elites, a group which was already inclined to support him over Sweitzer.[8]

In contrast to the disunity of the Democratic Party, the Republican Party's Lundin wing brokered a peace with its Deneen wing.[4] Thompson had quickly, after his primary win, garnered the endorsements of Deneen and his Deneen-backed primary opponent Harry Olson.[5]

Thompson campaigned energetically.[4][9] He managed to draw large to his rallies, employing techniques such as putting on parades and circuses to lure spectators to his political events.[9]

Thompson saw strong support from such groups as Germans, Swedes, and blacks.[16]

Democrats played up the fact that Sweitzer was of Irish and German descent in hopes that it might drum-up enthusiasm amongst voters in Chicago's immigrant community.[8] They particularly targeted German-Americans and Catholics.[9] Republicans charged that the Democratic Party had been attempting to mislead voters into thinking that Sweitzer was catholic, in an alleged effort to pander to voters in a city with a nearly 50% catholic population.[8] Whether or not these charges were true, many protestant ministers were persuaded by these allegations to publicly support Thompson over Sweitzer.[8]

Democrats also aimed to cast Sweitzer as a capable individual with a strong business record.[8]

Sweitzer was a "wet", meaning that he was against prohibition, which many around the country had been advocating for at the time.[11] Prohibitionists were skeptical of Thompson, who had ties to Lorimer (a "wet").[11]

Both the Chicago Daily News and the Chicago Tribune opposed, while the Chicago Journal strongly supported Thompson.[8] In response to the opposition he received from newspapers, Thompson demonized what he dubbed the "trust press". He made an issue of the low property taxes Daily News publisher Victor Lawson reportedly paid on his Lake Shore Drive mansion.[8] Thompson alleged that, in his tenure as Cook County Clerk Sweitzer had been responsible for this and other alleged calculation errors regarding taxes.[8]

The election was also shaped the backdrop of the World War in Europe. Democrats had become concerned that German voters regarded Sweitzer as having "abandoned his heritage" (in the past he had emphasized his Irish heritage far more than his German heritage).[17] They undertook misguided efforts to drum up German support for his candidacy, which ultimately proved to be at the peril of his overall appeal to non-German/Austrian voters.[17] Materials supporting Sweitzer had been distributed in the German and Austrian neighborhoods of Chicago baring images of Kaiser Wilhelm and Emperor Franz Joseph and appealing for resident were distributed urging all citizens of central European origin to support Sweitzer and the "Fatherland".[8] This became significant when Sweitzer did not disavow these materials, thus lending credence to an informal association of him with the Central Powers war effort.[8] Thompsons campaign seized on this, and distributed identical materials to Chicago's Polish and Czechoslovakian neighborhoods.[8]

An attempt to draft Charles E. Merriam as a third-party candidate failed, to Thompson's relief.[5] Additionally, Progressive Party nominee, Charles M. Thompson, withdrew from the race and backed the Republican Thompson.[5]

While Sweitzer was officially endorsed by the Teamsters, the trade union support he received was dampened by a rumor that he had been a strikebreaker during a 1905 Teamsters strike.[17] Despite Harrison's refusal to back him, many members of Harrison's faction of the Democratic Party did back him, such as Adolph Sabath, former county judge John E. Owens, and John J. Sloan.[5]

Sweitzer was also burdened by organizational weakness of the Democratic Party. At the time of the election the Democratic Party lacked a strong political machine in Chicago.[8]

Thompson accused Sweitzer of being the favored candidate of the city's criminal leadership.[5]

Thompson sought to resurrect the, decades old, Ogden Gas Scandal, advertising the fact that Roger Sullivan had now made a significant profit from the company's 1913 sale to the city's local utility monopoly.[5] Democrats countered this by revealing that Thompson had received a $5,000 contribution from James A. Patterson, the Maning director of the People's Gas and Electric Company.[5]

The Democrats sought to associate Thompson with Lorimer.[5]

Anti-Catholic literature appeared in Protestant neighborhoods, which echoed similar literature that had appeared during the 1912 senate election.[5] Amid this, the Democrats and Republicans blamed each other for having been the party responsible for the literature.[5]

Democratic prospects may also have been hampered by the economic downturn being experienced, which was attributable to the conflict in Europe.[5]

There were examples of election violence during the campaign, most notably with street battles which erupted on April 3, three days before the election.[5] However, Election Day itself was largely devoid of election violence.[5]

Besides Thompson and Sweitzer, the two additional candidates running in the election were Socialist candidate Seymour Steadman and Prohibition Party candidate John H. Hill.

While Thompson had secured a lead in the campaign, with betting odds reflecting this, people failed to forecast a landslide victory.[5]

Endorsements
Robert Sweitzer (Democratic)
Officeholders
Individuals
Organizations
Newspapers
Bill Thompson (Republican)
Officeholders
Individuals
  • George F. Harding[8]
  • James A. Pugh[8]
Newspapers
  • Chicago Journal[8]

Outcome

Thompson defeated Sweitzer by greater than an 11% margin.[18] In terms of the number of votes, Thompson's margin of victory was greater than any prior Chicago municipal election.[8][19] The number of votes Thompson received was more than any other candidate for mayor of Chicago had received, up to that time.[5] Thompson won 25 of the city's 35 wards.[8] Thompson's victory had coattail effect on coinciding municipal races.[19]

The 1915 Chicago municipal elections saw more voters than any municipal election up to that point in United States history.[20] More than 240,000 women voted.[20]

In a poll of professors at the University of Chicago conducted by the Chicago Tribune, Thompson had received overwhelming support, with 81 professors surveyed having voted for Thompson and only 17 having voted for Sweitzer.[8]

Following the election, conversations arose attempting to identify a reason for the failure of Sweitzer's campaign.[8] The Literary Digest proposed that the women's vote was the culprit for Thompson's victory. However, this was an insufficient thesis. While Thompson received 63% of the women's vote, he also had received 60% of the men's vote.[8] Carter Harrison Jr. argued that the critical mistakes Democrats had made was bringing religion into the election and the allowing the circulation of materials containing the likeness of Kaiser Wilhelm and Franz Joseph.[8] Analysis, however, has shown that Harrison's own endorsement of Thompson was likely a decisive factor in determining the outcome of the election.[8][19]

Results
1915 Chicago mayoral election (general election)[18]
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican William H. Thompson 398,538 58.78
Democratic Robert Sweitzer 251,061 37.03
Socialist Seymour Stedman 24,452 3.61
Prohibition John H. Hill 3,974 0.59
Turnout 678,025

Polling showed that Thompson received 45.90% of the Polish-American vote, while Sweitzer received 51.53% and Stedman received 2.53%.[21]

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References
  1. https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-per-flash-women-voter-0623-new-20130623-story.html
  2. Mayor William Hale Thompson Biography (Chicago Public Library
  3. Chicago Portraits: New Edition by June Skinner Sawyers
  4. Schmidt, John R. (1989). "The Mayor Who Cleaned Up Chicago" A Political Biography of William E. Dever. DeKalb, Illinois: Northern Illinois University Press.
  5. Morton, Richard Allen (2019). Roger C. Sullivan and the Triumph of the Chicago Democratic Machine, 1908-1920. McFarland. pp. 136–142. ISBN 978-1-4766-3450-0. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
  6. Bachin, Robin F. (March 15, 2004). Building the South Side: Urban Space and Civic Culture in Chicago, 1890-1919. University of Chicago Press. p. 303.
  7. "RaceID=690353". Our Campaigns. Retrieved December 6, 2018.
  8. Schottenhamel, George. “How Big Bill Thompson Won Control of Chicago.” Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society, vol. 45, no. 1, 1952, pp. 30–49. JSTOR
  9. Luthin, Reinhard H. (1954). "Big Bill Thompson". American Demagogues: Twentieth Century. Beacon Press. ASIN B0007DN37C. OCLC 1098334.
  10. Krist, Gary (2013). City of Scoundrels: The 12 Days of Disaster That Gave Birth to Modern Chicago. Crown/Archetype. pp. 44–46. ISBN 978-0-307-45430-0.
  11. Bright, John (1930). Hizzoner Big Bill Thompson, an idyll of Chicago.
  12. Martin, Edward M. "Our American mayors XIII. William Hale Thompson of Chicago: The saga of a sombrero." National Municipal Review 17, no. 11 (November 1928): 663. Publisher Provided Full Text Searching File, EBSCOhost (accessed November 2, 2016).
  13. The Mayors: The Chicago Political Tradition, fourth edition by Paul M. Green, Melvin G. Holli SIU Press, Jan 10, 2013
  14. "RaceID=71861". Our Campaigns. Retrieved December 6, 2018.
  15. https://newspaperarchive.com/chicago-eagle-jan-30-1915-p-1/
  16. Cohen, Adam; Taylor, Elizabeth (2001). American Pharaoh: Mayor Richard J. Daley - His Battle for Chicago and the Nation. Little, Brown. p. 37. ISBN 978-0-7595-2427-9. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
  17. Bukowski, Douglas (1998). Big Bill Thompson, Chicago, and the Politics of Image. University of Illinois Press.
  18. "RaceID=71864". Our Campaigns. Retrieved December 6, 2018.
  19. REPUBLICANS WIN CHICAGO BY 139,000; Thompson's Plurality Greatest in City's History -- Carries Rest of Ticket with Him. BIG VOTE BY THE WOMEN But Campaign Managers Say Result Would Have Been Same if They Had Stayed Away. RACIAL ISSUES INVOLVED German-Austrian Appeal for Sweitzer Rouses Violent Feeling -- Harrison Men Cut Ticket. REPUBLICANS WIN CHICAGO BY 139,000 (New York Times; April 7, 1915)
  20. Thompson Wins Office Over Sweitzer Ludington Daily News - Apr 7, 1915
  21. Kantowicz, Edward. “The Emergence of the Polish-Democratic Vote in Chicago.” Polish American Studies, vol. 29, no. 1/2, 1972, pp. 67–80. JSTOR, JSTOR
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