Today would have been former Chicago mayor Harold Washington’s 99th birthday. One of our authors, Roger Badesch (The Unplanned Life), had the priviledge of working for the mayor in his press office. The Unplanned Life features an entire chapter of stories from his days in the mayor’s press office, but these two are among our favorites. We present them to you free today, in honor of Harold…
In 1984, the Chicago Cubs finished first in their division. 1984 would be the first appearance in post-season play for the Cubs since 1945. It was a baseball season to celebrate.
In anticipation of the Cubs clinching their division, I sent a memo on September 12th to Grayson Mitchell suggesting we should get ahead of the game, so to speak, and be ready to have the mayor congratulate the team.
Grayson replied to my memo with a sticky note: “Great idea! Let’s work in conjunction with Special Events. Also, let’s have Mayor present at clinching game—on phone, the dugout/locker room. Let’s talk!”
The Cubs clinched the division in Pittsburgh on Monday night, September 24th. The next morning I was in the City Hall press room handing out the press release—as enthusiastically reported by Harry Golden Jr. in the Chicago Sun-Times.
“City Hall today bloomed with Cubs regalia, proclaimed its joy, and planned a massive welcome for the victors. Mayor Washington was first with effusive words of praise and aldermen wound up for speeches in a regular City Council session.
Roger Badesch, a Washington press aide, bustled about with copies of mayoral statements while sporting a Cubs cap…
‘For many long years, the cry from the North Side of Chicago has been “Wait until next year,”’ the mayor said. ‘I am overjoyed to join the millions of Cubs fans around the world in saying, “Next year is now.”’…”
Unfortunately, the Cubs didn’t celebrate their World Series championship until 2016.
MERRY CHRISTMAS, MR. MAYOR
For Christmas of 1984, the mayor’s staff got him a stereo component system and presented it to him at the staff Christmas party. But it was up to me to make sure he was really surprised by the gift.
I connected the amplifier, AM/FM receiver, and speakers and hid them under the boxes in which they arrived. I tuned the receiver to a music station and had it playing when he came into the room.
As a ruse, I placed a small portable cassette – AM/FM player nearby, and we pretended the music was coming from that small device. The mayor’s photographers snapped pictures of him dancing to the music before the big unveiling. After the party, I boxed up the stereo system, and it was brought to the mayor’s apartment.
A few days later I drove over to the mayor’s apartment to connect and install the stereo system. It was about 7:00 p.m. when I walked into the Hampton House and was greeted by one of the mayor’s security staff, who directed me to the elevator.
As I got off the elevator another security detail officer (all of the mayor’s security detail were Chicago police officers in suits) greeted me and directed me to the mayor’s apartment. The first thing I saw as I entered was the living room directly ahead of me.
There were several men sitting on a couch and a couple of easy chairs around a low glass table. On the table were boxes of food from a national fast food chain. I knew from talk among staff and news reports that several of the men talking with the mayor were part of his “kitchen cabinet.”
I also noticed against the front window an artificial silver Christmas tree. Shining onto the tree was a rotating multi-colored light. As I entered the room, the men at the table got up and left.
To my left was a room with a La-Z-Boy-style, thickly upholstered easy chair in the middle of the room. Surrounding the chair—bookcases on all four walls, from floor to ceiling, completely filled with books.
To my right a doorway to what I imagined would be the bedroom and restroom. Just past that was the open kitchen with breakfast countertop facing out to the dining room set. The kitchen was spotless.
As I started to unpack the stereo system, the mayor excused himself and went to the room with the easy chair and shelves of books. It was quiet in the apartment with the exception of the low rumble of the electronic “whirring” of the color wheel in front of the silver Christmas tree.
It took me about an hour to put the system together in its cabinet. When I finished, I walked over to where the mayor was sitting in his library and said I was done and was ready to show him how it worked.
He sat on one of the dining table chairs as I knelt on the floor showing him how to switch between the turntable, AM, FM, and cassette inputs. My thinking at the time was that, like the kitchen, the sound system would get very little use. After the demonstration he thanked me, we wished each other a happy holiday, and I left, walking past the same security detail as before, making my way out of the building and back to my car.
