1931 Chicago mayoral election

none January 2025 January 2025 1931 Chicago Mayoral election Chicago presidential 1917 1927 1935 File:Anton_Cermak_cph.3b27410.jpg Anton Cermak Democratic Party (United States) 671,189 58.4% William Hale Thompson (1) (3x4a).jpg William Hale Thompson Republican Party (United States) 476,922 41.5% Mayor William Hale Thompson Republican Party (United States) Anton Cermak Democratic Party (United States) Chicago 1931 mayor by ward.png Ward results 82% The 1931 Chicago mayoral election was held to elect the Mayor of Chicago. Former Cook County Board of Commissioners President Anton Cermak defeated incumbent mayor William Hale Thompson (who remains to date the last Republican mayor of Chicago) by a 17-point margin of victory.1931 Mayoralty, Supplemental Aldermanic, and Judge of the Municipal Court (to Fill Vacancy). Elections April 7th, 1931 Board of Elections Commissioners https://data.lib.vt.edu/downloads/tm70mv312 ZIP archiveChicago Mayors, 1837-2007 http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/1443.html Encyclopedia of Chicago Chicago Historical Society 22 September 2018 Primary elections were held by both major parties to select their nominees. Mayor Thompson won renomination in the Republican Party primary over challenges from Municipal Court of Chicago Judge John Homer Lyle and 43rd Ward Chicago Alderman Arthur F. Albert. In the Democratic Party primary, Cermak only faced a weak opponent in perennial candidate John B. DeVoney. Nominations Primaries were held on Feb 24, 1931.https://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=283328 RaceID=283328 (Our Campaigns) Democratic primary Anton Cermak won the Democratic nomination. Cermak was the incumbent President of the Cook County Board of Commissioners, having served in that position since 1923. Cermak defeated perennial candidate John B. DeVoney, a weak opponent. Returns reported in the Chicago Tribune on the day after the election found Cermak winning 235,260 votes to DeVoney's 9,829 votes.Multiple sources: Vote by Wards on Mayoralty https://www.newspapers.com/image/354899083 Newspapers.com Chicago Tribune 20 March 2023 en February 25, 1931 Brown Parke Schmidt Quits City Hall for His Mayoralty Fight https://www.newspapers.com/image/354967539 Newspapers.com Chicago Tribune 20 March 2023 en January 15, 1931 Republican primary Incumbent mayor William Hale Thompson warded off challenges from Municipal Court of Chicago Judge John Homer Lyle, 43rd Ward alderman Arthur F. Albert, George K. Schmidt (the 1922 Republican nominee for the Cook County Board of Assessors), The Chicago Daily News Almanac ad and Yearbook Chicago Daily News https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015026439573&seq=1205 Babel.hathitrust.org 20 January 2026 740-753 1933 and Eugene McCaffrey. John Homer Lyle was characterized by Time magazine as a "publicity-crazed Municipal Judge."http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,930340,00.html National Affairs: Chicago Circus Time Magazine February 23, 1931 Previously an obscure figure, his political stock had risen massively in September 1930 when he had some of Chicago's most prominent gangsters arrested under an obscure vagrancy law and attempted to keep them imprisoned by setting an extremely high bail, a tactic which failed to work. The majority of his campaign was based on attacking Thompson for his presumed closeness with organised crime, especially Al Capone. Lyle also claimed that Chicago's economic success under Thompson's mayoralty had not been due to the mayor, stating in a speech that "an Eskimo from the North Pole might as well have been mayor" when referring to Thompson taking credit for the construction of skyscrapers. Ugly name-calling took place between Thompson and Lyle. Thompson derided Lyle as a "nutty judge". Lyle called Thompson "William Halitosis Thompson" and characterized him as having the "flabby jowls of a barnyard hog, two jackass ears, a cowboy hat and an empty space between." Other insults slung around between the two included dirty rat, hoodlum, lazy bloodsucking jobber, blustering loudmouth, irresponsible mountebank, blubbering jungle hippopotamus, shambling imbecile, skunk, and a "chambermaid in a ranch bunkhouse". Republican primary resultsChicago Tribune, March 1, 1931 William Hale Thompson (incumbent) Republican Party (United States) 296,204 46.65 John Homer Lyle Republican Party (United States) 227,986 35.90 Arthur F. Albert Republican Party (United States) 99,137 15.61 George K. Schmidt Republican Party (United States) 10,782 1.70 Eugene McCaffrey Republican Party (United States) 907 0.14 635,016 100.00 Independents Write-in candidates John M. CollinsNames of Candidates 1931 Board of Elections Commissioners Otto H. Wangerin Herman N. Bundesen Charles Cutteng Dallas Killiam R.J. Williamson Carter Harrison IV Louis J. Orr Winfield O. Williams Judge Lagle General election Campaign With the Century of Progress approaching, Chicago would be electing a mayor that (barring extraordinary circumstances) was going to represent the city in front of an international audience. The campaign became uncivil at a relatively early stage.Cohen Adam Taylor Elizabeth American Pharaoh: Mayor Richard J. Daley - His Battle for Chicago and the Nation 2001 Little, Brown 978-0-7595-2427-9 37–38 https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=nGem2g467GAC 26 May 2020 en During the campaign Thompson made many appeals to nativism. One such example was his appeal to antisemitism by villainization of Jewish businessman Julius Rosenwald. In one speech delivered in March he said of Rosenwald, "Well, we got a great philanthropist in this town, and he's a Jew, and he's trying to edge his way out of hell by giving part of the money he steals."Bukowski Douglas Big Bill Thompson, Chicago, and the Politics of Image 1998 University of Illinois PressMackerels in the Moonlight: Four Corrupt American Mayors By Gerald Leinwand (page 63) Since Cermak was an immigrant from Bohemia, Thompson lodged ethnic attacks I won't take a back seat to that Bohunk, Chairmock, Chermack or whatever his name is. Tony, Tony, where's your pushcart at? Can you picture a World's Fair mayor with a name like that?Simpson Dick Rogues, Rebels, And Rubber Stamps: The Politics Of The Chicago City Council, 1863 To The Present https://books.google.com/books?id=jQlQDwAAQBAJ Routledge 19 May 2020 en 8 March 2018 9780429977190 Cermak was able to respond effectively to these attacks, "He doesn't like my name...It's true I didn't come over on the Mayflower, but I came over as soon as I could," which was a sentiment to which ethnic Chicagoans could relate, so Thompson's slurs largely backfired.Wendt, Lloyd (1979). Chicago Tribune: The Rise of a Great American Newspaper. Chicago: Rand McNally. 0-528-81826-0. In the midst of the campaign, the Chicago Tribune ran articles outlining Al Capone's financial contributions to Republican politicians.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 The newspapers also covered allegations that Samuel Insull had contributed money to Thompson's campaign. The Tribune wrote, "When the traction case was settled during Thompson's third term Insull was given a perpetual franchise that could not be terminated even for misuse non use or mal use". Gossip of Thompson's ties to Al Capone gained new strength after one of Thompson's top city officials, also a friend of Capone, was indicted for conspiring with merchants to use short weights to cheat $54 million. Thompson accused Cermak of being in cahoots with bootleggers and gamblers, and accused Cermak of having profited from misconduct alleging that he had, "saved six million out of a $10,000 salary." The election took place amid the Great Depression. The Depression (taking place under the administration of president Herbert Hoover, who was a member of the Republican Party) may have ultimately contributed to Thompson's defeat as a bearer of the Republican label. Cermak received strong support from the city's teachers organizations. He was personally endorsed by Margaret Haley, president of the Chicago Teachers Federation.White Theresa Mary Coping with Administrative Pressures in the Chicago Schools' Superintendency: An Analysis of William Henry Johnson, 1936-1946 https://ecommons.luc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3615&context=luc_diss Loyola University Chicago 15 August 2021 58 1988 Many liberal Republicans, in protest of Thompson, threw their support behind Cermak. Among them were Jane Addams, Louise DeKoven Bowen, Charles Edward Merriam, and Julius Rosenwald.Flanagan Maureen A. Politics http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/989.html www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org The Electronic Encyclopedia of Chicago (Chicago Historical Society) 13 January 2022 2004 For the election, Cermak had managed to overhaul his public image. Long viewed as a political infighter, Cermak rebranded himself as a "master executive" who would be able to help the city of Chicago survive the Great Depression.Green Paul M. Holli Melvin G. The Mayors: The Chicago Political Tradition, fourth edition https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=-L_shTgapuIC SIU Press 22 May 2020 223 en 10 January 2013 Cermak managed to unite the different factions of the local Democratic Party.Politicians on Stage, 1931 http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/3742.html www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org Encyclopedia of Chicago 3 January 2021 He made use of both threats and incentives to garner the backing of political rivals such as Cook County Coroner Herman Bundesen and Cook County Recorder of Deeds Clayton F. Smith . Bundesen had been considered a potential independent candidate, but, in March 1931, he ruled out a run.Bundesen Won't Be Candidate Chicago Race Between "Big Bill" Thompson and Anton J. Cermak https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/306317889/ Newspapers.com The Times from Munster, Indiana 3 January 2021 en 4 March 1931 Cermak's "ethnic credentials" and anti-Prohibition stance also managed to appeal to many working class and ethnic voters that the party had lost to Thompson in the previous election. Results Voter turnout was remarkably high, with 82% of registered voters participating. Cermak carried 45 wards, while Thompson carried five. The five wards that Thompson carried all had sizable black populations. Mayor of Chicago 1931 (General Election) Democratic Party (United States) Anton Cermak 671,189 58.44 Republican Party (United States) William Hale Thompson (incumbent) 476,922 41.53 Unknown John M. Collins 219 0.02 Unknown Otto H. Wangerin 124 0.01 Unknown Herman N. Bundesen 4 0.00 Unknown Charles Cutteng 1 0.00 Unknown Dallas Killiam 1 0.00 Unknown R.J. Williamson 1 0.00 Unknown Carter Harrison 1 0.00 Unknown Louis J. Orr 1 0.00 Unknown Winfield O. Williams 1 0.00 Unknown Judge Lagle 1 0.00 1,148,465 100.00 Thompson carried only five of the city's fifty wards.Selzer Adam Rahm might be bad, but Chicago's last Republican mayor was worse https://www.timeout.com/chicago/blog/rahm-might-be-bad-but-chicagos-last-republican-mayor-was-worse TimeOut 23 March 2019 13 February 2015 Cermak received 76.80% of the Polish-American vote, while Thompson received 23.20%.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 References collapsed collapsed 1931 Chicago Category:William Hale Thompson