One hundred and fifty years ago today, the future mayor of Chicago Anton Cermak was born in an area of Austria-Hungary that is now part of the Czech Republic. The above photo of him with Franklin Delano Roosevelt was taken in 1932, a year before Cermak’s death as a result of his relationship with Roosevelt. FDR won the nomination to be the Democratic Party’s presidential candidate against Herbert Hoover at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago that year.
Playlist Politics
Politics
The 150th Birthday of the Chicago Mayor Who Was Killed by a Bullet Meant for FDR
Daniel HautzingerMay 9, 2023
Revisiting the Biting Articles That Branded Chicago the "Second City"
Daniel HautzingerDecember 15, 2022
Seventy years ago, the New Yorker writer and New York City native A.J. Liebling published a series of articles about Chicago that saw the city as a "not-quite-metropolis" imbued with a "collective sense of disappointment." Was he right?
A Q&A with the Producer of a New Jane Byrne 'Chicago Stories'
Meredith FrancisMarch 29, 2022
Jane Byrne was the first woman to be elected Mayor of Chicago and the first woman to lead a mayor U.S. city. A new Chicago Stories documentary follow's Byrne's rise to power and tenure as mayor.
The Olympic Athlete Who Became a Powerful Chicago Politician
Daniel HautzingerAugust 3, 2021
Ralph Metcalfe was once known as the "world's fastest human" and raced alongside Jesse Owens at the controversial 1936 Berlin Olympics before becoming an influential Chicago politician who eventually bucked Richard J. Daley and the powerful Democratic machine.
The Woman Who Beat Her Husband to Congress
Daniel HautzingerMarch 4, 2021
When Emily Taft Douglas won a statewide election to become Illinois's fourth woman in Congress, her husband Paul had already lost a run for Senate and wouldn't win until four years later. Emily also marched with Dr. King, appeared on Broadway, and wrote books.
Mayor Harold Washington Through the Years, in His Own Words
Daniel HautzingerFebruary 3, 2021
Harold Washington was a frequent guest on WTTW over the course of his political career. Hear him discuss his upbringing, his coalitional politics, the Council Wars when he was mayor of Chicago, and more in archival interviews ranging from 1968 through 1984.
What Women Face When They Run for Local Office
Daniel HautzingerOctober 20, 2020
The documentary Represent follows three women candidates in the Midwest as they run for local office, including a Korean American Republican running on Chicago's North Shore. "A woman called me a white nationalist," she says. "And I thought, 'Me?' "
How Abner Mikva Inspired People to Believe in Government's Power for Good
Daniel HautzingerOctober 15, 2020
Attending college on the G.I. Bill changed Abner Mikva's life. As a congressman, judge, and mentor to Barack Obama, Elena Kagan, and numerous young people, Mikva tried to show that government could be a force for good in people's lives.
Rudy Lozano's Multigenerational Legacy and the Growing Power of Chicago's Latino Community
Daniel HautzingerSeptember 16, 2020
Rudy Lozano sought more political power for Latinos in Chicago, and although his life was cut short, his legacy lives on in his friends and family members who continue his political campaigns and activism.
Frontline's Michael Kirk on 'The Choice 2020'
Daniel HautzingerSeptember 1, 2020
"There has never been a better time for political biography," says the veteran Frontline producer Michael Kirk. "You want to look closely at the character of the two men who are asking to be President of the United States at this perilous time."
Milwaukee's Long Legacy of Socialism
Daniel HautzingerAugust 10, 2020
Buffalo may soon unseat Milwaukee as the only large American city to have a socialist mayor. Chicago's neighbor to the north has a long history of elected socialist leaders, an appropriate background in the era of Bernie Sanders and other progressives.
A Short History of Corruption in Illinois
Daniel HautzingerAugust 5, 2020
Stories of corruption amongst politicians in Illinois and Chicago could fill a book—and they have. As federal investigations close in on some of the state's most powerful people, revisit the last half century or so of corruption in the city and state.
'America's Great Divide' and the 2020 Election
Daniel HautzingerJanuary 13, 2020
"This is really the most important political year coming that I have ever experienced," says Michael Kirk, the producer of Frontline's new, two-part documentary America's Great Divide. "I thought these films could be a kind of overture as the curtain goes up on the political year."
How to Watch the Final Democratic Presidential Debate of the Year
Daniel HautzingerDecember 19, 2019
Tonight at 7:00 pm CT, PBS NewsHour and POLITICO host the final Democratic presidential debate of the year, featuring Joe Biden, Pete Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar, Bernie Sanders, Tom Steyer, Elizabeth Warren, and Andrew Yang.
The Only Alderman Who Stood Up to Richard J. Daley
Daniel HautzingerFebruary 25, 2019
“[Leon] Despres has been told to shut up – in one form or another – more than any grown man in Chicago," Mike Royko once wrote. "Throughout his career, he has been in the forefront of just about every decent, worthwhile effort to improve life in this city."
