(gentle music) - [Narrator] Slip onto a bar stool at Shinnick's on the city's South Side.

Soak in the history.

And understand that when it comes to Irish politics in Chicago, the tiny neighborhood of Bridgeport is and always will be ground zero.

- We had Kelley, Kennelly, the two Daleys, and who am I leaving out?

Oh, Bilandic.

Yes, thank you.

How soon we forget.

- [Narrator] In the 20th century, Chicago had six Irish mayors, and five of them called Bridgeport home.

- Bridgeport was dirty.

It butts right up against the union stockyards.

I mean, the stench, the dead animals thrown into, you know, Bubbly Creek.

I mean, it was a pretty awful place in many respects.

- But Bridgeport was an economic hub.

There were jobs, and that's what attracted Irish immigrants there.

The focus on government came about when the Irish started to get jobs in government, and then they understood that you weren't as prone to getting laid off as you were in the meat packing industry.

Eventually, there was a connection between all these government jobs and the politicians who controlled those government jobs.

- [Narrator] You scratch my back, I scratch yours.

Basic Chicago politics and the fundamental operating principle behind what would become known worldwide as the Chicago machine.

- [Mike] Anton Cermak is a political force in Chicago, and he unfortunately, gets assassinated in Florida, sitting next to FDR in a vehicle.

And he's out of the picture.

- [Announcer] The mayor of Chicago.

(announcer speaks indistinctly) - [Narrator] Into the gap step the Irish, and an every man kind of guy named Richard J. Daley.

- What was he like?

It depended on who he was with, right?

And I don't think he was into dinner party repartee.

He was authentic.

- [Reporter] Why have these city employees who have left done so?

- I don't know, you could answer that.

You're a journalist.

I'm not a, I'm just an ordinary mayor.

- [Narrator] Daley's politics were transactional.

His message, simple.

I'm going to keep your alleys clean and your taxes low.

- [Richard] The policeman isn't there to create disorder.

The policeman is there to preserve disorder.

- Sure, there were malaprops and not the best use of grammar, but it was doing what he thought he should do, just govern.

- [Narrator] Every March, Richard J. Daley led the St.

Patty's Day Parade down State Street.

For most Chicagoans, it was a great day out with the family.

For Daley, it was a wonderful affirmation of his Celtic roots, as well as a pointed message to Chicago and the world at large.

The Irish run this city and never forget it.

- Richard J. was still, deep in his bones, a visceral Irish nationalist.

He had grown up listening to the family stories about the oppression that the Irish had suffered and still felt that sense of not being quite good enough.

- St.

Patty's Day was, you know, a huge, huge event, and he, of course, made it even bigger.

- [Narrator] Richard J. Daley ruled over Chicago for 21 years, during which time he built the city's famous skyline and presided over Chicago's ascendancy onto the global stage.

- He was told by an ally of his, "Put the money where people can see it."

And he took that to heart.

- Richard J. clears the way for the Sears Tower.

Also, the expansion of O'Hare Airport.

He bulldozes large stretches of the south side for what becomes the Dan Ryan Expressway, ditto for what becomes the Kennedy Expressway.

- Make no little plans.

He definitely made big plans.

- [Narrator] Daley's influence extended far beyond Chicago.

In 1960, he played the role of king maker, the man who made sure JFK would be the first Irish Catholic to sit in the Oval.

- Jack Kennedy didn't call the mayor of Chicago just because he thought he was a charming fellow.

He may or may not have thought Daley was very charming, but he needed him.

There were several congressional votes that Daley controlled outright.

- I don't know too much about the Washington picture.

I just am a local fellow in a local community, trying to do the best job I can.

- I don't think Richard J. Daley ever had aspirations beyond becoming or being the mayor of the city of Chicago, because to him, Chicago was the epicenter of political power in the United States of America.

- [Narrator] Decades later, his son, Richard M. Daley, followed in his footsteps, leaving his own mark.

- [Announcer 2] Ladies and gentlemen, Mayor Richard M. Daley.

- [Narrator] At every step of the way, father and son used political clout and intimidation to keep friends and foes in line.

The message was simple, underestimate us at your own peril.

- Don't be telling anyone in Chicago he'll be stepped down or anyone else because as long as I'm mayor, no one will be stepped down.

- I think the expression is, "Kiss the ring."

You know, you had to do that so that you had access.

All roads led to Daley.

- There's this truism that the Daleys were able to snap their fingers and because they were bosses, they could make things happen.

That's not what it took.

That was the result of decades of political wheeling and dealing and behind the scenes maneuvering.

- [Narrator] Political vision aside, Richard J. had his blind spots.

Foremost among them, the legacy of racial unrest and inequality that became part of Chicago's DNA during his decades in office.

- There is no question that his legacy and his leadership contributed to building one of the greatest cities in the world.

On the other hand, a part of his legacy has to be the segregation that he fought for in the city of Chicago.

- A decent home for every family.

- One of the most notorious things, Richard J. Daley presided over the explosion of new public housing construction.

His son, famously, a generation later, tears many of them down because they had become dreadful places with inhuman living conditions.

- He was responsible for creating so much of what was great about Chicago and also, for so many, enduring wounds.

- Richard J. Daley, the only mayor for a generation of Chicagoans, died today at 74.

- [Narrator] Richard J. Daley died in office on December 20th, 1976.

He left this life having transformed Chicago into a global icon.

There were, however, cracks in the city's armor.

In the 1950s and '60s, white residents were fleeing the city in droves, riding Daley's new expressways out to the suburbs.

By 1970, 40% of the Irish population had left Chicago, and a community that once seemed unshakeable began to crumble.

(somber music)