The Chicago mayoral election of 1951 was held on April 3, 1951. The election saw Democrat

Martin H. Kennelly Martin Henry Kennelly (August 11, 1887 – November 29, 1961) was an American politician and businessman. He served as the 47th Mayor of Chicago in Chicago, Illinois from April 15, 1947 until April 20, 1955. Kennelly was a member of the Democra ...

being reelected for a second term, defeating Republican Robert L. Hunter by a double-digit margin. The election was preceded by

primary election Primary elections, or direct primary are a voting process by which voters can indicate their preference for their party's candidate, or a candidate in general, in an upcoming general election, local election, or by-election. Depending on the ...

s in February 1951 to determine the nominees of both the

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

and

Republican Party Republican Party is a name used by many political parties around the world, though the term most commonly refers to the United States' Republican Party. Republican Party may also refer to: Africa *Republican Party (Liberia) * Republican Part ...

Background

The state of Illinois in 1944 had passed legislation which aimed to tighten the state's previously overly-lax voter registration laws.ELECTIONS (10 ILCS 5/) Election Code.; Illinois General Assembly
/ref>The Evolution of American Investigative Journalism by James Aucoin (page 38)
/ref> One measure of this was that, after the November elections in

presidential election A presidential election is the election of any head of state whose official title is President. Elections by country Albania The president of Albania is elected by the Assembly of Albania who are elected by the Albanian public. Chile The pre ...

years, county clerks would begin the process canceling the registration of those who had not voted in the previous four years. There were a number of other measures which would result in the cancellation of voter registrations.

Nominations

Democratic primary

Republican primary

General election

Hunter attacked Kennelly, characterizing him as a "do-nothing mayor". He called for the defeat of not just Kenelly, but of the

political machine In the politics of Representative democracy, representative democracies, a political machine is a party organization that recruits its members by the use of tangible incentives (such as money or political jobs) and that is characterized by a hig ...

that had put him forth for mayor. He argued that big-city Democratic machines needed to be defeated in order to save the country. The ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...

'' and Hunter's candidacy were initially closely linked. Hunter would meet twice or thrice weekly with the newspaper's editor Don Maxwell. He effectively adopted their editorials as his own campaign platform. For instance, he adopted the Tribune's stance against

municipal ownership A state-owned enterprise (SOE) is a government entity which is established or nationalised by the ''national government'' or ''provincial government'' by an executive order or an act of legislation in order to earn profit for the government ...

of the

water supply Water supply is the provision of water by public utilities, commercial organisations, community endeavors or by individuals, usually via a system of pumps and pipes. Public water supply systems are crucial to properly functioning societies. Thes ...

. The Tribune, and therefore Hunter, blamed the local Democratic Party for having helped President

Harry S. Truman Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. A leader of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 34th vice president from January to April 1945 under Franklin ...

win reelection. They therefore litigated what they regarded to have been Truman's misdeeds as presidents, including extending

New Deal The New Deal was a series of programs, public work projects, financial reforms, and regulations enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1939. Major federal programs agencies included the Civilian Cons ...

policies and entering the nation into the

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

. Local Republicans campaigning for Hunter, including Senator Everett Dirksen, regularly focused their campaign on national and international issues such as the

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...

and the Korean War. They also accused Kennelly of "dodging" national issues. Illinois' Democratic Governor Adlai Stevenson II derided the Republicans' national-politics focused approach to a local election as, "a political absurdity". The Tribune weakened its support of Hunter after he attacked

Commonwealth Edison Commonwealth Edison, commonly known by syllabic abbreviation as ComEd, is the largest electric utility in Illinois, and the in Chicago and much of Northern Illinois. Its service territory stretches roughly from Iroquois County on the south to ...

's new contract with the city under Kennelly, since the chairman of the board for Commonwealth Edison was also on Tribune Company board of directors. Hunter campaigned vigorously. The election generated very little interest, contributing to its low turnout. Contributing to voter apathy may have been findings by the United States Senate Special Committee to Investigate Crime in Interstate Commerce that shined a negative light on the underworld of Chicago politics. Findings by this committee also harmed Kennelly, as he was perceived by the electorate to have done little to stamp out organized crime in the city. However, Hunter also failed to demonstrate to voters ability on his part to solve the crime issue in the city, and refused to take any strong stance against elements of the Republican party that were allied with gangsters Kennelly had, by 1951, seen a loss of support among

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

electorate that had strongly supported him four years earlier.

Results

Kenelly won 34 wards. Hunter defeated Kenelly in sixteen wards, more than double the number of wards that Kennelly had lost four years before.

References

{{Illinois elections Mayoral elections in Chicago

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

20th century in Chicago 1950s in Chicago