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Mayor William Hale Thompson Voting, 1916
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The 1919 mayoral campaign revealed significant cleavages in Chicago's body politic. Reform candidate Charles E. Merriam failed in his Republican primary challenge to incumbent mayor William Hale Thompson (pictured here voting in 1916). Thompson subsequently fought off five candidates in the general election. Many of Thompson's 259,828 votes (38 percent of total votes) came from German and African American voters, and his African American support drew considerable invective from Democrats in white neighborhoods on the South Side. Defeated by reformers in 1923, Thompson was reelected in 1927.
The Electronic Encyclopedia of Chicago © 2005 Chicago Historical Society.
The Encyclopedia of Chicago © 2004 The Newberry Library. All Rights Reserved. Portions are copyrighted by other institutions and individuals. Additional information on copyright and permissions.
The Encyclopedia of Chicago © 2004 The Newberry Library. All Rights Reserved. Portions are copyrighted by other institutions and individuals. Additional information on copyright and permissions.