The Real "Chicago Seven"

Honoring those truly connected to Chicago.

Chicagoans of a certain age (and, likely others of a certain age - I mean, it was in all the papers) will recall the 1968 Democratic National Convention, and the associated riot which began in Grant Park, and the subsequent trial of the “Chicago Seven,” a group of defendants originally known as the “Chicago Eight,” until a mistrial was declared in the case against Bobby Seale, removing him from the fray. The trial was quite a circus, and, ultimately all convictions were reversed on appeal.

But, what these Chicagoans (and, others) of a certain age may not know, is that only one member of the Chicago Seven was a native Chicagoan, and one of the less-well-known members at that: Lee Weiner.

Therefore, although the events surrounding the Chicago Seven members certainly provide an interesting vignette in Chicago’s rich historical tapestry, I believe a brand such as the “Chicago Seven” deserves to be applied to someone who has “earned his stripes” in Chicago lore, and is inextricably linked to the city itself.

And, who better to perform that due diligence and develop an incontrovertible list of seven people, indisputably linked to the city of Chicago, than me, a guy who claims to have spent 36-1/2 of his formative years in Chicago, although, during that period of time, has actually lived within Chicago’s city limits for exactly one year? I appreciate your vote of confidence, and resolve not to let you down (silence signifies assent, in case you didn’t know - that precept is a cornerstone of U.S. elections). Herewith, for your consideration, Rule of Three’s nominations for the “Real Chicago Seven”:

1. Al Capone - although born in New York City, Capone presided as a mob boss in Chicago for many years, and is widely credited with perpetrating the “Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre,” in which seven rival gang members were killed in a garage on North Clark Street, in Chicago. Awareness of that historical event has resulted in severe phobias for me regarding gangsters, Valentine’s Day and garages, which persist to this day. Capone was eventually convicted of income tax evasion, and was sent to Alcatraz. He was released in 1939, and died in Florida eight years later, his body riddled with the effects of syphilis. He is buried in a cemetery in Hillside, a west-suburban village in the Chicago area - much like my residential claim, he purports to be buried in Chicago, but his remains do not actually reside within Chicago’s city limits.

2. Mayor Richard J. Daley - “Da Mare” was the mayor of the city of Chicago for twenty-one years, beginning in 1955. Born in the Bridgeport neighborhood of Chicago, which has provided a steady flow of Chicago mayors over the years, Daley presided over the political machinations of what was known as the Democratic “Machine.” The “Machine” was fueled by patronage and cronyism, resulting in an estimated 98% of Bridgeport residents being on the city’s payroll (simply a guess, but go ahead, prove me wrong). Daley was much-admired for his ability to get things done (Chicago was once known as the “City that Works”), a lesson not learned by his immediate successor, Michael Bilandic (yes, from Bridgeport), whose inability to clear the streets of snow after a 1979 blizzard resulted in his losing the next mayoral election, but his legacy was also tarnished by his seemingly heavy-handed leadership during the 1968 Democratic National Convention (yes, there’s that connection to the “Chicago Seven”). His speaking style was shaped by his neighborhood upbringing, and he regularly mangled the English language - one of the most famous soundbites of Mayor Daley was his response to the violence conducted on the streets of Chicago during the 1968 Convention: “. . .the policeman isn’t there to create disorder, the policeman is there to preserve disorder.”

3. Chicago (the rock band) - formed in the late 1960’s by seven (numerologists in the audience might find that interesting) Chicago-based musicians, the band was originally called “Chicago Transit Authority”, (actually, its original name was “The Big Thing”), which was shortened to “Chicago,” in order to avoid a potential lawsuit threatened by Chicago’s mass-transit agency of the same name (I guess the city of Chicago had fewer lawyers around than the CTA at that time, or, perhaps their energies were focused on defending the city’s cops in the wake of the 1968 Convention riots - in any event, I’m not aware of any lawsuits ever filed by the city of Chicago against the band). Chicago, which continues to perform in 2023, with three of its founding members still appearing on stage, was a groundbreaking rock band, given its incorporation of horns (trumpet, trombone, and saxophone) in its core musical compositions. The founding members of the band, for the record, included: Walt Parazaider, James Pankow, Lee Loughnane, Danny Seraphine, Terry Kath, Robert Lamm, and Peter Cetera.

4. Mike Royko - every city needs a chronicler, and Royko was the quintessential Chicago scribe, beginning his newspaper writing career in 1955 (around the time that Richard J. Daley became mayor of Chicago) with some niche, Chicago-based publications, before moving on to the Chicago Daily News, and then the Chicago Sun-Times, before finishing his career with the Chicago Tribune, jumping ship upon Rupert Murdoch’s purchase of the Sun-Times. Royko had been a columnist during much of his career, and infused his columns with wisdom gained from his own Chicago neighborhood upbringing, living in an apartment above a bar. He recounted conversations in his columns with a fictional character, Slats Grobnik, and spent time in a very real bar, the Billy Goat Tavern, located underground, on Lower Wacker Drive, very near the offices which housed the three major daily newspapers. His snarky tone often derided the actions of prominent Chicago businesspeople, society mavens, and politicians (yes, even including “Da Mare”) - if only there were a current columnist who was able to adopt a sarcastic, satirical, snarky approach to column-writing. . .

Hey, here's a thought - if you yearn for the sarcastic, satirical, snarky approach to column-writing once embodied by Mike Royko, simply click the button here to subscribe now to Rule of Three - it's free!  

5. Mrs. O’Leary’s Cow - a definitive cause of the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 has never been determined, but one of the persistent theories advanced is that of a cow, housed in a barn on West DeKoven Street, which belonged to the O’Leary family, knocking over a lantern, setting fire to an adjacent shed, and, ultimately leading to the deaths of three hundred people, the destruction of 17,500 buildings, spread over more than 2,000 acres, and costing $222 million in 1871 dollars ($5.4 billion in current value). By providing a clean slate for rebuilding the city in 1871, this cow was perhaps more responsible than Daniel Burnham for the architectural magnificence for which Chicago has long been recognized. Also, Mrs. O’Leary’s Cow would be a great name for a band, no?

6. Daniel Burnham - it’s tough, taking second billing to a cow, but, Burnham did play a significant role in the rebuilding of Chicago, and also put his stamp on Chicago’s 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, as well as designing numerous other buildings in other major American cities. Burnham’s Plan of Chicago, published in 1909, set out principles of controlled growth, a cornerstone of which is Chicago’s vast public lakefront parks. And, his most-recognized advice was: “Make no little plans. They have no magic to stir men’s blood and probably will not themselves be realized.”

7. George Halas - Halas was around at the beginning of the NFL in 1922, and owned the Chicago Bears until his death in 1983. He played a bit, and coached the team for most of those years as well, becoming known as “Papa Bear” along the way. Halas gained a reputation for being thrifty, eliciting a response attributed to a Bears player (later to be Bears head coach), Mike Ditka: “George Halas throws nickels around like man hole covers.” Thank God Halas wasn’t around to see the “Super Bowl Shuffle,” inflicted upon us by the soon-to-be Super Bowl champion 1986 Bears.

Alright, that’s our list. Now, given that we only had seven slots to fill, it was an extremely difficult task - you might argue that we stretched the soup a little bit, with our selection of the seven founders of the band, Chicago. Given an assignment such as this one, there are inevitably those who landed just below the cut-line. We resolved to exclude athletes, because, typically their fame is fleeting, although a serious argument could be made that someone such as Michael Jordan transcends a role as a mere athlete. Those to whom we awarded serious consideration included: Bozo the Clown (Bob Bell); Bill Veeck; Dick Butkus; Gale Sayers; Mike Ditka; Ernie Banks; Roger Ebert; Gene Siskel; Jane Addams; Saul Bellow; Milton Friedman; Nelson Algren; Finley Peter Dunne; Ann Landers; Ring Lardner; Carl Sandburg; Shel Silverstein; Studs Terkel; Marshall Field; Ray Kroc; Potter Palmer; George Pullman; W. Clement Stone; John Dillinger; John Wayne Gacy; Sam Giancana; John Belushi; Hugh Hefner; John Hughes; David Mamet; Bob Newhart; Upton Sinclair; “Bathhouse” John Coughlin; Clarence Darrow; Joseph Medill; Eliot Ness; Barack Obama; Mother Cabrini; and Jesse Jackson.

Having shared with you our list of the “Real Chicago Seven” and of our serious contenders, we encourage you to talk amongst yourselves, or better yet, share your thoughts in the comments section below. And, in the true Chicago spirit, “Vote early - and vote often!”

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