Jane Byrne

Jane Byrne

Jane Margaret Byrne (born Jane Margaret Burke ; born May 24, 1934 in Chicago , Illinois ; † November 14, 2014 there ) was an American Democratic Party politician who became the first woman to serve as mayor of Chicago in 1979 .

Life

The daughter of a manager in the steel industry , after graduating from Saint Scholastic High School in Chicago, studied chemistry and biology at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College in Indiana . She then continued her studies at Barat College in Illinois, where she obtained a Bachelor of Science (BS Chemistry and Biology) in 1965 . In 1968, Mayor Richard J. Daley made her director of the Chicago Consumer Protection Office, and in 1976 she was dismissed by Daley's successor, Michael A. Bilandic .

In the code ( Primary ) on the establishment of democratic mayoral candidate in 1979 she ran against Bilandic as internal party opponent and won the primary. One reason for Bilandic's electoral defeat was its mismanagement at the Chicago Blizzard in 1979, which was criticized by the population.

On April 16, 1979, she succeeded Bilandic and finally became the first woman to serve as mayor of Chicago. It enabled the filming of the film Blues Brothers in exchange for a donation for a children's home. In 1981, together with entrepreneur Charlie Soo, she campaigned for the renovation of the West Argyle Street Historic District , a conservation area in the uptown of Chicago.

In the 1983 primary, she lost to her internal party challenger and member of the US House of Representatives from Illinois Harold Washington , who on April 29, 1983 became the first African American to succeed Jane Byrne as Mayor of Chicago.

She then withdrew from political life and wrote her memoir in 1992 under the title My Chicago .

Web links

• Jane Byrne in nndb (English)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Former Chicago Mayor Jane Byrne dies at 81.
2. ↑ https://patch.com/illinois/northcenter-roscoevillage/jane-byrne-made-best-scenes-blues-brothers-possible