41. Harold Washington (N-IL)
41. Harold Washington (N-IL)
January 20, 1989 - August 19, 1991
“Business as usual will not be accepted by any part of this nation.”
January 20, 1989 - August 19, 1991
“Business as usual will not be accepted by any part of this nation.”
There was a brief moment in 1989 where it looked like America would come back.
Of course, today this is known to not be true. Any historian would say that Robert Bork, in his capacity as Attorney General and then as President, had so thoroughly institutionalized conservative positions to the point that even the most popular reforms stood no chance. But for a brief moment between Decision ‘88 and Georgia v. U.S., it seemed that Americans legitimately believed that Harold Washington would be their savior.
Until 1985, barely anybody outside of Chicago even knew who Harold Washington was. He had begun his career as one of Ralph Metcalfe’s most left-wing proteges and a skilled operator, running the 3rd Ward Young Democrats so successfully that other chapters often came to him for advice on how to run theirs. From there, as the Daley machine wobbled under the old man’s failing health and the negative press of the 1968 DNC, Metcalfe saw the chance to reshape Chicago, and Harold Washington was sure to be brought along with him. In 1975, Ralph Metcalfe won the mayorship of Chicago, becoming the city’s first black mayor, and in the ensuing special election for his house seat, Washington emerged victorious by just under 1,000 votes in the primary. Then Ralph Metcalfe was assassinated by the Chicago Outfit and Ed Hanrahan practically had himself declared mayor by the council, ensuring the Daley machine would reassert itself in the wake of Metcalfe’s death. It surprised barely anyone when it was later discovered that Hanrahan’s office had been in contact with the mob before Billy Dauber took the shot.
Metcalfe’s death had changed Washington’s goals. At one point, he had wished to hold the mayorship and simply better his city. Now, he realized he had to reach higher if he wanted any chance at not ending up another casualty of Beirut on the Lake, especially as working-class white Chicagoans seemed more radicalized along racial lines than ever in the wake of Earl Butz’s resignation. So he stayed put in Congress, putting in time as a thoughtful left-wing workhorse for the Democrats. He fought vociferously against the VRA amendments, arguably was responsible for the defeat of LeMay’s second attempt at Social Security privatization in the House, and sponsored a bill signed into law honoring Martin Luther King’s birthday as a federal holiday. Then the New Party proved it was here to stay, winning races in 1982. At that moment, Washington, already dissatisfied with the centrist bend to the current Democratic Party, decided to bail. He registered with the New Party in late 1983, and come the death of party house leader William H. Meyer, was elected nearly unanimously as his replacement. The 1984 election came and went, and while the New Party was blamed for the fiasco by some Washington put himself in direct contrast to his Democratic counterparts. Where Boggs and Muskie compromised in the name of institutionalism, he blasted their compromises and called for a Voting Rights Amendment - a constitutional amendment aimed at ending the electoral college, gerrymandering, and enshrining the key principles of the Voting Rights Act. While this gained significant traction with a furious public, only a left-liberal bloc of fringe Democrats and virtually all New Party members came out in support of such a move. Come 1986, those were the main survivors of a bloody anti-Bork backlash, and Washington’s caucus was the largest plurality. After days of intense negotiations, the Democratic and New Parties came to an agreement where Washington would hold the gavel but both parties would have a strong hand in running the House.
By 1988, Speaker Washington had established himself as perhaps the foremost opponent of the Bork administration. Despite the major divides in the makeup of the House, he was often able to cobble together a working majority to pass somewhat-moderated legislation that Bork promptly vetoed. Even so, the New Party loved him, so much so that his Chicago office saw a near-constant stream of mail asking him to run. HAROLD FOR AMERICA signs cropped up, at first in Chicago but soon bumper stickers were seen everywhere from Anchorage to Atlanta. In January, he relented, announcing his intent to contest the New Party primaries later that spring. Other candidates dropped like flies, Jesse Jackson endorsed Washington, and the nomination was a walk. One could not say the same for the other two parties. Robert Bork had given a Shermanesque pledge, privately believing one term may have even been too many, so the administration saw a battle between Vice President Lehrman and the candidate of the radical right, Senator Evan Mecham. Mecham had won the AIP primary against and lost the GOP to Barry Goldwater in 1980, but instead of stopping his bid he ran independent to LeMay’s coalition and won the three-way race, horrifying liberals since apparently even Barry Goldwater was too moderate nowadays. He had established a reputation for himself as a sort of new Earl Butz, a right-wing populist known for culture-warring and off-the-cuff remarks. He trounced Lehrman in Iowa, railing against his “cosmopolitan views” and reminding voters just who had been the driving force behind defunding so many government programs, including farm subsidies that had driven a full crisis for small farmers by 1988. Though Lehrman put up a good fight, the party faithful simply didn’t see a place for old, wealthy conservatives during an election season very much defined by a recent active occupation of American cities, and Evan Mecham emerged the party nominee. The Democrats, for their part, quickly rallied around the handsome centrist LBJ son-in-law Chuck Robb after Joe Lieberman made it clear he wished to see his term as Attorney General out, deferring to the Virginia Senator after strong wins in New Hampshire and South Carolina.
The general election was a surprisingly muted affair given the chaos of the past four years. Polls taken then indicated that it was largely Washington beating Robb, with Mecham lucky to gain double digits in the popular vote. Mecham campaigned as bombastically as one would expect, memorably calling Washington’s policy plank the “pickaninny platform” and then dug in, responding to accusations of racism for the comment with “I've got black friends. I employ black people. I don't employ them because they are black; I employ them because they are the best people who applied for the cotton-picking job.” For their parts, Washington and Robb largely ignored Mecham and focused on civil policy debate, with the former orienting his campaign quite heavily on kitchen-table economic issues and the latter on repairing America’s reputation abroad. Though both were of serious concern in a Borked nation, all in all Americans were more tired of not being able to put food on the table than they were of far-off conflicts.
Many were surprised that, despite his general marginalization and Robert Bork’s breathtaking 13% approval rating that November, Evan Mecham nearly tied for second place in the popular vote and easily doubled Robb’s electoral total. In the immediate aftermath, the phenomenon of conservative news channels that had emerged after the Butz administration ended the Fairness Doctrine was blamed. While channels like Freedom News and the Christian Broadcasting Network had largely been cheerleaders for LeMay and Bork, with Republicans in chaos they established themselves as independent political operators that signal-boosted and provided cover to Mecham, who had been a mainstay for interviews with them for years.
Harold Washington’s inauguration saw over 1 million people crowd the National Mall of their own free will, especially black Americans. To many, his last name was a sign of things to come - he was their Washington, a leader of a new country emerging from the bitterness of the old. To all Americans, he seemed someone who could fix so many of the problems that had plagued recent memory. He was a new start, and his administration made clear that he would act on his platform - what he had dubbed the “Common Goals” - on the campaign trail. He even walked the entire length of his inaugural parade, shaking hands with the crowd and incidentally giving the first sign of what the reality of the Harold Washington administration would be. An avowed white supremacist named Richard Snell, furious at the implications of a black Chicagoan leading the nation, pushed to the front of the crowd and attempted to stab him. Though he was blocked and didn’t manage to hit the new president, in retrospect this seems the first high-profile example of what was to come.
Regardless of the specter of looming white supremacist violence, the Harold Washington administration set to work with a surprising vigor, starting with the Human Rights Act. A policy Washington had pushed for on the state level in the Illinois Senate and again as Speaker of the House, the Human Rights Act was gradually modified until it effectively became an all-encompassing law on civil rights. Intended to enshrine equal rights based on “race, color, religion, sex, national origin, ancestry, age, marital status, physical or mental disability, military status, sexual orientation, or unfavorable discharge from military service” in virtually all areas the government could regulate such matters. The Human Rights Act and especially its provisions against gerrymandering and voter suppression were treated as a remedy for the weakening of the Voting Rights Act. It sailed quickly through the House and Senate over a filibuster-proof combination of New and Democratic members, at which point it became law of the land.
Then the Supreme Court stepped in. Several Georgia laws were in violation of the new Human Rights Act, such as the 1984 law where schools had been displaying the Ten Commandments. So state Attorney General Mike Bowers sued the government on broader terms, arguing that these provisions were a clear imposition by the federal government in matters it had no right to step in on. When the case continually appealed its way upwards after conservative judges sided with Georgia, eventually the Supreme Court agreed to hear it. That November, in a ruling along direct ideological lines, the court sided with Georgia, stating that its provisions simply regulated state matters the federal government had no business being involved in. In reality, the Human Rights Act had just been gutted to the point of becoming a toothless mission statement for the government.
The rest of the Common Goals became a far larger uphill battle. Despite New majorities in both houses, despite shrewd whipping by Speaker Don Fraser, the Democrats held the balance for Senate majorities, and the Democratic Party had already begun a rightward drift in the name of capturing traditional Republicans. The party had begun to decry “big government” as an attempt to distance itself from RFK and accordingly saw government welfare as a small-scale policy, meant for those who needed it most. As such, when Washington proposed a gradual expansion of Medicare to cover all Americans’ health insurance, a group of fourteen Democrats led by Colorado Senator Timothy Wirth announced their opposition to the policy. The “Gang of Fourteen” would prove to be a considerable thorn in Washington’s side. They would ultimately stall farm subsidies, greater parental leave, public housing expansions, a minimum wage raise, and even a sweeping government-subsidized infrastructure bill, frustrating Washington and largely turning what was supposed to be a domestic president away from solving those kitchen-table issues.
Continued congressional intransigence did not mean that Washington had to be a lame duck, though. On foreign policy he saw far more immediate action. The United States would withdraw from Panama by the end of 1990, finally acceding to the UN’s demands. However, this and even a promise to negotiate with the Panamanian government in regards to returning the Canal was not enough to get the UN to forget. They would not allow American re-admission to the Security Council, instead only offering general membership. This displeased virtually all but the most radical New Party members, ensuring that even if Washington wished to pursue it, it would never pass. As such, it seemed that the US would remain outside.
Harold Washington held a core view that America did not need to be the world’s policeman the way LeMay and Bork seemed to, especially seeing as Bork was a corrupt, brutal policeman at that. To him, the United States could largely withdraw from global enforcement and conduct itself as a first among equals. As such, the United States immediately pursued democratization of previously-backed dictatorships. A wave of color revolutions hit in Latin America, allowing dissident figures like Chico Mendes, Ricardo Lagos, and Cuauhtemoc Cardenas to rise in their place. Korea, the Philippines, and South Vietnam peaceably transferred power to civilian authorities, though their post-dictatorship period would be far more troubled than that of South America. Though the United States no longer belonged to the UN, the body still praised these encouragements of liberty over anti-communism.
This policy would face its greatest test in Southern Africa. Rhodesia and South Africa had maintained minority white rule, supported outright by LeMay and Bork. Washington was an intense opponent of all forms of apartheid and made clear that the United States would completely and totally sanction the Walls and Malan regimes. This announcement would have perhaps been fatal in another situation. However, the two dictatorships had had years to build up even more brutal systems of crushing dissent and were looking for ways to avoid being Borked. In response, the two nations - closely aligned throughout the 80s as Rhodesia faced outright intervention by its neighbors in favor of the guerrillas - jointly tested a nuclear bomb in the Kalahari Desert, threatening to use them on anyone who dared to violate their sovereignty. After a tense moment, Mugabe’s supporting nations backed off and America ultimately blinked, perpetuating sanctions but largely unable to act in favor of regime change for fear of a nuclear strike out of desperation.
Despite the tumult of democratization and its failings, oil politics were far less ambiguous. The Bork administration had dealt with Iran, seeing its tempestuous dictator Mahmoud Rajavi as willing to spite his former Soviet handlers. However, taking oil from a volatile dictatorship infuriated Washington, and unlike the Third Way European leadership he saw buying General-Secretary Anatoly Lukyanov’s oil as simply building debts to an awful master, no matter how much the Soviet Union sought to portray itself as turning over a new leaf. Instead, he saw Latin America and especially Venezuela as the path to American independence from Islamist radicals. As the Cold War juntas fell, Washington began the process of negotiating new oil treaties with the oil-rich South American nations.
With domestic politics largely frozen by the courts and the Gang of Fourteen, the 1990 midterms were sure to be more complicated than a simple backlash. Republicans, for their part, paid lip service to their normal rhetoric of “government overreach” as they let conservative media do the pitbull work. The Coors-owned business model of 24-hour news left a lot of dead time for opinion shows that raised unique alarms about Washington. In the world of Freedom News, he was a dangerously corrupt radical who would lead to the destruction of the American dream. His housing projects would lead to low-income residents in the suburbs, his welfare expansions would help cheats and queens, and overall every policy had a very colorful response. However, all the dogwhistle politics in the world could not counter the New Party’s emboldened stance. Washington repeatedly made a point of how, since the Senate remained elusive, they had no ability to pass the vast majority of their popular agenda. With this in mind as well as lowered gas prices and Washington not to blame for gridlock, this left the Democrats in a precarious spot, under constant attack from a relatively popular president and squeezed from both sides electorally. While very few states would see New-Republican flips, the Democratic caucus was decimated as the New Party finally gained the Senate majority and the Republicans managed to return to the minority opposition.
The new Senate majority meant that Washington saw an opportunity to push on. The Medicare expansion bill returned stronger than ever before it stalled out once more in the Senate. After a brief struggle over the matter, the filibuster was abolished and the bill signed into law. Then came the public housing expansions, stringent environmental protection laws, a law protecting the right to obtain an abortion, the family farm protections, and even a narrowly-passed vote on the Voting Rights Amendment. At which point, the courts stepped in once again. In a series of rapid-fire decisions, Bork-appointee rulings thoroughly stripped what the government could regulate environmentally, decided that abortion belonged to the states, and even decided that states must vote individually to accept the Medicare expansions. It seemed that even when Washington won, he lost.
The new Attorney General would not help matters. Running on a familiar platform based on what can best be described as white anxiety, he quickly regained his following in conservative circles as a tireless fighter for constitutional principles. He spoke of a New-dominated America as a chaotic, rioting mess dominated by freewheeling hippies and criminals. While normally such views would be taken as absurd, a left-wing black man like Harold Washington sparked intense feelings in white Americans, especially as he seemed uncompromising and “aggressive” in their minds. However, the New and Democratic parties campaigned for the position normally, convinced a crank like Mecham couldn’t win, not even after Earl Butz endorsed him once again or even after conservative rival James Baker dropped out. They awoke after election day to find that Evan Mecham had won by just 412 votes, beating out nearest rival Bill Baxley.
Mecham immediately set to work undermining his previous rival. Washington had been dogged by rumors of tax fraud throughout his Chicagoan career. Of course, this was a cudgel used by the Daleys to ruin him, even going so far as to send an unpaid $500 to criminal court, baffling the judge who heard the case. In addition to this, allegations arose that he had not performed required services to his clients as a lawyer. Mecham immediately ordered full investigations into Washington’s legal work and tax returns. Though this would go nowhere, it had the intended effect of creating content for the media to chase to make Washington look bad. Every night on FN and CBN, segments about the Washington cover-up dominated the airwaves.
Then Mecham struck gold, because on August 19, 1991, in the midst of the legislative haggling over a potential national infrastructure bill, Harold Washington slumped over on the table, dead of what was likely a sudden heart attack. As the nation processed the news that its first truly well-liked president in years was gone, FBI Director Ted Gunderson called a press conference on Mecham’s orders. In it, Gunderson stated that there were unknown chemicals - in reality, prescription lidocaine - discovered in President Washington’s blood in the autopsy, and that the FBI believed that crack cocaine overdose was a likely suspect.
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