When Chicago aldermen honored WBBM-AM reporter and political editor Bob Crawford with a resolution last week, so many wanted to get on the record that it took longer for them to do this than pass Mayor Richard M. Daley’s $4.6 billion budget in their next vote.
From Ald. Ed Burke’s history lesson on the City Hall pressroom to Ald. Brian Doherty’s congratulations on behalf of the Republican aldermen (he’s the only one), it was a grand, convivial sendoff into retirement for Crawford, accompanied by wife Yvonne in the chambers. The newsman ends his 33 years (32 spent covering City Hall) at WBBM Friday, when he plans to file his final report.
Crawford, 65, dean of City Hall reporters, takes with him a treasure trove of tapes he has collected during his City Hall run. He plans to donate them to his alma mater, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, in the next few months. “Just to be a part of their great library is an honor,” he said.
But while Crawford is a lifelong radio man, who also hosts WBBM’s weekly “At Issue” show, Ald. Burt Natarus suggested in the tributes that he take with him enough stories to write a book. There are no plans to do that, but Crawford did volunteer for us the most important ones he covered:
1968 Democratic National Convention,
Aug. 26-29
Hubert Humphrey got the nomination, but not before anti-war protesters and Chicago police engaged in the “days of rage” that turned the city into a tinderbox of emotion and violence seen by a national, television audience. “That was a very difficult time,” Crawford said. “It was so hard to keep your head and be fair and objective with so much tumult going on around you. It also had a lot of physical challenges, just to get around the city and cover everything that was occurring.”
Midway air crash, Dec. 8, 1972
A United Airlines jet headed to Chicago from Washington, D.C., crashed, destroying five homes near the airport and killing 45 people. “The aircraft pancaked into a neighborhood of bungalows. [Watergate conspirator] Howard Hunt’s wife was on this flight and the cash [$10,000] she was carrying burned and no one knew it at the time. Illinois Congressman George Collins of Illinois died as well, but also a colleague of mine perished, Michelle Clark, who worked for CBS. That made it particularly hard for me. Here I was trying to do reports and I knew my friend had died. This was a very emotional experience and it was hard not to show them.”
Mayor Richard J. Daley’s death, Dec. 20, 1976
“I will always remember that so well because he was such a dominant figure in Chicago and nationally was the last of the big city bosses. When he died, we knew that local politics was going to change forever. I think our current mayor has a lot of the instincts his father had. He sets the same sort of priorities for government and he engages in the same sort of micro-management in city government. He is noted, as his father was, for traveling around the city and writing things down on a note. Then, that note would go to a department head and he or she would be told to take care of it. That’s why he reminds me of his dad.”
Council elects Michael Bilandic mayor, Dec. 27, 1976
In a raucous session soon after Daley’s death, Ald. Bilandic, then representing the mayor’s 11th ward, became a compromise choice of the Council to succeed him on an interim basis. It was the beginning of the racially divisive “council wars” era. “What a long night. It was the first time in my career I went through an entire day and an entire night without a break. I was exhausted the next day. It was the hardest I ever worked, but you had to stay on the story because the climate was so uncertain. We had protesters marching on City Hall and nobody knew what was going to happen or when it was going to happen. We were live almost all the time too.”
Jane Byrne’s mayoral election, April 3, 1979
“I think this showed Chicago turning an important corner. We’d always been thought of as a bastion of male chauvinism, where there was no room for women in politics, and this proved it wrong. Regardless of how you thought she performed, this was very important.”
O’Hare air crash, May 25, 1979 (the date as published has been corrected in this text) American Airlines’ flight 191 crashed in a field near O’Hare shortly after takeoff, claiming 273 lives. The cause proved to be a faulty, 3-inch bolt that broke loose and resulted in an engine falling off a wing. “At that time, this was one of the worst air crashes we’d ever had and it was an emotionally draining experience.”
Iran hostages/President Carter transition, January 1981
“This was one of the strangest stories for me to cover. I was in Washington, D.C., on an assignment when the network told me to go to the White House, where I had to cover President Carter trying to arrange release of the hostages at the same time he was in his last days of a transition to Ronald Reagan. It was very unusual to have two things like that going on at the same time. I worked that story for five days. I think everyone in this business wants the chance to work in the White House at least once and I got to do that.”
Harold Washington’s mayoral election, April 12, 1983
“I thought a lot of people believed this — electing a black as mayor — could never happen in Chicago because we were the most segregated city in the north. It was a big stigma at the time that the city could not shake, but this did it. This said a lot about Chicago growing up.”
Chicago flood, April 13, 1992
When a tunnel ruptured underneath the Chicago River, the Loop was brought to a standstill for days when water flooded throughout the city’s underground tunnels. Some LaSalle Street businesses lost millions with the shutdown of their electrical systems and property damage. Total repair cost: $30 million, plus millions more in lawsuits. “This was a real challenge for radio, as well as television,” Crawford said. “There were no pictures. Everything was out of sight, though I would have to say that the image of that diver in a deep sea outfit emerging from a manhole cover was quite memorable.”
1996 Democratic National Convention, Aug. 26-29
“With this convention, which was a really good story also because the Democrats were trying to get away from the tired, old Kennedy-Johnson liberalism, we turned another corner because so many people wanted to continue punishing Chicago for what happened in ’68. It was very important that it went off well, I think, and everyone let bygones be bygones. It meant a lot to Mayor Daley personally and it showed Chicago can do things right.”
Florida recount: Bush vs. Gore
“This might have been the most complex story I ever covered as a political editor, considering I am not a lawyer. The story seemed to change every hour left and right, not only politically but also legally. I was constantly seeking new sources. I was doing 10-12 reports daily on the developments, which seemed to be constantly updated.”
