Turning Point in Chicago

It was the most dramatic week in Chicago since the 1968 Democratic Convention. More than that, it also may have been a turning point in political history: the beginning of the end of May or Richard Daley's fiefdom, the last great political machine in America.

A jury in U.S. district court convicted Alderman Thomas Keane, 69, the machine's second most powerful mem ber, on 17 counts of mail fraud and one count of conspiracy in secret land deals.

Next day another federal jury convicted Alderman Paul Wigoda, 52, a machine member and Keane's law partner, on charges of evading income taxes in 1969 on a $50,000 bribe from real estate developers for pushing a zoning change through the city council. The day after that, still another federal jury convicted Daley's former press secretary, Earl Bush, 59, of eleven counts of mail fraud.

The triple play was set up by Republican U.S. Attorney James R. ("Big Jim") Thompson, 38. Earlier, he obtained convictions against former Governor Otto Kerner, Cook County Clerk Edward Barrett and five other alder men. But "this time," said Thompson, "the system was on trial." Daley, 72, who had a mild stroke last May, is considering running for a sixth term next year.

Whether he does or not, Chicago politics will never be the same again.

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