Chapter X Summary and Analysis

By age sixty-eight, Daley is a complete man. He has his health, happy and successful children, an outstanding career in Chicago politics, fame, and control of the Machine. To show the world that he still has not lost his touch after the convention scandal, Daley decides to run Adlai Stevenson III for senator and a rising young Democrat friend, Richard Elrod. Elrod is the son of a classic old ward boss. Although the Republicans are running a former FBI agent for Sheriff, Elrod proves to be an excellent choice. Elrod was hospitalized after having allegedly been injured by a Weatherman activist. In reality, Elrod injured himself, but the story was good. When Elrod slowly limps across the stage at a rally, it is considered a masterstroke in political parlance. Here was a real live hero who had stood up...