In 1961 the voting age in the United States was still 21; it wouldn't be lowered to 18 until the passage of the 26th Amendment. My grandfather, a firefighter and footsoldier for Boss Daley's Machine (as were all city workers until very recently), took my 19-year-old mother to the polling place. With a nod and a wink to the election judges, he went into the voting booth with her and had her vote for Kennedy. Chicago and the Daley Machine helped deliver that election to Kennedy.
The Machine is a pale shadow of what it used to be, but my mother and all the old-schoolers in that neighborhood are still on a first name basis with their precinct captains and know who the ward boss is.
My parents actually believed in the Machine and didn't consider it "real" corruption. I remember my father explaining that as a politician, it is your job to take care of the people who got you elected. The unspoken part of this philosophy was that if you didn't help get the politician elected, it was the politician's job to shit on you and yours.
Chicago: The City that Works
I got stories, man.
