Mayor Daley, the Son, Vows Harmony in Chicago

Richard M. Daley was sworn in as 45th mayor on Monday--his 47th birthday--and promised he would be a conductor who would orchestrate harmony in the city his father led for 21 years.

“The old ways of doing things simply aren’t adequate to cope with the new challenges we face,” said Daley, whose victory over two black opponents earlier this year split the vote sharply along racial lines.

Daley used Orchestra Hall, site of the ceremony, as a theme for his speech. He said the patchwork of a city is like a collection of instruments that can make beautiful music only when they work together.

“Today I have been handed the conductor’s baton, and to the people of Chicago, wherever you live, let me assure you that your voices will be heard,” he said.

Daley was sworn in by Senior U.S. District Judge Abraham Lincoln Marovitz, who performed the service for Richard J. Daley six times before the elder Daley died in office in 1976.

The younger Daley, a Democrat, later received a congratulatory call from President Bush, who was here to address the annual meeting of the Associated Press.

With Daley in office, Chicago became the largest U.S. city in which voters have replaced a black mayor with a white one.

Daley was elected April 4 to serve the last two years of the second term of Harold Washington, the city’s first black mayor, who died 17 months ago. Daley succeeds Eugene Sawyer, the acting mayor named by the City Council.

Sawyer, who is black, lost to Daley in the Democratic primary Feb. 28. In April, Daley easily defeated third-party candidate Timothy Evans, also black, and Democrat-turned-Republican Edward R. Vrdolyak.

Daley’s father ran a political machine fueled by Democratic patronage, but Daley said those days are gone.

“You don’t hand down policies from generation to generation,” he said, but he said he did share with his father “a love for our city and a zest for public service.”

Daley served three terms in the Illinois Senate and was elected to a third term as Cook County state’s attorney last year.