Political fallout from the murder of Fred Hampton

Cook County State’s Attorney Edward Hanrahan led a raid on the Black Panther headquarters in 1969, murdering Fred Hampton and Mark Clark, two of the group’s leaders.

Although many White voters hailed Hanrahan as a hero, Black voters were horrified at what they considered to have been cold-blooded murder, and many others were shocked at the one-sided attack by law enforcement agents.

To try to overcome the fallout, the Machine dumped Hanrahan from its slate in the Democratic primary when he stood for re-election three years later and replaced him with mild-mannered Circuit Court Judge Nathan Berg, a docile Machine follower who headed the city Traffic Court. Hanrahan stayed in the race, anyway, and a third candidate, Donald Page Moore, was backed by Reformers hoping to capitalize on a split in the Machine ranks.

The Regular Democratic Organization in Black, Reform, and strong Machine wards campaigned for Berg. But organizations in northwest and southwest side White wards and most suburban townships stuck with Hanrahan and they were not pressured by the party to back the endorsed candidate. Even in the wards that backed Berg, many precinct captains openly campaigned for Hanrahan.

Hanrahan won, carrying most of the predominantly White wards and townships. Berg finished second, and Moore last.

 But in the general election, Hanrahan lost traditionally Democratic Cook County to Republican Bernie Carey, who ran on the slogan, “Bernard Carey fights crime, not people.”