Harold Washington - Obama Presidency Oral History Back Harold Washington Index / People Transcripts Bobby Rush ...years before, with the election of Harold Washington . Right. Harold Washington, hi... ...election of Harold Washington. Right. Harold Washington , his election in Chicago, stimulate... ...the voter registration efforts around Harold Washington . That also was a direct result of th... ...naivete. You know, politics in Chicago— Harold Washington used to say that politics ain'... Valerie Jarrett ...a dear friend of mine had worked for Mayor Washington —Harold [L.] Washington, the firs... ...all works. So then, take me into Harold Washington 's Chicago. Well, it was a... ...more democratic than racist. I think Mayor Washington had the ability to, with good humor an... ...redevelopment and downtown development. Mayor Washington made a point of saying, “Yes, th... ...when they first built O'Hare, and Mayor Washington , and then Sawyer, and Daley all wer... ...the law department for two years under Mayor Washington , Mayor Sawyer, and then two year... ...push to support both. That began under Mayor Washington and continued through Daley. Oh... ...that I thought—it made me feel the way Harold Washington made me feel, in that he was talkin... ...rights of the LGBTQ community, whereas Harold Washington was only able to do an executive order... ...politics. But what I would say about Mayor Washington is that he spent those first four year... ...race decided to do so, and I think Mayor Washington gets a lot of credit for that. So tha... ...was my awakening, knocking on doors for Mayor Washington . You mentioned his reelection, and o... ...could share your sense of the impact of Harold Washington 's death on that growing sense o... ...that was created with the death of Harold Washington ? And what would you say the impact o... ...control him and regain the power that Mayor Washington had challenged and taken from them... ...is a direct response to the tragedy of Mayor Washington . I think the hopes and dreams of s... ...That's a shame. And I'm sure that Mayor Washington would be devastated to think that hi... ...was a better mayor, having succeeded Mayor Washington . So, many of the progressive value... ...values that were so important to Mayor Washington that he began, whether it wa... ...legacy. So to a large degree, I think Mayor Washington 's mark on the city in terms of movin... ...because, of course, he had run against Mayor Washington . There were a lot of people, mysel... ...core values that were so important to Mayor Washington . Over time I began to appreciate tha... ...to appreciate that he did just what Mayor Washington did. He went to the parts of the cit... ...him when he ran for office against Mayor Washington , and he tried hard to earn their trus... ...it just was never quite the same after Mayor Washington . It's a painful lesson to those wh... ...important would you say the legacy of Harold Washington was for Barack Obama, in terms of hi... ...as he has said, had there not been a Mayor Washington , there may not have been a Presiden... ...that for Barack Obama, seeing what Harold Washington had accomplished made him think, “Well... ...“Well, you know what? Nobody thought Mayor Washington would get elected. Maybe I could d... ...I do think that he was a student of Mayor Washington , and that progressive movement, an... Show more... Related Topics go to the Healthcare Healthcare go to the Asia Rebalance Asia Rebalance go to the Education Education go to the Black Politics Black Politics go to the Science Science