Leadership Quote by Richard J. Daley

Richard J. Daley’s jab lands with the blunt authority of a machine boss who never pretended to love sunlight. Coming from the longtime mayor of Chicago, “A newspaper is the lowest thing there is” isn’t a philosophical claim about journalism; it’s a power move. Daley is naming an enemy in public, collapsing a watchdog institution into something base, unclean, beneath serious people. The phrasing is absolutist on purpose. Not “irresponsible” or “unfair,” but “the lowest,” a superlative that turns critique into contempt and invites his allies to treat unfavorable coverage as moral pollution rather than information.

The subtext is transactional: in Daley’s world, legitimacy flows from organization, votes, patronage, and loyalty, not from column inches. Newspapers interrupt that system by narrating it. They expose the seams - who got the contract, who got the job, who got leaned on - and in doing so they threaten the mayor’s most valuable asset: control of the story. Calling newspapers “lowest” reframes scrutiny as self-interest, suggesting reporters aren’t checking power; they’re chasing scandal, selling papers, grandstanding.

Context matters: mid-century urban politics ran on backroom discipline, while big-city dailies could still set the civic agenda. Daley’s Chicago was famously combative with the press, especially when coverage challenged police conduct, corruption, or the rough edges of machine governance. The quote works because it’s not subtle. It’s the voice of a man confident enough to sneer at the referee - and a reminder that when politicians dismiss journalism as inherently dirty, they’re usually arguing for a world where only power gets to speak.