Today in Chicago History: Jane Byrne upsets Mayor Michael Bilandic

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Here’s a look back at what happened in the Chicago area on Feb. 27, according to the Tribune’s archives.

Is an important event missing from this date? Email us.

Weather records (from the National Weather Service, Chicago)

  • High temperature: 75 degrees (1976)
  • Low temperature: Minus 6 degrees (1897)
  • Precipitation: 1.08 inches (1876)
  • Snowfall: 2.9 inches (1954)
Mary E. Hoy and her daughter, Elizabeth, were two of the 12 people who died after the Cunard line ship Laconia was struck by a German torpedo on Feb. 27, 1917, off the coast of Ireland. (Chicago Tribune)

1917: Tribune correspondent Floyd P. Gibbons was on the British ocean liner Laconia bound for reporting duty in England when the ship was torpedoed off the coast of Ireland by a German submarine in the North Atlantic. The Tribune reported Gibbons, who previously traveled with Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa, was the only reporter aboard the vessel when it was struck and began sinking. Gibbons messaged the Tribune: “Two Chicago women victims,” before the first draft of his story about the attack published in the Feb. 28, 1917, edition of the newspaper.

“I have serious doubts whether this is a real story,” Gibbons wrote. “I am not entirely certain that it is not all a dream. … It is now a little over thirty hours since I stood on the slanting decks of the big liner, listened to the lowering of the lifeboats, heard the hiss of escaping steam and the roar of ascending rockets as they tore lurid rents in the black sky and cast their red glare over the roaring sea.”

Mary E. Hoy and her daughter Elizabeth were two of the 12 people who died after the Cunard line ship Laconia was struck by a German torpedo on Feb. 27, 1917, off the coast of Ireland. At least 20 passengers on the ship were American. (Chicago Tribune)
At least 20 passengers aboard the Laconia, which was on a trip from New York to England when it was struck and sunk on Feb. 27, 1917, by a German torpedo, were American. (Chicago Tribune)

Widely reprinted, Gibbons’ story stiffened American support for war with Germany by depicting the emotional roller coaster of Americans on a sinking ship in which 12 people died. Gibbons became a well known and decorated World War I correspondent who lost his eye during a battle.

1974: During an argument outside City Council chambers, Ald. Edward Burke threatened to punch 5th Ward Ald. Leon Despres in the mouth.

Timeline: Edward Burke, once Chicago’s longest-serving alderman, sentenced to 2 years in federal prison

Despres told Burke, “Thank you for not doing it,” before returning to chambers. The two later shook hands and made up.

Paralyzing blizzards set up Chicago Mayor Michael Bilandic for defeat, but it was bright sunshine on Feb. 27, 1979, that did him in. The fair weather on the day of the mayoral primary election brought out the voters the second biggest turnout for a primary election in 40 years and the memory of the city's inept handling of record Jan. storms drove them to overturn the Democratic machine. Maverick candidate Jane Byrne won the Democratic nomination. (Chicago Tribune)
Paralyzing blizzards set up Chicago Mayor Michael Bilandic for defeat, but it was bright sunshine on Feb. 27, 1979, that did him in. The fair weather on the day of the mayoral primary election brought out the voters — the second biggest turnout for a primary election in 40 years — and the memory of the city’s inept handling of record January storms drove them to overturn the Democratic machine. Maverick candidate Jane Byrne won the Democratic nomination. (Chicago Tribune)

1979: In the wake of the city’s inept handling of record January snowstorms, Jane Byrne upset Mayor Michael Bilandic in the Democratic primary. Byrne’s campaign, launched after she was fired from a City Hall job by Bilandic, was dismissed at first as a bid for retribution. But Bilandic’s handling of the snow buried him.

Vintage Chicago Tribune: The blizzard of 1979 — and how it propelled Jane Byrne into the mayor’s office

Byrne easily defeated Republican opponent Wallace Johnson in the general election and was elected Chicago’s first female mayor on April 3, 1979.

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