True Detective

Hoover that made the end of Mr. Capone possible. You see. prior to Mr. Hoover reaching office, several of us here in Chicago had devised a two-part plan. First, a world's fair. What better way to restore Chicago's image in the eyes of the nation, of the world. What better way than to attract millions of people from around the globe to our fair city on the lake, to prove to them that the average person in Chicago never so much as sees a gangster.'

I would've liked to have met that average person, but never mind.

'We felt we needed a good ten years to do the exposition up right. We would call it 'A Century of Progress,' and it would take place in 1937, the hundredth anniversary of the incorporation of the city- '

I interrupted. 'But you're planning it now for this summer. And it's still called 'A Century? of Progress,' isn't it?'

'Yes,' Dawes admitted, 'but, after the Crash, the city needed the exposition more than it needed correct mathematics.'

Uncle Louis said, 'Fort Dearborn was a village in 1833. That's a century, isn't it?'

'Hey, it's okay with me,' I said. 'Hold it any year you like. I think it's a good idea. Good for the city; it'll bring some money in.'

The General smiled and nodded, as if he hadn't thought of that before but it was a good idea.

Then he continued. 'When we were first discussing the possibility of an exposition, we knew that for it to truly be a success, for the point we were seeking to make to be made. Mr. Capone would have to be excised. And then we would need to restore the law and order that preceded him.'

'Excuse me. General.' I said, 'but Big Jim Colosimo and Johnny Torrio preceded Al Capone. not law and order.'

My uncle gave me another sharp look; like a knife.

But the General only smiled enigmatically. 'Shall we say the relative law and order that preceded Mr. Capone.'

'All right_?' I conceded.

'This was when some of us here in Chicago, who were concerned, and who had certain influence- and since I was, at that time, still vice-president of these United States, I did have influence- thought something should be done. I arranged for a special prosecutor, a Dwight Green, to begin dealing with Mr. Capone and company. A two- part attack was devised. Mr. Ness and his 'untouchables' would damage Mr. Capone financially, while Mr. Irey of the IRS attempted to put our income tax laws to a good use, for a change. The first of the gangsters to go to prison for tax evasion, you may remember, was one Frank Nitti, with whom I believe you are acquainted.'

'Him I've met.'

'Of course these things go in cycles, and Mr. Nitti is no longer in prison, though Mr. Capone is. and will be for some time. As you so rightly pointed out. Mr. Heller, the gangster element was with us long before Al Capone. and will go on being with us for time immemorial, human nature being what it is. But it should remain in its back-alley place, inconspicuous, within bounds. It should keep out of City Hall, for one thing.'

I sipped my tea. 'You've got a Republican to thank for that, sir.'

Uncle Louis closed his eyes.

'True,' Dawes said, 'but I will not take credit nor blame for William Hale Thompson. The man was a public drunkard, his campaign tactics an embarrassment, his connection with the Capone crowd, the obvious graft, the embezzlement'- he glanced about Saint Hubert's sadly 'all crowned by the absurdity of his anti-British stance, demanding 'pro-British' textbooks be burned, threatening to 'whack King George on the snoot.' As ambassador to Great Britain I was personally ashamed by such remarks coming from the mayor of my own great city. 'Big Bill,' as he is so quaintly referred to, bankrupted this city, humiliated and disgraced it, to a degree that, well… how should I put it?'

'Like Capone,' I said, 'he had to go.'

'Precisely.'

'And now in his place you have Cermak,' I said.

Dawes sighed heavily, nodded. 'Still, there are things to be said in Cermak's favor. When city employees under Mayor Thompson were having payless paydays. Commissioner Cermak's count)' employees were paid regularly. His fiscal skills were an encouraging sign. But I have always had misgivings about Mr. Cermak.'

'I thought you bankers were all behind him.' I said. 'He's one of your own, after all.'

Dawes smiled again, but barely concealed his contempt for the subject at hand. 'A. J. Cermak sitting on the boards of a few minor banks does not make him 'one of our own.' But you are correct. Mr. Heller. There was Cermak support among financial and commercial leaders of Democratic leaning, certainly. And we Republicans could hardly be expected to rally around William Hale Thompson's bid for a fourth term.'

'I seem to recall.' I said, somewhat coyly. 'Cermak nominating a friend of yours as favorite-son candidate for president at the national convention last month.'

That was Melvin Traylor, president of the First National Bank and perhaps the only banker in Chicago of nearly equal stature to the General.

'Yes.' Dawes nodded, 'Melvin was a major Cermak supporter. And Frank Loesch. of the Chicago Crime Commission. There were any number of Cermak-for-mayor businessmen's committees. Many of us came to support Mr. Cermak, as the 'lesser evil.''

'Well,' I said, 'he has been helping you bankers out on the tax front, hasn't he?'

Uncle Louis said, a bit testily, 'Which is only fair, since he must come to the banks to obtain loans for the city.'

The General dismissed all that with a wave of the hand. 'That would be the case under any mayor, under current conditions. The major reason Mr. Cermak gained the support of business was his promise to 'redeem