43 Facts About Jane Byrne

Jane Margaret Byrne was an American politician who served as the 50th mayor of Chicago from April 16,1979, until April 29,1983.

Jane Byrne won the 1979 Chicago mayoral election on April 3,1979 becoming the first female mayor of the city, and causing an upheaval in beating the city's political machine.

Jane Byrne narrowly lost her bid for reelection in the Democratic primary for the 1983 Chicago mayoral election.

Jane Byrne later transferred to Barat College, where she graduated with a bachelor's degree in chemistry and biology in 1955.

In 1968, Jane Byrne was appointed head of the City of Chicago's consumer affairs department.

Jane Byrne served as a delegate to the 1972 Democratic National Convention and chairperson of the DNC resolutions committee in 1973.

In 1975, Jane Byrne was appointed co-chairperson of the Cook County Democratic Central Committee by Daley, over the objection of a majority of Democratic leaders.

Jane Byrne was then dismissed from her post as head of consumer affairs by Bilandic.

Months after being fired as head of the consumer affairs department, Jane Byrne challenged Bilandic in the 1979 Democratic mayoral primary, the real contest in the heavily Democratic Chicago.

Jane Byrne helped to make Chicago more welcoming to the gay community.

Jane Byrne ended the police department's practice of raiding gay bars, and declared the city's first official "Gay Pride Parade Day" in 1981.

However, during her tenure, Jane Byrne drifted away from many of the progressive tenets she had campaigned on.

Jane Byrne appointed Samuel Nolan interim superintendent in his place, Nolan was the first African American to serve as head of the Chicago Police Department.

On her last day in office, after the resignation of Brzeczek as superintdendent, Byrne appointed James E O'Grady as interim superintendent.

In 1980, Byrne appointed William R Blair as Chicago fire commissioner.

Jane Byrne provided a similar amount to Auditorium Theatre for them to acquire a new lighting board.

Jane Byrne allowed Chicago to be used as a filming location, pushing for such movies as The Blues Brothers to be shot in Chicago.

Jane Byrne ordered the Chicago Housing Authority to evict tenants who were suspected of harboring gang members in their apartments, which affected approximately 800 tenants.

Jane Byrne described her first night at Cabrini-Green as "lovely" and "very quiet".

Jane Byrne stayed at Cabrini-Green for three weeks to bring attention to the housing project's crime and infrastructure problems.

Jane Byrne's stay there ended on April 18,1981, following an Easter celebration at the project which drew protests and demonstrators who claimed Byrne's move to the project was just a publicity stunt.

In January 1982, Jane Byrne proposed a controversial ordinance effectively banning new handgun registration.

Jane Byrne used special events, such as ChicagoFest, to revitalize Navy Pier and the downtown Chicago Theatre.

In 1980, Jane Byrne announced that the city would host a Championship Auto Racing Teams "Indy Car" automobile race at Grant Park on the 4th of July weekend of the following year.

Jane Byrne appointed a commission that ultimately recommended that the Loop should be retained along with modernization.

In 1981, Jane Byrne disbanded the Chicago Transit Authority's dedicated security force, transferring its duties instead to the Chicago Police Department.

Jane Byrne then allowed Goodwin to continue his climb unimpeded to the top.

Jane Byrne initiated the idea for creating a unified lakefront museum campus, which was implemented subsequent to her tenure as Museum Campus, as well as the idea of renovating Navy Pier, implemented subsequent to her tenure.

Jane Byrne was defeated in the 1983 Democratic primary for mayor by Harold Washington, an anti-machine politician and African-American congressman; the younger Daley ran a close third.

Jane Byrne ran against Washington again in the 1987 Democratic primary, but was narrowly defeated.

Jane Byrne endorsed Washington for the general election, in which he defeated two Democrats running under other parties' banners and a Republican.

Early into her 1987 campaign, in October 1985, Jane Byrne called for a feasibility study of the potential to construct a third major airport for the city on the site of the South Works.

Jane Byrne next ran in the 1988 Democratic primary for Cook County Circuit Court Clerk.

Jane Byrne faced the Democratic Party's slated candidate, Aurelia Pucinski.

Jane Byrne's fourth run for mayor became a rematch with Daley in the 1991 primary.

Jane Byrne received only 5.9 percent of the vote, a distant third behind Daley and Alderman Danny K Davis.

Jane Byrne married journalist Jay McMullen in 1978, and they remained married until his death from lung cancer in 1992.

Jane Byrne lived in the same apartment building from the 1970s until her death in 2014.

Jane Byrne's daughter, Kathy, who died in 2024, was a lawyer with a Chicago firm.

In 2011, Jane Byrne attended the inauguration of the city's then new mayor, Rahm Emanuel.

Jane Byrne had entered hospice care and died on November 14,2014, in Chicago, aged 81, from complications of a stroke she suffered in January 2013.

Jane Byrne was survived by her daughter Katherine and her grandson Willie.

Jane Byrne was buried at Calvary Catholic Cemetery in Evanston, Illinois.