Editing William Hale Thompson (section)

==Second mayoralty (1927–1931)==
{{see also|William Hale Thompson 1927 mayoral campaign|1927 Chicago mayoral election|1931 Chicago mayoral election}}
[[File:"America First" ad from Chicago mayoral election, 1927.jpg|thumb|upright=0.75|1927 "[[America First (policy)|America First]]" political advertisement advocating isolationism and establishing emotional ties of Thompson with his German and Irish supporters by vilifying the United Kingdom, a close ally]]
Thompson ran again in 1927 during a citywide gang war, aiming to unseat his successor, William Dever. Always a flamboyant campaigner, Thompson held a primary-election debate between himself and two live rats which he used to portray his opponents. Pledging to clean up Chicago and remove the crooks, Thompson instead turned his attention to the reformers, whom he considered the real criminals. According to Thompson, the biggest enemy the United States had was [[George V of the United Kingdom|King George V]] of the United Kingdom. Thompson promised his supporters, many of whom were Irish, that if they ever met, Thompson would punch the king in the nose, or at other times, that he would arrest His Majesty.<ref name=":122"/> Upon his victory over Dever, Thompson's floating speakeasy, outwardly known as the Fish Fans Club, docked at [[Chicago Harbor|Belmont Harbor]]. It was flooded with his supporters, so many so that the boat itself sank beneath the weight.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/photo/vintage/chi-bill01fishfanclub-20141205-photo.html|title=Floating Speakeasy|date=3 February 2016|work=chicagotribune.com|access-date= November 17, 2016}}</ref>

In his inaugural address on April 18, 1927, Thompson addressed the importance of remedying crime in Chicago, saying,

{{blockquote|Our new Superintendent of Police has my positive instructions to drive the crooks and thieves and lawbreakers out of Chicago in ninety days, so that the people, their homes and their property may again be secure.<ref>Chicago City Council. ''Journal of the Proceedings'', April 18, 1927, pp. 24–25.</ref>}}

Thompson expressed his desire to remove Superintendent [[William McAndrew]] from the public schooling system, and restore what he called the "true history of George Washington" while exposing "the treason and propaganda which insidiously have been injected into our schools and other educational institutions". He also went on to enforce other issues he had addressed in previous speeches, like the issue of public transit, playgrounds, and the general upkeep and expansion of Chicago in an effort to aid property owners and increase residential income and revenue for the city as a whole. In August 1927, the [[Chicago Board of Education]], now under Thompson's influence after he appointed a number of new members, voted to charge McAndrew with [[insubordination]] and lack of patriotism, suspending him pending [[Administrative hearing of William McAndrew|an administrative hearing held by the board]]. The administrative hearing would last months, and the Chicago Board of Education would find McAndrew guilty. The [[Cook County Superior Court]] would later void this decision.<ref name="WBEZ">{{cite web |last1=Schmidt |first1=John R. |title=The trial of the school superintendent |url=https://www.wbez.org/stories/september-30-1927-the-trial-of-school-superintendent-william-mcandrew/8da9c577-0814-4497-a5e4-643fd96f85bc |website=WBEZ Chicago |access-date=30 December 2020 |language=en |date=30 September 2011}}</ref>

[[Al Capone]]'s support was pivotal to Thompson's return to the mayor's office. Capone raised over $200,000 for Thompsons's 1927 campaign.<ref name="Binder-2017">{{cite book|last=Binder |first=John J.|year=2017 |title=Al Capone's Beer Wars: A Complete History of Organized Crime in Chicago during Prohibition|publisher=Prometheus|isbn=978-1633882850}}</ref>
During Thompson's second term, the "[[Pineapple Primary]]" took place on April 10, 1928, so-called because of the hand grenades thrown at polling places to disrupt voting. The Pineapple Primary saw candidates backed by Thompson face [[Charles Deneen]] in the Republican [[Partisan primary|primary election]]. Another infamous instance of gang activity that took place during Thompson's third term was [[St. Valentine's Day Massacre]].

[[File:Proposed flag of Chicago, Illinois (1928).svg|thumb|In 1928, Thompson demanded that the stars on the [[Flag of Chicago|Chicago city flag]] be changed from six-pointed to five-pointed, as he felt that the six-pointed stars were too "British", and thought that five-pointed stars would be more "American". Although the change was unanimously approved by City Council on February 15, 1928, the description of the new design never made it into the city's ordinance books. In [[Century of Progress#Legacy|1933]], two years after the end of Thompson's final term as Mayor, the Council voted to add a third star to Chicago's flag, with the vote ending any uncertainty on the appearance of the stars by reconfirming them as six-pointed.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Loerzel |first=Robert |date=2017-04-14 |title=The Story of Chicago's Four-Star City Flag |url=https://medium.com/@robertloerzel/the-story-of-chicagos-four-star-city-flag-4042dc579cb2 |access-date=2023-04-05 |website=Medium |language=en}}</ref>]]

Thompson blamed [[Ruth Hanna McCormick]]'s lack of support for his loss at the [[1928 Republican National Convention]], and he returned the favor during her [[1930 United States Senate election in Illinois|1930 campaign]] for the [[United States Senate]] by endorsing against her in the general election.<ref name=":23">{{Cite web |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,882358,00.html |title="Thompson v. McCormicks" |access-date=May 2, 2008 |archive-date=June 5, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080605233217/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,882358,00.html |url-status=dead }}. ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]''. [[Time, Inc.]] November 3, 1930. Retrieved June 13, 2022.</ref> Thompson had had a longstanding rivalry with the McCormicks. He intensely disliked [[Robert R. McCormick]] who published the ''[[Chicago Tribune]]''. U.S. Senator [[Medill McCormick]] was the publisher's brother, and Ruth Hanna McCormick was Medill McCormick's wife.<ref name=":23" />

Amid growing discontent with Thompson's leadership, particularly in the area of cleaning up Chicago's reputation as the capital of [[Organized crime in Chicago|organized crime]], he was defeated in 1931 by Democrat [[Anton Cermak]]. Cermak was an immigrant from [[Bohemia]], and Thompson used this fact to belittle him with ethnic slurs such as:
{{Poemquote|I won't take a back seat to that [[List of ethnic slurs#B|Bohunk]], Chairmock, Chermack or whatever his name is.
Tony, Tony, where's your pushcart at?
Can you picture a [[Century of Progress|World's Fair]] mayor with a name like that?}}

Cermak replied, "He doesn't like my name...It's true I didn't come over on the ''[[Mayflower]]'', but I came over as soon as I could," which was a sentiment to which ethnic Chicagoans (especially its large Bohemian population) could relate, so Thompson's slurs largely backfired.<ref name=":32">Wendt, Lloyd (1979). ''Chicago Tribune: The Rise of a Great American Newspaper''. Chicago: Rand McNally. {{ISBN|0528818260}}.</ref> Al Capone reportedly donated $260,000 to Thompson's failed 1931 election.<ref name=Binder-2017/>

After Thompson's defeat, the ''[[Chicago Tribune]]'' wrote, {{blockquote|For Chicago Thompson has meant filth, corruption, obscenity, idiocy and bankruptcy.... He has given the city an international reputation for moronic buffoonery, barbaric crime, triumphant hoodlumism, unchecked graft, and a dejected citizenship. He nearly ruined the property and completely destroyed the pride of the city. He made Chicago a byword for the collapse of American civilization. In his attempt to continue this he excelled himself as a liar and defamer of character.<ref name=":32" />}}

Thompson left office April 9, 1931.<ref>{{cite web |title=Mayor Anton Joseph Cermak Biography |url=https://www.chipublib.org/mayor-anton-joseph-cermak-biography/ |website=www.chipublib.org |publisher=Chicago Public Library |access-date=11 March 2020}}</ref>