A Matter Of Breeding

When your father is CEO of Commonwealth Edison, you grow up with privileges and expectations, and when those expectations aren't met, you do something about it.

You have tantrums, which worked so effectively during the formative years, but you're bigger now and the tantrums have to grow in direct proportion. Throwing yourself on the ground and kicking your feet won't cut it when you're in your early twenties. Throwing a bomb is more along the right lines.

So Bill Ayres rebelled against the establishment that had coddled him and protected him and cushioned every blow. His father was wealthy, as establishment as could be, therefore, young Billy went in the opposite direction, where all that pater represented was bad. The boy bombed some government buildings, got off on a technicality, and grew up a little more. The whole poverty thing, the violence, didn't work. A new tactic was needed.

As a long-serving member of Northwestern University's board, Bill's doting father twisted a few arms and got his son a job teaching there. 'All is forgiven, lad, now get to work and straighten up' was the plan. Work hard, advance, and be like your father. Change the status quo through peaceful means.

Hence, the Annenberg Challenge. Destroy the Chicago Public School system and rebuild a new one, and education in the Bill Ayres style would be revolutionary. Didn't pan out, however. The kids didn't learn, grades didn't improve, and what can one man do without clout?

Mr. Thomas Ayres had the ear of Chicago's mayor, Richard J. Daley, and that was a very good connection to have in a city like Chicago, where they don't want nobody nobody sent. Young Bill decided to cultivate some political ears that would bend to his every word, and that would be the key to achieving his goals. Forget the bombing. He'd lob a few non-violent grenades and blow up the establishment through its own rules and regulations.

Step into my parlor, said the spider to the fly from Harvard Law School. Prominent family in Chicago, the Ayres clan, with access to the highest of the high. No one gets anywhere in Chicago politics without a clout. Without joining the right church, kissing the right asses, backing the right candidates for re-election.

It's all about moving on up to the big time. It's all about who you know, not what you know, when you want to get ahead in Chicago politics. The problem arises when you leave the city, because the corruption and dirty deals don't translate from Chicago-ese.