Richard's mother was outgoing and outspoken. Before women obtained the right to vote in 1920, Lillian Daley was an active suffragette, participating in marches and often bringing her son to them. She hoped her son's life would be more professionally successful than that of his parents. Before his mother's death, Daley had won the Democratic nomination for Cook County sheriff. Lillian wanted more than this for her son, telling a friend, "I didn't raise my son to be a policeman." Daley would later state that his wellsprings were his religion, his family, his neighborhood, the Democratic Party, and his love of the city. Education Daley attended the elementary school of his parish, Nativity of Our Lord, and De La Salle Institute (where he learned clerical skills) and took night classes at DePaul University College of Law to earn a Bachelor of Laws in 1933. As a young man, Daley's jobs included selling newspapers and making deliveries for a door to door peddler; he worked in Chicago's Union stock yards to pay his law school expenses. He spent his free time at the Hamburg Athletic Club, an athletic, social and political organization near his home. Hamburg and similar clubs were funded, at least in part, by local Democratic politicians. Daley made his mark there, not in sports, but in organization as the club manager. At age 22, he was elected president of the club and served in that office until 1939. Although he practiced law with partner William J. Lynch, he dedicated the majority of his time to his political career. Political career Early career Daley's career in politics began when he became a Democratic precinct captain. Having served as secretary for previous County Treasurers Joseph B. McDonough, Thomas D. Nash, Robert M. Sweitzer, and Joseph L. Gill, he was appointed the Chief Deputy Comptroller of Cook County on December 17, 1936 to replace Michael J. O'Connor, who had died on December 9. Daley's first elective office was in the Illinois House of Representatives, to which he was elected for the 9th district on November 3, 1936 alongside Democratic incumbents William J. Gormley and Peter P. Jezierny. Despite being a lifelong Democrat he was elected to the office as a Republican. This was a matter of political opportunism and the peculiar setup for legislative elections in Illinois at the time, which allowed Daley to take the place on the ballot of