the Bridgeport neighborhood and ran for mayor from an apartment in the predominantly Irish American working-class community of his childhood. Kennelly was elected in 1947, receiving 920,000 (59%) votes defeating Republican Russell Root. Kennelly oversaw early milestones in the effort to establish a greater degree of self-government for the city of Chicago, creating a Chicago Home Rule Commission in 1953 to study ways for the city to obtain home rule and establish a new city charter. Kennelly proved to be too independent and reform-oriented for his regular Democratic Party sponsors and was dumped by the party bosses at the 1955 endorsement slating in favor of Richard J. Daley. Daley soundly defeated Kennelly in the 1955 Democratic Primary and went on to win the general election. In 1952 and 1953, Kennelly served as president of the United States Conference of Mayors. Death Kennelly died from heart failure on November 29, 1961, at age 74, and was interred at Calvary Cemetery in Evanston, Illinois. References Further reading Hirsch, Arnold R. "Martin H. Kennelly: The Mugwump and the Machine." in The Mayors: The Chicago Political Tradition (1995): 126-143. O'Malley, Peter Joseph. "Mayor Martin H. Kennelly Of Chicago: A Political Biography" (PhD dissertation, University of Illinois at Chicago, ProQuest Dissertations Publishing, 1980. 8023247). abstract Vaz, Matthew Running the Numbers: Race, Police, and the History of Urban Gambling University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 2020 1887 births 1961 deaths Catholics from Illinois De La Salle Institute alumni Illinois Democrats Mayors of Chicago 20th-century American politicians Presidents of the United States Conference of Mayors Burials at Calvary Cemetery (Evanston, Illinois)