Byrne was born '' ' Jane Margaret Burke ' '' on May 24 , 1933 , at John B. Murphy Hospital in the Lake View neighborhood on the north side of Chicago , Illinois , to Katherine Marie Burke ( née Nolan ) , a housewife , and Edward Patrick Burke , vice president of Inland Steel . Raised on the city 's north side , Byrne graduated from Saint Scholastica High School and attended St. Mary of the Woods for her freshman year of college . Byrne later transferred to Barat College , where she graduated with a bachelor 's degree in chemistry and biology in 1955 . Byrne entered politics to volunteer in John F. Kennedy 's campaign for president in 1960 . During that campaign she first met then Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley . After meeting Daley , he appointed her to several positions beginning in 1964 with a job in a city anti-poverty program In June 1965 , she was promoted and worked with the Chicago Committee of Urban Opportunity . In 1968 , Byrne was appointed head of the City of Chicago 's consumer affairs department . In 1972 , Byrne served as a delegate to the 1972 Democratic National Convention ( DNC ) and chairperson of the DNC resolutions committee in 1973 . Byrne was appointed co-chairperson of the Cook County Democratic Central Committee by Daley , despite her rejection by the majority of Democratic leaders , in 1975 . The committee ousted Byrne shortly after Daley 's death in late 1976 . Shortly thereafter , Byrne accused the newly appointed mayor Michael Bilandic of being unfair to citizens of the city by approving an increase in regulated taxi fares , which Byrne charged was the result of a " backroom deal " . Byrne was then fired from her post of head of consumer affairs by Bilandic Months after her firing as head of the consumer affairs department , Byrne challenged Bilandic in the 1979 Democratic mayoral primary ; the real contest in this heavily Democratic city . Officially announcing her mayoral campaign in August 1977 , Byrne partnered with Chicago journalist and political consultant Don Rose , who served as her campaign manager . At first , political observers believed her to have little chance of winning . A memorandum inside the Bilandic campaign said it should portray her as , " a shrill , charging , vindictive person — and nothing makes a woman look worse . " However , the Chicago Blizzard of 1979 in January paralyzed the city and caused Bilandic to be seen as an ineffective leader . Jesse Jackson endorsed Byrne . Many Republican voters voted in the Democratic primary – the real contest in this overwhelmingly Democratic city – to beat Bilandic . Infuriated voters in the North Side and Northwest Side retaliated against Bilandic for the Democratic Party 's slating of only South Side candidates for the mayor , clerk , and treasurer ( the outgoing city clerk , John C. Marcin , was from the Northwest Side ) . These four factors combined to give Byrne a 51 % to 49 % victory over Bilandic in the primary . Other events in her mayoralty include Pope John Paul II 's debut papal visit that October and the finding of Soviet Ukrainian escapee Walter Polovchak the following year-1980-and his announcement of his desire to stay in America permanently and not go back to the USSR with his parents
1972 Democratic National Convention
1972 Democratic National Convention
Jane Byrne