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Gus Savage

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Gus Savage
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Illinois's 2nd district
In office
January 3, 1981 – January 3, 1993
Preceded byMorgan F. Murphy
Succeeded byMel Reynolds
Personal details
Born
Augustus Alexander Savage

(1925-10-30)October 30, 1925
Detroit, Michigan, U.S.
DiedOctober 31, 2015(2015-10-31) (aged 90)
Olympia Fields, Illinois, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic
SpouseEunice King (1946-81; her death)
ChildrenThomas James, Emma Mae
Alma materRoosevelt University
Chicago-Kent College of Law
Military service
Branch/serviceUnited States Army
Years of service1943–1946

Augustus Alexander "Gus" Savage (October 30, 1925 – October 31, 2015) was an American entrepreneur, publisher and a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives from Illinois.[1] He served six terms from 1981 to 1993.

Early life and career

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Savage was born in Detroit, Michigan, and graduated from Roosevelt University in Chicago. He served in the United States Army from 1943 to 1946 and then worked as a journalist from 1954 to 1979, owning a chain of weekly community newspapers in the Chicago area including the South End Citizen. The Chicago Citizen Newspaper Group became the largest Black-owned chain of weekly newspapers in the Midwest with a circulation of 121,000.

Congress

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Savage entered political life in 1948 as a Progressive Party organizer.

He challenged the local establishment's chosen candidates for the House of Representatives in 1968 and 1970, losing the Democratic primary both times, but won election to the House in 1980, representing the 2nd District on Chicago's South Side for 6 terms, from January 1981 to January 1993.[2]

In 1983 he joined with 7 other Congressional Representatives to sponsor a resolution to impeach Ronald Reagan over his sudden and unexpected invasion of Grenada.[3]

Controversies

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In 1989, Savage was accused of trying to force himself on a female Peace Corps worker in Zaire.[4] He denied the allegations and blamed them on the "racist press." The House Ethics Committee decided that the events did indeed occur,[5] but it did not take disciplinary action only because Savage wrote a letter of apology.

Savage had long been controversial even in his own district. His racially incendiary and anti-Semitic remarks frequently drew bipartisan criticism.[6][7] He never won a primary election–the real contest in this overwhelmingly Democratic district–with more than 52% of the vote, and usually faced multiple challengers.

Redistricting and defeat

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For the 1992 election, redistricting pushed his district further into Chicago's south suburbs, territory that Savage did not know and that did not know him. He faced a rematch with Mel Reynolds, who had challenged him in the 1988 and 1990[2] primaries. Savage claimed that "racist Jews" were donating to Reynolds, while Reynolds claimed that Savage was involved in a drive-by shooting that injured him. Although Savage accused Reynolds of staging the shooting,[8] he lost the 1992 election to Reynolds by a margin of 63%-37% after voters in the suburban portion of the district voted 4-to-1 for Reynolds.[9] In defeat Savage declared, "We have lost to the white racist press and to the racist reactionary Jewish misleaders."[10]

Role in national historic landmark

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In one of his final acts as chairman of the House Subcommittee on Public Buildings and Grounds, excavation and construction at the site of the African Burial Ground in New York City was temporarily halted in 1992, pending further evaluation by the General Services Administration, after Savage was able to leverage his reputation as a national political figure to bring attention to the potential importance of the site.[11] The site was eventually designated a National Historic Landmark in 1993 and a National Monument in 2006 by President George W. Bush.

Final years

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During the last 5 years of his life, Congressman Savage hired private security, and Jokarhi Shakur-El (former Minister of Intelligence of the New Black Panther Party) was his Chief of Security. He drove the Congressman and his belongings from Washington, D.C. to Chicago, Illinois. While living in the Hyde Park area (just 5 minutes from the Chicago home of Barack Obama) Gus was being cared for by Linda Muhammad, a long-time friend of Gus, and he was at that point seemingly healthy. On October 29, 2015, Gus was discharged from the hospital after some minor issues, and placed into the care of his son Thomas Savage.

Death

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On October 30, 2015, Congressman Savage celebrated his 90th birthday, and he died the following day on October 31, 2015. He is survived by his son Thomas Savage, daughter Dr. Emma Savage, and grandchildren Thomas Savage Jr., Chyella McBride, and Alexandria Savage.[12]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "SAVAGE, Gus". house.gov. Retrieved 1 November 2015.
  2. ^ a b Schmidt, William E. (March 21, 1990). "Rep. Savage Claims Victory in Illinois". The New York Times. Retrieved 5 August 2013.
  3. ^ John Nichols (2016). "The Genius of Impeachment: The Founders' Cure for Royalism". The New Press. ISBN 9781595587350. Retrieved 2021-01-23.
  4. ^ "Lawmaker Is Accused of Sexual Impropriety - The New York Times". The New York Times.
  5. ^ Holmes, Steven A. (February 3, 1990). "Panel Is Critical Of Representative". The New York Times. Retrieved 5 August 2013.
  6. ^ "Savage, Gus". United States House of Representatives. Retrieved 2019-02-03.
  7. ^ "Colleague Denounces Comments By Illinois Congressman as Bigoted". New York Times. 1990-03-28.
  8. ^ Wilkerson, Isabel (March 14, 1992). "Gunshots Fired at Congressional Candidate in Bitter Chicago Race". The New York Times. Retrieved 5 August 2013.
  9. ^ "THE 1992 CAMPAIGN: Primaries; Brown and Tsongas Search For Victory in Connecticut". New York Times. 1992-03-19.
  10. ^ Bobby Rush and Mel Reynolds defeat incumbent congressmen, by Manuel Galvan, Illinois Periodicals Online 16 May 1992
  11. ^ Rothstein, Edward (25 February 2010). "A Burial and Its Dead Are Given Life". The New York Times. Retrieved 1 December 2012.
  12. ^ Chicago Tribune (31 October 2015). "Gus Savage, controversial former congressman, dies at 90". chicagotribune.com. Retrieved 1 November 2015.
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Wikiquote has quotations related to Gus Savage.
U.S. House of Representatives
Preceded by Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Illinois's 2nd congressional district
1981–1993 		Succeeded by
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