Gus Savage | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromIllinois's2nd district | |
| In office January 3, 1981 – January 3, 1993 | |
| Preceded by | Morgan F. Murphy |
| Succeeded by | Mel Reynolds |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Augustus Alexander Savage (1925-10-30)October 30, 1925 |
| Died | October 31, 2015(2015-10-31) (aged 90) Olympia Fields, Illinois, U.S. |
| Party | Democratic |
| Spouse | Eunice King (1946-81; her death) |
| Children | Thomas James, Emma Mae |
| Alma mater | Roosevelt University Chicago-Kent College of Law |
| Military service | |
| Branch/service | United States Army |
| Years of service | 1943–1946 |
Augustus Alexander "Gus" Savage (October 30, 1925 – October 31, 2015) was an American entrepreneur, publisher and aDemocratic member of theUnited States House of Representatives fromIllinois.[1] He served six terms from 1981 to 1993.
Savage was born inDetroit, Michigan, and graduated fromRoosevelt University inChicago. He served in theUnited States Army from 1943 to 1946 and then worked as a journalist from 1954 to 1979, owning a chain of weekly community newspapers in theChicago 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.
Savage entered political life in 1948 as aProgressive Party organizer.
He challenged the local establishment's chosen candidates for the House of Representatives in1968 and1970, losing the Democratic primary both times. He won election to the House in1980, representing the2nd District on Chicago'sSouth Side for six terms, from January 1981 to January 1993.[2]
In 1983, he joined with seven other Congressional Representatives to sponsor a resolution toimpeach Ronald Reagan over his sudden and unexpectedinvasion of Grenada.[3]
In 1989, Savage was accused of trying to force himself on a femalePeace Corps worker inZaire.[4] He denied the allegations and blamed them on the "racist press." TheHouse 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.
For the1992 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 withMel 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]
In one of his final acts as chairman of the House Subcommittee on Public Buildings and Grounds, excavation and construction at the site of theAfrican Burial Ground inNew York City was temporarily halted in 1992, pending further evaluation by theGeneral 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.
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.
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]
| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
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| Preceded by | Member of the U.S. House of Representatives fromIllinois's 2nd congressional district 1981–1993 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
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| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
