Interview with Lee Daniels # ISL-A-L-2011-053.01 Interview # 1: November 3, 2011 Interviewer: Mark Depue
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Interview with Lee Daniels # ISL-A-L-2011-053.01 Interview # 1: November 3, 2011 Interviewer: Mark DePue COPYRIGHT The following material can be used for educational and other non-commercial purposes without the written permission of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library. “Fair use” criteria of Section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976 must be followed. These materials are not to be deposited in other repositories, nor used for resale or commercial purposes without the authorization from the Audio-Visual Curator at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library, 112 N. 6th Street, Springfield, Illinois 62701. Telephone (217) 785-7955 Note to the Reader: Readers of the oral history memoir should bear in mind that this is a transcript of the spoken word, and that the interviewer, interviewee and editor sought to preserve the informal, conversational style that is inherent in such historical sources. The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library is not responsible for the factual accuracy of the memoir, nor for the views expressed therein. We leave these for the reader to judge. DePue: Today is Thursday, November 3, 2011. My name is Mark DePue, the Director of Oral History with the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library. Today I’m in Elmhurst, and I’m about ready to start my interview with former Speaker of the Illinois House, Lee Daniels. Good afternoon sir. Daniels: How are you Mark? DePue: Good. Daniels: It’s nice to have you in bright and sunny Elmhurst. DePue: It is a bit of an overcast day; it rained all the way up. Daniels: It’s rainy, windy and you came all the way up from Springfield. DePue: Well there you go, but you’ve made that trip plenty of times in reverse. Daniels: Thirty-two years and still counting. DePue: Well, I learned something else coming in, about Elmhurst, as I mentioned before we started, and that’s that there are a lot of trains that go through town here. Lee Daniels Interview # ISL-A-L-2011-053.01 Daniels: Ninety-seven a day. We are part of the transportation hub of the United States of America, one of the rail hubs, truck hubs, airport hubs and we are a major transportation hub to this country, which not a lot of people focus on. They know about our airport; they know about trains; they know about trucks, but we are a major transportation hub, right here in this area, for the whole country. DePue: Are you talking about Elmhurst or Chicago in general? Daniels: Well, Chicagoland is the recipient of that title. DePue: Well let’s go ahead and get started on your upbringing here. So, if you can tell me when and where you were born to start with. Daniels: I was actually born in Lansing, Michigan, although I consider myself to be a lifetime resident of Elmhurst. The reason I take that title was I really didn’t have much choice where I was born. (chuckles) My dad was a student at Michigan State, was in Michigan State College, and he and my mother were residents there, my dad going to school. He worked part-time with the campus police force, and he was chief of the Michigan State Campus Police when he graduated. And during the course of time, I was born in Lansing, Michigan, while he was a student there. I have a total of seven siblings, seven boys, one girl. I am the third child of my mother and father and was happy to move back to Elmhurst after he got out of school. DePue: Did you tell me your birthday already? Daniels: April 15, 1942. DePue: So, you were born towards the beginning of the war. Daniels: I was, and my dad was drafted in…I think it was ’43. [He] joined the Navy and served in the Navy until ‘45, until the conclusion of the war, and then returned to Elmhurst, where I lived in a little home behind my grandparent’s home. It was actually considered to be the caretakers’ quarters, but we were happy to have it, because there was myself and three other of my siblings and my mother living in a two-room house. We didn’t know the difference. We didn’t have much, but we were like everybody else in the war. We were rationing all of our food products and gas and leather. Well, we didn’t have a car, so it didn’t much matter. DePue: Oh, so while your dad was in the Navy, you guys moved back to Elmhurst. Daniels: That’s correct, right after he graduated. He had actually joined the FBI [Federal Bureau of Investigation] and he was moving to Detroit. He had 2 Lee Daniels Interview # ISL-A-L-2011-053.01 checked with the draft board and said, “You know, I have three kids and one on the way.” And he said, “If I join the FBI and move to Detroit, will I be drafted?” They said, “No sir, you won’t be.” Well, he moved to Detroit, and he was drafted immediately. So he joined the Navy as a second lieutenant. My mother and my brother and sister, at that time, moved back to Elmhurst. My grandfather lived in Elmhurst and had a very nice home. Behind that were the caretaker’s quarters. It was literally a two-room home. DePue: Was this your paternal grandfather? Daniels: Yes. DePue: Tell me your dad’s name and your grandfather’s name. Daniels: My dad’s name is Albert L., or Bert, B-e-r-t, Daniels. My grandfather was Lee E. Daniels. DePue: Do you know how the family ended up in the Elmhurst area to begin with? Daniels: Well, my grandmother, Alice Daly was her Albert Lee Daniels, Lee Daniels’ maiden name, D-a-l-y, grew up in La Grange, father, in his U.S. Navy uniform, in which he served during World and my grandfather, Lee E. Daniels, grew up in War II, from 1942-1945. Chicago. They met and got married. My grandmother had always enjoyed Elmhurst as a suburb and decided to buy a home in Elmhurst, on Addison Street, and did so and invited my grandfather to join her. (both chuckle) If you knew my grandmother, you’d understand that. Of course, they moved to Elmhurst in 1929 and started our family here in Elmhurst. My father was a student here in Elmhurst, went to York High School, where I went to high school, here in Elmhurst, and, of course, played football and basketball and baseball. He was quite an athlete in high school. He was six-one when he was a freshman, so he was a good sized young man. He played at York and then went on to Michigan State. He started football, but it didn’t suit him too well because, in those days, they didn’t have the faceguards. About the first day of practice, somebody smashed his nose all over his face, and so much for his football career. So, he went on to major in police administration at Michigan State. As I said earlier, joined the Navy, got out of the Navy and then came back and went to law school at Chicago-Kent College of Law. He went to night school and worked as a claims adjuster during the day. So he started a practice of law in 1950, here in Elmhurst. My grandfather was the state’s attorney of DuPage County at the time. My grandfather was state’s attorney from 1940 until 1952. 3 Lee Daniels Interview # ISL-A-L-2011-053.01 At the time, they started a practice here in Elmhurst. He also worked at a practice in Chicago; so, he had two offices going. I remember my father, who is now deceased, but I remember well, his work ethic was extremely engaging and very involved. He would work at one law office during the day and then come back here in Elmhurst and work here at night. Of course, that’s after going to night law school and working his way through law school. So, we had the privilege of seeing him with a strong upbringing, and he had the same values for us. But, having said all that, you didn’t see much of him. So, during my youth, my main influence was my mother at that time, because my father was either in the service or going to school or starting a law practice. DePue: But still, typical of the 1950s, a large family. Daniels: A very large family, eight kids. People always thought we were Catholic. In fact, we aren’t. I think at one point, if I remember the story correctly, the Catholic church wanted to honor my mother and father as Catholic mom and dad of the year. They had to advise them that they weren’t Catholic, so kind of respectfully, you know. DePue: With your father and grandfather, does that mean you’re a third generation lawyer? Daniels: I would be a third generation lawyer; that’s right. DePue: So it was in the cards, right from the beginning for you? Daniels: Well, I had a pretty good idea that I wanted Daniels’ family portrait, circa 1959. In the front are Dave, Bob and to be a lawyer. I Tom. In the center row are John, Rich, Pat with Lee and William in thought about other the back. things. I don’t have the scientific acumen to be a doctor or necessarily a desire to be a doctor, although I admire the profession greatly.