Cecil A. Partee Memoir - University of Illinois Springfield

A: Well, we would meet at the same time and we would discuss various kinds of
approaches to make in the precinct as the kinds of problems arose. You would
get advice and you would give advice to others based on your own experiences.
But the committeeman was responsible for the coordination of the whole ward.
Q: Who were some of the other captains at that time when you first started out?
A: Oh, there were a lot of people that worked, See, the ward was always about
fifty-eight or fifty-nine precincts. There's diminishing significance in the
names, I, think of the others, as many have passed on, retired, and so forth.
There are just fifty-eight or fifty-nine other captains.
Q: So when you became president, then, you were more or less in charge of the
fifty-eight or fifty-nine precinct captains.
A: No, the committeeman was always in charge. I didn't really have any
"in-charge" position, I just had the job to do of making the speeu.hes and
lining up the issues and discussing the issues and keeping people informed as
to the kinds of questions they were likely to encounter and the kinds of
answers that they ought to accurately give.
Q: In your position as president, was there a higher level part of the organization
that you discussed things with?
A: Only with the committeeman.
Q: Only with the committeemen themselves, That is the ward cornitteemen?
A: Ward committeeman, the ward camitteeman, yes.
Q: So you worked very closely with Mr. Campbell, then, a ll those years.
A: I did, indeed.
Q: Do you remember any distinctive captains that worked under you that were
outstanding in any way?
A: Yes, but I would hesitate to mention any of them because I'm going to
forget some and that would just make them uncomfortable.
Q: What was the social structure of the total ward? Was it very similar to
what that precinct was?
A: Very similar, yes, very so--well, not the total ward. The area where I was,
I say, was middle to upper-middle class, but there were parts of our ward
that were middle class and below, where the housing was not as good, the
people did not earn as much money. It was a totally black ward, though.
Q: Oh, the entire ward was also . . .
A: Yes. You would have an isolated person, like somebody might be married to a