Background
Savage, Gus was born on October 30, 1925 in Detroit, Michigan, United States. Son of Thomas Frederick and Molly (Wilder) Savage.
United States representative politician
Savage, Gus was born on October 30, 1925 in Detroit, Michigan, United States. Son of Thomas Frederick and Molly (Wilder) Savage.
Bachelor, Roosevelt University, 1951. Postgraduate, Roosevelt University, 1951. Postgraduate, Chicago-Kent College Law, 1953.
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. Savage was criticised for racist and anti-Semitic statements against both white and Jewish people. Savage once gave a speech in which he listed the names of all of the Jewish donors living outside of the Chicago area who donated money to his opponent.
This led to a backlash, to which Savage responded that only white people could be racist.
In 1989, Savage was accused of trying to force himself on a female Peace Corps worker in Zaire. He denied the allegations and blamed them on the "racist press" The House Ethics Committee decided that the events did indeed occur, 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, never winning a primary election with more than 52% of the vote, and usually facing multiple challengers. Foreign the 1992 election, his district had been extended further into Chicago"s south suburbs by redistricting, and Savage faced Mel Reynolds, who had challenged him in the 1988 and 1990 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, he lost the 1992 election to Reynolds by a margin of 63%-37%. 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 more controversial aspects of the project Savage died on October 31, 2015, one day after his 90th birthday, which he celebrated with his closest friends and family.
Active civil rights leader. A founder, campaign manager Chicago League Negro Voters, 1958-1959. Founder, chairman Protest at the Polls, 1963-1964.
President Organization Southwest Communities, 1968-1969. Founder, 1st chairman Chicago Black Publications Association, 1970. Served with United States Army Air Force, 1943-1946.
Married Eunice King, August 4, 1946 (deceased February 1981). Children: Thomas James, Emma Mae.