“I would not have opposed - I never did oppose - the fundamental concept of desegregation, but I would have fought harder, I think, or used my skills more in the spring [of 1974] and maybe it would have worked,’’ Mr. White told reporters as he prepared to leave office.
“I think busing would have worked except when they threw Jeremiah Burke [high school students] into Southie,’’ he said. “It was too much in pain, and I missed it . . ... I did it the wrong way. I did it too late.’’
After Mr. White left office in 1984, George K. Regan, his longest-serving spokesman, recalled the fallout in a personalized reminiscence of the White era.
“He was getting his head kicked in from both sides,’’ Mr. Regan wrote in the Globe. “He received no credit for his efforts, no matter how hard he tried. It was the most frustrating time of his life. Sometimes when he returned to City Hall late at night, there were tears in his eyes.’’
Clarence “Jeep’’ Jones, a long-time African-American aide who served as a deputy mayor, said Mr. White strove throughout the crisis to avoid alienating any of his constituencies, black or white. In the end, he satisfied neither.
The 1975 reelection campaign against Timilty was the backdraft of the political tinder box created by busing.
Compounding Mr. White’s problem were news reports of corrupt fund-raising on his behalf.
“The city was an armed camp,’’ recalled Shields, a key adviser on a team of all-star talent working to reelect Mr. White. “At a time when people were not satisfied with the direction of the city, Joe Timilty was an attractive option.’’
The contest split families in Boston. Mr. White, who made no secret of his disdain for Timilty, agreed to only one debate - on radio - in the campaign’s final month. The mayor, however, was under such strain that aides feared he would suffer a nervous breakdown, Lukas wrote in “Common Ground.’’
