(snow crunching) - [Narrator] When the next monster storm clobbered Chicago a decade later in 1979, it was a different story.

Mayor Richard J. Daley had died in office in 1976.

His replacement was Alderman Michael Bilandic.

Bilandic was no Daley.

- By the time that Daley died, he'd been the mayor of the city of Chicago for 21 years, and so, he was a hard act to follow.

- Michael Bilandic was the 11th Ward Alderman, kind of a robotic, very awkward human being, not really a natural politician at all.

- You know, in order to be the mayor of the city of Chicago, you had to have one strong personality.

This is not an easy city to govern.

It never has been, it never will be.

- [Narrator] Right from the beginning of the 1979 blizzard, it appeared the Bilandic administration was in over its head.

- I think the attitude at that point was, you know, "Just do what you need to do to get the city operating again."

- I'm not sure that there was a right decision that anybody could have made, but every decision seemed to be wrong.

(relaxed electronic music) - [Narrator] The timing could not have been worse for Bilandic, who was in the home stretch of a reelection campaign.

- [Person] What about the removal efforts by city crews, have you set up specific priority areas?

- Yes, we have, we are identifying major parking lots around the city, and we're asking our citizens to take their cars into those areas and put 'em there.

That will make our snowplowing operation much more effective.

(gentle piano music) - Mike Bilandic asked people to get their cars off the side streets so the plows could get through, and told people to park in these school parking lots.

(gentle piano music) - [Narrator] The mayor announced that more than 100 lots were cleared and open.

- Well, the Tribune went to look at those school parking lots and they were still covered in snow.

- And the Trib had a headline that said, "Mayor Bilandic says you should park here," and the picture was of lots that were completely filled with snow.

- I have found that our citizens are not utilizing all of those lots that we have cleared.

- And so, there was a sense of arrogance and denial, and just total mishandling of the situation.

- 410 pieces of equipment are being used... - [Narrator] Bilandic doubled down.

Any snowed-in cars left on the street would be ticketed, no exceptions.

- His messaging was, "Hey, you need to move your car, I don't care if you're old, I don't care if you're sick, I don't care if you're poor."

- He says, "Take it to the judge," so as you can imagine, Chicagoans are not in love with this.

- The problem was that the cars were towed, and all of a sudden, you go out to the street and your car is gone, and it was a mess.

- The area along the north lake shore still looks like an arctic wasteland, which has become a graveyard for automobiles.

Hundreds of cars were towed here during the city's snow removal efforts.

- [Narrator] As days turned into weeks, it seemed Michael Bilandic could do no right, and Bilandic's blunders created an opportunity for his democratic mayoral opponent, Jane Byrne.

Byrne was never seen as much of a threat to Bilandic's office.

- Well, she threw her hat into the ring sometime in the fall of '78, and I, like a lot of people, didn't know who she was.

I don't think anybody was really taking her very seriously until the blizzard.

- Now, Jane had been fired by Bilandic from a City Hall job for criticizing Bilandic.

- I have also, this morning, terminated Jane Byrne effective at once.

- [Reporter] You believe he's trying to muzzle you?

- I believe he's trying to muzzle me, he fired my... - And so, now, this was an opportunity for her to come back onto the scene.

- [Jane] I thought the machine itself was somewhat of a paper tiger.

It had gotten sloppy.

- [Narrator] Byrne had found an edge.

In the blizzard's fallout, Chicagoans were fuming.

- Got my vote, I guarantee you that, that man ain't doing nothing for the city of Chicago at all.

- [Narrator] The parking lot and ticketing fiascos were just part of a long list of gripes.

Schools closed for a full week.

Trash went uncollected for 10 days.

- Even though the temperature was very cold outside, the temperature of Chicagoans' attitudes was very hot.

People had definitely lost their chill.

(laughs) - There was a degree of cabin fever in this city, psychologically, that was stunning, and I'll tell you, it's not surprising a population would react to it the way they did.

- I think that's a terrible job of transportation, the man in the office ought to come out here and stand and wait, and then, he'd know what it's all about.

- He felt persecuted by the media, and he compared himself to Jesus Christ on the cross, the crucifixion.

- Is there anything you would've done different, or we as a citizen should have done different in...?

- Maybe I should have prayed harder... (indistinct) - [Interviewer] Could be.

- Me too.

Maybe we all should've, but these are acts of God.