One of the first black mayors of a big U.S. city has died. Former Gary Mayor Richard Hatcher is dead at age 86. His daughter, Indiana state Rep. Ragen Hatcher, says her dad died Friday night at a Chicago hospital. Hatcher became the political face of Gary and a political force for blacks after his ground-breaking election in 1967. He had to overcome opposition from the local Democratic machine to become mayor of what was then Indiana's second-largest city. He went on to serve five terms. He also organized the 1972 National Black Political Convention in Gary and worked on Jesse Jackson's Democratic presidential campaigns in 1984 and 1988.
