Well, the only time that I recall getting a federal grant specifically for the zoo in the early years was, we had a Congressman named Sidney Yates who was in my opinion, one of the ablest brightest, nicest guys in Washington. And he, of course, lived in Chicago, and was supporting the zoo. And Sid set up a program with the Department of Interior about endangered species. And he gave us a small grant that allowed me to hire a teacher and a woman named Judy Koehler was brought on board to be part of developing that initial program. And that’s one of the few times that I remember specifically getting a political gift, which that was, even though it was a conservation, thank you from Sid and the Department of Interior, and in turn, that program was used around the country, so it was a positive thing. But when you’re siting a zoo director’s chair, you’re dealing with all facets of the community life and the political life was part of it. I dealt with the people in the mayor’s office, and the Park District, and county state, different people. I tried real hard to keep the zoo neutral in a political sea because the Park District was, and still is sort of an arm of the mayor’s office of City Hall.
