Len Small

Lennington Small ( born June 16, 1862 Kankakee County, Illinois, † May 17, 1936 ) was an American politician and from 1921 to 1929 the 26th Governor of Illinois.

Early years and political rise

Len Small attended the local schools of his home. Later he studied at the present-day Valparaiso University in Indiana. Between 1901 and 1905 he was a member of the State Senate from Illinois. From 1905 to 1907 and again from 1917 to 1919 he was Minister of Finance of Illinois. Then he was from 1908 to 1912 Head of the Federal tax authorities in Chicago. In 1920 he was nominated by his Republican Party candidate for the gubernatorial elections and subsequently elected by the voters in this office.

Governor of Illinois

Smalls eight -year term (including a re-election in 1924 ) began on 10 January 1921. During his tenure, the road network was expanded from Illinois generous. It created a lot of paved roads and highways. At the end of his tenure, the road network comprised of Illinois 7000 miles, nowhere else in the United States, the network was expanded at the time so. But other infrastructure projects were under way, led such as the extension of the canal. At that time a separate police department was established in the government. There was also in his time workers and racial unrest in the country. In 1922, with Lottie O'Neal was the first woman elected to the House of Representatives from Illinois where they remained the next 38 years. Governor Smalls tenure had its downsides. He was sentenced by a court to a fine of $ 650,000 for corruption during his time as Minister of Finance. In another case, he was acquitted by the jury, but four of the jurors were later given positions in the civil service, which led to speculations and allegations of bribery could be noisy, but were not provable. Since about the same time also President Warren G. Harding and his government were involved in scandals, politics lost in general in the U.S. credibility. In Illinois, it got worse. The governor pardoned by Edward O'Donnell one of the leading gangster bosses in Chicago. There it was in those years to become known through Hollywood gangster movies clashes between Al Capone and his opponents, in the course of which Capone could soar to the sovereign ruler of the city. The rise of the gangster bosses was made possible only by the 1919 Prohibition Prohibition introduced. By bootlegging succeeded the gangsters to build empires, which they then widened on gambling and prostitution. Later, should follow the drug trade. The governor saw the goings-on in Chicago more or less idle. He applied in 1928 to a third term in office but failed already party internally to Louis Emmerson. Thus his term ended in January 1929.

More career

After his tenure, Small applied for both 1932 and 1936, respectively unsuccessfully to return to the office of governor. Len Samll was married to Ida Morre with whom he had three children.