Lieutenant Fred E. Sterling Preceded by re-districted Party Republican Party Preceded by Frank O. Lowden | Preceded by Fred E. Sterling Name Len Small Resigned January 14, 1929 Preceded by Fred A. Busse Education Valparaiso University | |
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Role Former Governor of Illinois Died May 17, 1936, Kankakee County, Illinois, United States Previous office Governor of Illinois (1921–1929) | ||
Preceded by Isaac Miller Hamilton Succeeded by Louis Lincoln Emmerson | ||
Len Small: Governors and Gangsters
Lennington "Len" Small (June 16, 1862 – May 17, 1936) was an American politician. He served as the 26th Governor of Illinois, from 1921 to 1929. He also served as a member of the Illinois state senate from the 16th District from 1901 to 1903 and was Illinois state treasurer, from 1905 to 1907, and from 1917 to 1919.
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Biography
Small was born in Kankakee County, Illinois, and was educated in the public schools. He attended Northern Indiana Normal School, now Valparaiso University. He taught school and invested in real estate, eventually owning a farm, a bank, and Kankakee's daily newspaper. In 1883, Small married Ida Moore, and they had three children together.
Small began his political career in 1901 when he became a member of the Illinois Senate. He served in the Illinois Senate from 1901 to 1905.
Small was the Illinois Treasurer from 1905 to 1907, and again from 1917 to 1919. He was indicted, six months after becoming governor, for embezzling over a million dollars in a money-laundering scheme, in which he misplaced state funds into a fake bank when he was state treasurer. He served as the assistant U.S. Treasurer in charge of the sub treasury at Chicago from 1908 to 1912, and was a delegate to Republican National Convention from Illinois in 1908, 1912 and 1932.
Small was elected Governor of Illinois in 1920, and was reelected in 1924. He was acquitted, but eight jurors later got state jobs, raising suspicions of jury tampering.
As governor, Small pardoned twenty members of the Communist Labor Party of America convicted under the Illinois Sedition Act. He also pardoned or paroled over 1000 convicted felons, including Harry Guzik, brother of the Chicago Outfit's Jake Guzik, of Posen, Illinois, who was convicted of kidnapping young girls and forcing them into lives of prostitution (a practice then commonly called white slavery).
In 1923, bootlegger Edward "Spike" O'Donnell of Southside Chicago O'Donnell was released from prison by Small. O'Donnell returned to Chicago as the leader of one of the most powerful bootlegging gangs in the city.
Small's reputation for corruption finally caught up with him at the ballot box when he was defeated in the 1928 Republican "Pineapple Primary" by a margin of 63% to 37% against Louis Lincoln Emmerson, the incumbent Illinois Secretary of State. Small would make a failed run for governor in 1932.
Death
Small died on May 17, 1936. He is buried at Mound Grove Cemetery in Kankakee, Illinois.