Edward Fitzsimmons Dunne (October 12, 1853 – May 24, 1937) was an American

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

who was the 24th Governor of

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

from 1913 to 1917 and previously served as the 38th

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

from April 5, 1905 to 1907. Dunne is the only person to be elected both Mayor of Chicago and Governor of Illinois.

Early years

Born in 1853, in

Watertown, Connecticut Watertown is a New England town, town in Litchfield County, Connecticut, Litchfield County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 22,105 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. The ZIP codes for Watertown are 06795 (for most of the ...

, he was the son of an ardent

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

nationalist Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: The ...

, Patrick William (P. W.) Dunne (1832–1921), who emigrated to America in 1849 after the failed

Young Ireland Young Ireland ( ga, Éire Óg, ) was a political movement, political and cultural movement, cultural movement in the 1840s committed to an all-Ireland struggle for independence and democratic reform. Grouped around the Dublin weekly ''The Nati ...

revolt.Morton, Richard Allen. ''Justice and Humanity: Edward F. Dunne, Illinois Progressive Insurance.'' p. 1-4. Carbondale, Ill.: Southern Illinois University Press, 1997. His mother, Delia Mary (Mary) Lawlor, was the daughter of a prosperous Irish contractor, and participant in the

Irish Rebellion of 1798 The Irish Rebellion of 1798 ( ga, Éirí Amach 1798; Ulster-Scots: ''The Hurries'') was a major uprising against British rule in Ireland. The main organising force was the Society of United Irishmen, a republican revolutionary group influence ...

, who helped construct the docks of

Galway Galway ( ; ga, Gaillimh, ) is a City status in Ireland, city in the West Region, Ireland, West of Ireland, in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht, which is the county town of County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lo ...

. The family moved to

Peoria, Illinois Peoria ( ) is the county seat of Peoria County, Illinois, United States, and the largest city on the Illinois River. As of the United States Census, 2020, 2020 census, the city had a population of 113,150. It is the principal city of the Peoria ...

in 1855 while Dunne was still an infant, and he was educated there in the public schools.Curtis, Georgina Pell.''The American Catholic Who's Who, Vol 1.'' p. 179-180. Washington, DC, 1910. Dunne had three sisters. His father refused to send his son to the local Catholic academy, because the Catholic Church had spoken out against the activities of the Fenians. P. W. Dunne was a prosperous businessman, active in both Irish and American politics. He raised money for the Fenians, gave generously of his own funds, and frequently hosted Irish politicians, political exiles, and rebels in his home when they traveled to Chicago. P. W. Dunne served on the Peoria City Council in the 1860s and was elected to the Illinois House of Representatives.

Education and early career

After Dunne graduated from high school in Peoria in 1871, he was sent to Ireland to attend

Trinity College Trinity College may refer to: Australia * Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales * Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

. His father wanted his son to be educated at the alma mater of Irish patriot,

Robert Emmet Robert Emmet (4 March 177820 September 1803) was an Irish Republican, orator and rebel leader. Following the suppression of the United Irish uprising in 1798, he sought to organise a renewed attempt to overthrow the British Crown and Prote ...

. Among his classmates was the author

Oscar Wilde Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish poet and playwright. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular playwrights in London in the early 1890s. He is ...

. Dunne did extremely well at Trinity, but was forced to leave one year short of graduation, after his father suffered a financial setback. Dunne returned to Illinois, and finished his education at

Union College of Law Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law is the law school of Northwestern University, a Private university, private research university. It is located on the university's Chicago campus. Northwestern Law has been ranked among the top 14, ...

in Chicago (that was jointly run by

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and the

Old University of Chicago The Old University of Chicago was the legal name given in 1890 to the University of Chicago's first incorporation. The school, founded in 1856 by Baptist church leaders, was originally called the "University of Chicago" (or, interchangeably, "Ch ...

), where his family had settled in 1877. He graduated from the Union College of Law in 1878. He married Elizabeth F. Kelly, the daughter of Edward F. Kelly, a Chicago businessman, and his wife, Kitty Howe Kelly, on August 16, 1881. Following his marriage he started a prosperous legal practice. The Dunnes had thirteen children, with nine of them surviving into adulthood. His children included: Eileen Dunne Corboy, Mona T. Leonard, Maurice Dunne, Richard Dunne, Jeanette Dunne, Edward F. Dunne, Jr., Geraldine Dunne, Eugene Dunne, and Judge Robert Jerome "Duke" Dunne.

Circuit court judgeship

In 1892, at age 28, Dunne was elected judge of the Circuit Court in Chicago and served from 1892 to 1905. During his judgeship, he was also elected the first president of the Irish Fellowship Club of Chicago in 1901. He had played a key role in the formation of this organization.

Mayoralty

Dunne resigned his judgeship to run for mayor in January 1905, winning election on April 4, 1905, beating the Republican

John Maynard Harlan John Maynard Harlan was an American lawyer and politician who served as a member of the Chicago City Council. Harlan, multiple times, ran for the mayoralty of Chicago. He was the son and father of United States Supreme Court associate justices ...

. Dunne won with majorities in 22 of 35 wards in the city. The final tally was 161,189 votes for Dunne and 138,671 given to Harlan. His election was greeted with jubilation by social reformers throughout the nation. He was formally inaugurated on April 10, 1905 in the council of chambers in Chicago. At the annual Jefferson Day banquet held shortly after his inauguration, he was praised by William Jennings Bryan and Mayor Tom L. Johnson as a dynamic new leader of the national movement for reform. The primary issue which Dunne had campaigned upon, and the primary issue he would focus on as mayor, was the city's traction issue, for which he sternly favored having a solution which would result in immediate municipal ownership of the city's streetcar lines. As his primary assistant, Dunne chose

Clarence Darrow Clarence Seward Darrow (; April 18, 1857 – March 13, 1938) was an American lawyer who became famous in the early 20th century for his involvement in the Leopold and Loeb murder trial and the Scopes "Monkey" Trial. He was a leading member of t ...

, who was given the title of "Special Traction Counsel to the Mayor". After Darrow resigned from this role in November 1905, in 1906 Dunne appointed Walter L. Fisher as his replacement. As Mayor, Dunne was instrumental in reducing the price of gasoline in Chicago from $1.00 to 85 cents, and of water from 10 cents to 7 cents per thousand gallons. He was also a strong proponent of municipal ownership of

public utilities A public utility company (usually just utility) is an organization that maintains the infrastructure for a public service (often also providing a service using that infrastructure). Public utilities are subject to forms of public control and r ...

Dunne was defeated in his bid for reelection in 1907 by Republican Fred A. Busse. A 1994 survey of experts on Chicago politics saw Dunne ranked as the tenth-best mayor in the city's history up to that point.

Post-mayoralty

After his mayoralty ended on April 15, 1907, Dunne returned to his legal practice. Dunne was narrowly defeated in the 1911 Democratic mayoral primary by another former Chicago mayor, Carter H. Harrison II, who went on to regain the Mayor's office.

Governorship

Dunne formally announced his candidacy for Governor of Illinois on January 17, 1912. He won the Democratic Party primary election held on April 9 of that year. The main thrust of his campaign attack was on what he called "Jackpot Government". In the general election, Dunne defeated the incumbent governor, Governor Charles S. Deneen in the fall of 1912. Dunne and the Democrats benefited from the split in the ranks of the Republican Party which divided by supporters of the incumbent President William Howard Taft and the Progressives who supported the third party candidacy of Theodore Roosevelt. He was inaugurated as Governor of Illinois on February 3, 1913. He moved his family to the Illinois Governor's Mansion in

Springfield, Illinois Springfield is the capital of the U.S. state of Illinois and the county seat and largest city of Sangamon County. The city's population was 114,394 at the 2020 census, which makes it the state's seventh most-populous city, the second largest o ...

. As governor, he met with many visitors and guests. Former U.S. President, Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was a visitor to meet with Dunne at the Illinois Governor's Mansion while Dunne was governor. As governor Dunne championed numerous progressive reforms, including

Women's Suffrage Women's suffrage is the right of women to vote in elections. Beginning in the start of the 18th century, some people sought to change voting laws to allow women to vote. Liberal political parties would go on to grant women the right to vot ...

, prison reforms, major infrastructural improvements, the creation of the Public Utility Commission, the Efficiency and Economy Commission, the Legislative Reference Bureau, and he also expanded the state's responsibility for overseeing workman's compensation benefits and teachers' pensions. In 1913, Governor Dunne signed into law a bill that gave women in the State of Illinois the right to vote for President of the United States. This made Illinois the first state east of the Mississippi to give women the right to vote for the U.S. Presidency. This was six (6) years before the passage of the 19th Amendment. In November 1915, Dunne designated state Senator Stephen D. Canady of Hillsboro to appear as his representative on the train car along with the

Liberty Bell The Liberty Bell, previously called the State House Bell or Old State House Bell, is an iconic symbol of American independence, located in Philadelphia. Originally placed in the steeple of the Pennsylvania State House (now renamed Independence ...

as it passed through southern Illinois on its nationwide tour returning to

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from the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

. After that trip, the Liberty Bell returned to Pennsylvania and will not be moved again.

Post-gubernatorial career

After finishing his term as governor, Dunne remained politically active. In 1921, he helped found an organization called the "National Unity Council" to combat the

Ku Klux Klan The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to the KKK or the Klan, is an American white supremacist, right-wing terrorist, and hate group whose primary targets are African Americans, Jews, Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and ...

."Organizing to Fight The Ku Klux Klan"
''The New York Times'', September 21, 1921. Accessed August 13, 2022. In 1919, Dunne was appointed by the Irish Race Convention to serve on the

American Commission on Irish Independence The Irish Race Conventions were a disconnected series of conventions held by Irish nationalists. The majority were held in the United States and supported by Irish-American organisations, but others were held in Australia, Argentina, and France. ...

. As part of this commission, Dunne traveled to the

Paris Peace Conference of 1919 Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

in order to voice Irish-American desires for an independent Irish nation. During his stay in Europe, he also visited Ireland itself. He spent ten days touring the island and meeting with politicians including members of the

First Dáil The First Dáil ( ga, An Chéad Dáil) was Dáil Éireann as it convened from 1919 to 1921. It was the first meeting of the unicameral parliament of the revolutionary Irish Republic. In the December 1918 election to the Parliament of the Unite ...

on May 9, 1919. Dunne returned once again to practicing law after leaving office in 1917. His legal practice was damaged by the ravages of the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

, but he supplemented this work with a position as counsel to the Cook County Board of Election Commissioners.Morton, Richard Allen. ''Justice and Humanity: Edward F. Dunne, Illinois Progressive.'' p. 127. Carbondale, Ill.: Southern Illinois University Press, 1997. After the death of his wife on May 25, 1928, Dunne began contemplating his memoirs. He was convinced by the Lewis Publishing Co. to write a history of Illinois. Over a five-year period he worked on this project with close help from William L. Sullivan, who had been his private secretary when he was governor. In 1933, he published a five (5) volume set titled: ''Illinois, the Heart of the Nation''.''Justice and Humanity: Edward F. Dunne, Illinois Progressive'' pp. 125-26. Carbondale, Ill.: Southern Illinois University Press, 1997. President Franklin Roosevelt appointed Dunne to be a United States Commissioner for the

Century of Progress A Century of Progress International Exposition, also known as the Chicago World's Fair, was a world's fair held in the city of Chicago, Illinois, United States, from 1933 to 1934. The fair, registered under the Bureau International des Expositi ...

World's Fair of Chicago of 1933-34. At the time he was 80 years old. He took great joy in this position and joked that he had served as mayor, governor and as a federal commissioner (and, thus, had served at all levels of government).

Death

In his later years, Edward F. Dunne lived with his oldest daughter, Eileen and her family. He died in Chicago on May 24, 1937, aged 83. He was surrounded by three of is nine children when he died. He is buried alongside his wife Elizabeth at Calvary Cemetery in Evanston. Edward’s great great grandson is technologist and venture capitalist James McKenna IV, founder of Adrenaline Trading and Cloud Boss

References

External links

* ttps://archive.org/stream/nationalmagazine22brayrich#page/249/mode/1up ''Chicago and Municipal Ownership'' by Edward F. Dunne, ''National Magazine'', June 1905 {{DEFAULTSORT:Dunne, Edward Fitzsimmons 1853 births 1937 deaths Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law alumni Democratic Party governors of Illinois Mayors of Chicago Politicians from Peoria, Illinois American people of Irish descent People from Watertown, Connecticut Catholics from Connecticut Catholics from Illinois American activists for Irish independence Burials at Calvary Cemetery (Evanston, Illinois)