Lennington "Len" Small (June 16, 1862 – May 17, 1936) was an American politician who served as the
26th Governor of Illinois from 1921 to 1929. He previously was a member of the
Illinois state senate
The Illinois Senate is the upper chamber of the Illinois General Assembly, the legislative branch of the government of the State of Illinois in the United States. The body was created by the first state constitution adopted in 1818. Under the ...
from the 16th District from 1901 to 1903 and was
Illinois state treasurer
The Treasurer of Illinois is an elected official of the U.S. state of Illinois. The office was created by the Constitution of Illinois.
Current Occupant
The current Treasurer of Illinois is Democrat Mike Frerichs. He was first elected to hea ...
, from 1905 to 1907, and from 1917 to 1919. He is known for accusations of
embezzlement brought against him.
Early life
Small was born in
Kankakee County, Illinois, and attended public education at Northern Indiana Normal School, now
Valparaiso University
Valparaiso University (Valpo) is a private university in Valparaiso, Indiana. It is a Lutheran university with about 3,000 students from over 50 countries on a campus of . Originally named Valparaiso Male and Female College, Valparaiso Universit ...
, through his senior year. After schooling, became a teacher, 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. Six months after the Governor's inauguration, on June 26, 1922, Ida Moore Small died suddenly from
apoplexy
Apoplexy () is rupture of an internal organ and the accompanying symptoms. The term formerly referred to what is now called a stroke. Nowadays, health care professionals do not use the term, but instead specify the anatomic location of the bleedi ...
(the term at the time for a
stroke) at the age of 60 while Small and his wife were being welcomed home following his acquittal on charges of
embezzlement.
Political career
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 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
in 1924. He was indicted, six months after becoming governor, for embezzling over a million dollars in a money-laundering scheme in which he placed state funds into a fake bank while he was state treasurer.
He was acquitted, but eight jurors later got state jobs, raising suspicions of
jury tampering
Jury tampering is the crime of unduly attempting to influence the composition and/or decisions of a jury during the course of a trial. The means by which this crime could be perpetrated can include attempting to discredit potential jurors to ensur ...
.
As governor, Small pardoned 20 members of the
Communist Labor Party of America
The Communist Labor Party of America (CLPA) was one of the organizational predecessors of the Communist Party USA.
The group was established at the end of August 1919 following a three-way split of the Socialist Party of America. Although a legal ...
, convicted under the Illinois Sedition Act. He also pardoned or paroled over 1000 convicted felons, including Harry Guzik, brother of the
Chicago Outfit
The Chicago Outfit (also known as the Outfit, the Chicago Mafia, the Chicago Mob, the Chicago crime family, the South Side Gang or The Organization) is an Italian-American organized crime syndicate or crime family based in Chicago, Illinois, ...
's
Jake Guzik
Jake "Greasy Thumb" Guzik (March 20, 1886 – February 21, 1956) was the financial and legal advisor, and later political " greaser," for the Chicago Outfit.
Early life
Guzik was born near Kraków, Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, Austria-Hu ...
, of
Posen, Illinois
Posen is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. Posen is the German-language name for the western Polish city of Poznań. The population of the village was 5,632 at the 2020 census.
Geography
Posen is located at (41.628234, -87.685 ...
, who was convicted of kidnapping young girls and forcing them into lives of
prostitution (then commonly called
white slavery
White slavery (also white slave trade or white slave trafficking) refers to the slavery of Europeans, whether by non-Europeans (such as West Asians and North Africans), or by other Europeans (for example naval galley slaves or the Vikings' t ...
).
In 1923,
bootlegger Edward "Spike" O'Donnell of
Southside Chicago 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
The Pineapple Primary was the name given to the primary election held in Illinois on April 10, 1928. The campaign was marked by numerous acts of violence, mostly in Chicago and elsewhere in Cook County. In the six months prior to the primary ele ...
" by a margin of 63% to 37% against
Louis Lincoln Emmerson
Louis Lincoln Emmerson (December 27, 1863 – February 4, 1941) was an American Republican politician and the twenty-seventh governor of Illinois.
Family
Louis was born on December 27, 1863, in Albion, Illinois, and is the son of Jesse and ...
, the incumbent
Illinois Secretary of State
The Secretary of State of Illinois is one of the six elected executive state offices of the government of Illinois, and one of the 47 secretaries of states in the United States. The Illinois Secretary of State keeps the state records, laws, libr ...
. Small made a failed run for governor
in 1932, and another in
1936
Events
January–February
* January 20 – George V of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India, dies at his Sandringham Estate. The Prince of Wales succeeds to the throne of the United Kingdom as King E ...
.
Death
Small died on May 17, 1936. He is buried at Mound Grove Cemetery in
Kankakee, Illinois.
References
Further reading
*Kobler, John. ''Capone''. Da Capo Press of Perseus Books Group, New York. 2003. p. 79.
*Ridings, Jim. ''Len Small: Governors and Gangsters''. Side Show Books, Herscher IL. 2009.
External links
National Governors AssociationIllinois State Archives
{{DEFAULTSORT:Small, Len
1862 births
1936 deaths
Republican Party governors of Illinois
Republican Party Illinois state senators
People from Kankakee, Illinois
Valparaiso University alumni
State treasurers of Illinois
Illinois politicians convicted of corruption