Len Small

For the footballer, see Len Small (footballer).
Len Small
26th Governor of Illinois
In office
January 10, 1921 – January 14, 1929
Lieutenant Fred E. Sterling
Preceded by Frank O. Lowden
Succeeded by Louis L. Emmerson
33rd and 39th Treasurer of Illinois
In office
1917–1919
Preceded by Fred E. Sterling
Succeeded by Andrew Russel
In office
1905–1907
Preceded by Fred A. Busse
Succeeded by John F. Smulski
Member of the Illinois Senate
from the 20th district
In office
1902 (1902) – 1904 (1904)
Preceded by re-districted
Succeeded by Edward C. Curtis
Member of the Illinois Senate
from the 16th district
In office
1900 (1900) – 1902 (1902)
Preceded by Isaac Miller Hamilton
Succeeded by re-districted
Personal details
Born (1862-05-16)May 16, 1862
Kankakee County, Illinois, U.S.
Died May 17, 1936(1936-05-17) (aged 74)
Kankakee, Illinois, U.S.
Political party Republican
Spouse(s) Ida Moore
Alma mater Valparaiso University

Lennington "Len" Small (May 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.

Biography

Small was born in Kankakee County, Illinois, and was educated in the public schools. He attended Northern Indiana Normal School, now Valparaiso University.[1] 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.[2]

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.[3]

He 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.[4] 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.[5]

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).[6]

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.[7]

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.

References

  1. ↑ "Illinois Governor Lennington Small". National Governors Association. Retrieved October 30, 2012.
  2. ↑ "Lennington Small". Find A Grave. Retrieved October 30, 2012.
  3. ↑ "Small, Lennington (1862-1936)". The Political Graveyard. Retrieved October 30, 2012.
  4. ↑ Ridings, Jim (2010). Chicago to Springfield: Crime and Politics in the 1920s. Charleston, South Carolina: Arcadia Publishing. p. 31.
  5. ↑ Benzkofer, Stephanie (2011-06-19). "Len Small: Perhaps the Dirtiest Illinois Governor of Them All". Chicago Tribune. Chicago: Tribune Co. Retrieved 2012-05-31.
  6. ↑ Hoffman, Dennis E. (2010). Scarface Al and the Crime Crusaders: Chicago's Private War Against Capone. Carbondale, IL: SIU Press. p. 129. ISBN 0809330040.
  7. ↑ Keefe, Rose (2003). Guns and Roses: The Untold Story of Dean O'Banion, Chicago's Big Shot Before Al Capone. Nashville, TN: Cumberland House Publishing. p. 149. ISBN 1581823789.

Further reading

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This article incorporates facts obtained from: Lawrence Kestenbaum, The Political Graveyard 

Political offices
Preceded by
Fred A. Busse		 Treasurer of Illinois
1905–1907 		Succeeded by
John F. Smulski
Preceded by
Andrew Russel		 Treasurer of Illinois
1917–1919 		Succeeded by
Fred E. Sterling
Preceded by
Frank O. Lowden		 Governor of Illinois
1921–1929 		Succeeded by
Louis L. Emmerson
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