James Thompson, a Republican from Chicago, was first elected governor in 1976 and ultimately served 4 phrases earlier than leaving workplace in 19
James Thompson, a Republican from Chicago, was first elected governor in 1976 and ultimately served 4 phrases earlier than leaving workplace in 1991. A reasonable, he managed the state via recession years within the 1980s. He additionally helped put collectively a plan to assist the Chicago White Sox get a brand new stadium to go off a possible transfer out of state.
“Because the longest-serving governor in Illinois historical past, ‘Large Jim’ was identified to deal with individuals he encountered with kindness and decency,” Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker mentioned in an announcement Saturday. “Jim devoted himself to constructing constructive change for Illinois, and he set an instance for public service of which Illinoisans must be proud.”
Earlier than changing into governor, Thompson rose to prominence as a prosecutor, making a reputation for himself as somebody who fought public corruption — a fame he carried into his time in workplace.
“From the time he signed the Political Honesty Initiative — to cease legislative conflicts of curiosity, double dipping, and advance pay for politicians — when he was first working for Governor in 1976, Gov. Jim Thompson stood for cleansing up corruption in Illinois politics and authorities,” former Gov. Pat Quinn, a Democrat who left workplace in 2015, mentioned in an announcement.
Whereas working within the Cook dinner County State’s Legal professional’s Workplace within the early 1960s, he prosecuted Lenny Bruce after the comic held up {a photograph} of a girl’s breast whereas on stage at a Chicago nightclub.
After he was appointed U.S. lawyer for the northern Illinois district by President Richard Nixon, Thompson turned identified for anti-corruption instances, together with the prosecution of Democratic former Gov. Otto Kerner Jr., by then a federal appeals choose.
Thompson and his employees uncovered large voter fraud in 1972, an effort that led to 83 indictments and 66 convictions or responsible pleas. He headed the prosecution that led to the conviction of a strong Chicago alderman and took half within the investigation of Republican Vice President Spiro T. Agnew, who ultimately pleaded no contest to tax evasion.
Extensively revered throughout Illinois, Thompson was honored in 1993 when the state authorities constructing in downtown Chicago was named after him. He additionally later served as a member of the Nationwide Fee on Terrorist Assaults Upon america to look at the Sept. 11, 2001, assaults.
“He was an awesome man, no query about that,” mentioned Republican former Gov. George Ryan, a longtime pal who held the workplace from 1999 to 2003.
However Thompson additionally made headlines when, as a frontrunner of the legislation agency Winston & Strawn, he agreed to defend Ryan on a professional bono foundation in a corruption case that ultimately landed Ryan in jail. In a 2015 article when Thompson’s retirement from the agency after 1 / 4 century was introduced, Crain’s Chicago Enterprise famous that Thompson’s choice to characterize his fellow former governor with out receiving fee in the end price the agency greater than $10 million.