Although serious scandal erupted in Illinois Governor Richard Ogilvie's administration— eight hundred thousand dollars mysteriously appearing in Secretary of State Paul Powell's shoe boxes and other hiding places, the downfall of two Supreme Court justices for questionable stock dealings, corruption surrounding the Illinois State Fair— Ogilvie's accomplishments, as Taylor Pensoneau demonstrates, rank him among the best governors in Illinois history. Perhaps the most important of Ogilvie's accomplishments during his single term in office (1969–1973) was the passage of the state's first income tax in 1969. Supporting the income tax took political courage on the part of the new governor, but in doing so he saved the financially crippled state from economic disaster. He also looked far into the future; at a time when few politicians expressed concern with the environment, Ogilvie created an exemplary and hard-hitting antipollution program. He was in office during the Illinois Constitutional Convention in 1970 and was instrumental in the widespread restructuring of Illinois government. Viewing Ogilvie as a pivotal figure in Illinois politics during a time of great social and political turmoil, Pensoneau provides a complete political biography. He sheds light on Ogilvie's military heroics, his political career, and the Illinois elections of 1968, 1970, and 1972.

Pensoneau, Taylor

Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press

United States, United States of America

Carbondale : Chicago, March 2009

Carbondale, Illinois, 1997

1st, 1997

Includes bibliographical references (p. 285-286) and index.

The Richard Buell Ogilvie who emerges from Taylor Pensoneau's political biography is a dynamic leader who presided over Illinois during a time of deep turmoil for the state and the nation, the final years of the Vietnam war.
Although he served but a single term as governor (1969-1973), Ogilvie presided over some of the most significant reforms enacted in Illinois for more than a century. He brought Illinois government into the modern era, revamping it from top to bottom to make it more responsive to the demands of the time and of the people. Showing extraordinary political courage, Ogilvie championed the first state income tax in Illinois and saved a fiscally crippled state from disaster.
In his second year in office, the Illinois Constitutional Convention produced the first new state charter in one hundred years. Ogilvie effected penal reform and was instrumental in upgrading the state's highway system. And in 1970 he established the machinery necessary to make Illinois a leader among states in the war on pollution.
Pensoneau provides a complete political biography. Although he focuses on the four-year governorship, he also covers Ogilvie's early years, his career as a tank commander in World War II, his stint as Cook County sheriff, and his work as a federal prosecutor, the high point of which was his successful prosecution of crime boss Tony Accardo. He also deals with Ogilvie's life from the time he left office in 1973 until his death in 1988.

Taylor Pensoneau. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 285-286) And Index.

2023-06-28