Len Small

For the footballer, see Len Small (footballer).

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 from the 16th District from 1901 to 1903 and was Illinois state treasurer, from 1905 to 1907, and from 1917 to 1919. He is known for accusations of embezzlement brought against him.

Len Small
Small in 1900
26th Governor of Illinois
In office January 10, 1921 – January 14, 1929
Lieutenant	Fred E. Sterling
Preceded by	Frank Orren Lowden
Succeeded by	Louis Lincoln Emmerson
33rd and 39th Treasurer of Illinois
In office 1917–1919
Governor	Frank Orren Lowden
Preceded by	Fred E. Sterling
Succeeded by	Andrew Russel
In office 1905–1907
Governor	Charles S. Deneen
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	(1862-06-16)June 16, 1862 Kankakee County, Illinois, U.S.
Died	May 17, 1936(1936-05-17) (aged 73) Kankakee, Illinois, U.S.
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Ida Moore
Alma mater	Valparaiso University

Early life

Small was born in Kankakee County, Illinois, he was the son of Abram, a doctor, and Calista (Currier). and attended public Schools and Northern Indiana Normal School, now Valparaiso University,^[1] through his senior year. After schooling, he became a teacher and invested in real estate, eventually owning a farm, a bank, and Kankakee's daily newspaper, the Daily Journal. On November 21st, 1883, Small married Ida Moore, and they had three children together, Budd, Leslie, and May. On June 26, 1922, Ida Moore Small died suddenly from a stroke at the age of 60, while Small and his wife were being welcomed home following his acquittal on charges of embezzlement.^[2][3]

Political career

Small's political career began in 1896 when he was elected Clerk of the Kankakee County Circuit Court. In 1900, Small was elected to the Illinois Senate from the 20th district.^[4] He served in the Illinois Senate from 1901 to 1905.^[5] The 20th district included Grundy, Iroquois, and Kankakee counties.^[6] Small was the Illinois Treasurer from 1905 to 1908, and again from 1917 to 1919. He served as the assistant U.S. Treasurer in charge of the subtreasury 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 re-elected in 1924. Six months after becoming governor, he was indicted on charges of embezzling more than a million dollars in a money-laundering scheme in which he placed state funds into a fake bank while he was state treasurer.^[7] He was acquitted, but eight jurors later got state jobs, raising suspicions of jury tampering. Despite this, he was paid $650,000 to settle the case.^[8][9]

As governor, Small pardoned 20 members of the Communist Labor Party of America, convicted under the Illinois Sedition Act. He also pardoned or paroled more than 1,000 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 (then commonly called white slavery).^[10]

Small was also noted for his active highway program, he spent $200 million dollars for an estimated 7,000 miles of concrete-paved roads, which led Illinois to have the most developed road system in the United States. But the roads got a Bond (finance) of half the funding the Small administration spent on the roads, which had to be retired by auto license fees. ^[11]

In 1923, bootlegger Edward "Spike" O'Donnell of the South Side Chicago was pardoned by Small. O'Donnell returned to Chicago as the leader of one of the most powerful bootlegging gangs in the city.^[12]

Small's grave at Mound Grove Cemetery

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.

Later Career

Small made an unsuccessful run for governor in 1932, and another in 1936. During and after these runs, he lived on his farm and owned the Kankakee Daily Republican^[13]

Small died on May 17, 1936. He is buried at Mound Grove Cemetery in Kankakee, Illinois.