Daniel Walker
Encyclopedia
Daniel Walker was the 36th Governor of the U.S. state
of Illinois
from 1973 to 1977.
and raised near San Diego, California
. He was the second Governor of Illinois to graduate from the United States Naval Academy
. He served as a naval officer in World War II
and the Korean War
. A graduate of the Northwestern University School of Law
, Walker later became an executive for Montgomery Ward
while pursuing anti-machine Democratic politics
in Chicago
.
He served as a clerk for Chief Justice of the United States
Fred M. Vinson
and was an aide to Illinois Governor Adlai Stevenson and campaign chairman for the 1970 Senate campaign of Stevenson's son Adlai Stevenson III
. He rose to prominence as staff director of the Kerner Commission
(headed by former Illinois Governor Otto Kerner, Jr.
), an 11-member commission established by President Lyndon B. Johnson to investigate the causes of the 1967 race riots in the United States and to provide recommendations for the future.
by upsetting then-Lt. Governor Paul Simon
. In November, he defeated incumbent Republican Richard B. Ogilvie
by a 51% to 49% margin and at one point in the early 1970s had presidential aspirations.
The enmity between Walker and Mayor Richard J. Daley
's political organization was deep. In 1974, Walker supported legislative candidates against Daley allies. A year later, members of Walker's administration demanded Daley resign as chairman of the Cook County Democratic organization. Walker's deputy governor, Victor deGrazia
later said: "... I knew from the beginning that every time Daley looked at Walker, he saw the Church of England and the British suppression of the Irish, and when Dan would look at Daley, he would see the quintessential politician who was only interested in political gain."
"We never established anything even approaching a personal rapport. To some degree, this was an obvious and natural result of my independent political activity. But it went deeper ---- much deeper," said Walker.
Walker did not repeal the income tax
that Ogilvie had enacted and, wedged between Republicans and machine Democrats, had little success with the Illinois legislature
during his tenure.
In 1976, Walker was defeated in the Democratic primary, losing to Secretary of State Michael Howlett
, the candidate supported by Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley
, by a 54% to 46% margin. In the general election, Howlett was overwhelmingly defeated by James R. Thompson
.
and a pair of troubled Savings and Loan
s. In 1987, he was convicted of improprieties related to the First American Savings & Loan Association of Oak Brook
. Media at the time reported he received over a million dollars in fraudulent loans for his business and repairs on his yacht, the Governor's Lady. At his sentencing, U.S. District Judge Ann Williams
stated, "It's clear to this court that a pattern was established and that you, Mr. Walker, thought this bank was your own personal piggy bank to bail you out whenever you got into trouble." The First American Savings & Loan Association of Oak Brook
was declared insolvent with a deficit of $23 million and was later bailed out by the United States federal government
. He was sentenced to seven years in federal prison, and served 18 months at a Duluth, Minnesota
correctional facility. In January 2001 he requested a pardon from outgoing President Bill Clinton
, but his request was not granted.
Walker became the third of four Governors of Illinois in the 20th and 21st Century to be convicted on federal criminal charges. The other three were Otto Kerner, Jr.
, George Ryan
, and Rod Blagojevich
. However, unlike Kerner, Ryan, Blagojevich, Walker's crimes were not related to his term as Governor.
. They had seven children, three boys, Daniel Jr., Charlie and William, and four girls, Kathleen, Julie, Robbie and Margaret. They were divorced in 1977. Roberta Dowse-Walker died in December 2006 from colon cancer. Walker later married Roberta Nelson, who was 14 years his junior, and was divorced in 1989 while he was in prison. In 2007 he resided in Escondido, California
, with his third wife, Lillian. Currently, he resides in a private condominium complex in Rosarito, Baja California, Mexico.
released The Maverick and the Machine: Governor Dan Walker Tells His Story, in which Walker commented on his business and law troubles, saying "I knew this was against regulations, but, like most businessmen, I saw a huge difference between a law and a regulation." In the book he speaks of his experiences in jail as well as in the political sphere. He also authored The First Hundred Years A.D. 1-100: Failures and Successes of Christianity's Beginning and Thirst for Independence: The San Diego Water Story. In 2003 he had several other writing projects in the works, including a cookbook.
U.S. state
A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...
of Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
from 1973 to 1977.
Early life and career
He was born in Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
and raised near San Diego, California
San Diego, California
San Diego is the eighth-largest city in the United States and second-largest city in California. The city is located on the coast of the Pacific Ocean in Southern California, immediately adjacent to the Mexican border. The birthplace of California, San Diego is known for its mild year-round...
. He was the second Governor of Illinois to graduate from the United States Naval Academy
United States Naval Academy
The United States Naval Academy is a four-year coeducational federal service academy located in Annapolis, Maryland, United States...
. He served as a naval officer in World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
and the Korean War
Korean War
The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...
. A graduate of the Northwestern University School of Law
Northwestern University School of Law
The Northwestern University School of Law is a private American law school in Chicago, Illinois. The law school was founded in 1859 as the Union College of Law of the Old University of Chicago. The first law school established in Chicago, it became jointly controlled by Northwestern University in...
, Walker later became an executive for Montgomery Ward
Montgomery Ward
Montgomery Ward is an online retailer that carries the same name as the former American department store chain, founded as the world's #1 mail order business in 1872 by Aaron Montgomery Ward, and which went out of business in 2001...
while pursuing anti-machine Democratic politics
Cook County Democratic Organization
The Cook County Democratic Organization is one of the most powerful political machines in American history. Historically called the "Chicago Democratic machine", or simply the "Chicago Machine", the organization has dominated Chicago politics since the 1930s...
in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
.
He served as a clerk for Chief Justice of the United States
Chief Justice of the United States
The Chief Justice of the United States is the head of the United States federal court system and the chief judge of the Supreme Court of the United States. The Chief Justice is one of nine Supreme Court justices; the other eight are the Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States...
Fred M. Vinson
Fred M. Vinson
Frederick Moore Vinson served the United States in all three branches of government and was the most prominent member of the Vinson political family. In the legislative branch, he was an elected member of the United States House of Representatives from Louisa, Kentucky, for twelve years...
and was an aide to Illinois Governor Adlai Stevenson and campaign chairman for the 1970 Senate campaign of Stevenson's son Adlai Stevenson III
Adlai Stevenson III
Adlai Ewing Stevenson III is an American politician of the Democratic Party. He represented the state of Illinois in the United States Senate from 1970 until 1981.-Education, military service, and early career:...
. He rose to prominence as staff director of the Kerner Commission
Kerner Commission
The National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, known as the Kerner Commission after its chair, Governor Otto Kerner, Jr. of Illinois, was an 11-member commission established by President Lyndon B. Johnson to investigate the causes of the 1967 race riots in the United States and to provide...
(headed by former Illinois Governor Otto Kerner, Jr.
Otto Kerner, Jr.
Otto Kerner, Jr. was the 33rd Governor of Illinois from 1961 to 1968. He is best known for chairing the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders and for accepting bribes....
), an 11-member commission established by President Lyndon B. Johnson to investigate the causes of the 1967 race riots in the United States and to provide recommendations for the future.
Illinois Governor
Walker announced his candidacy for Governor of Illinois in 1972, after attracting wide attention by walking 1197 miles (1,926 km) across Illinois in 1971, and narrowly won the Democratic primaryPrimary election
A primary election is an election in which party members or voters select candidates for a subsequent election. Primary elections are one means by which a political party nominates candidates for the next general election....
by upsetting then-Lt. Governor Paul Simon
Paul Simon (politician)
Paul Martin Simon was an American politician from Illinois. He served in the United States House of Representatives from 1975 to 1985 and United States Senate from 1985 to 1997. He was a member of the Democratic Party...
. In November, he defeated incumbent Republican Richard B. Ogilvie
Richard B. Ogilvie
Richard Buell Ogilvie was the 35th Governor of Illinois from 1969 to 1973. A wounded combat veteran of World War II, he achieved fame as the mafia-fighting Sheriff of Cook County, Illinois in the 1960s....
by a 51% to 49% margin and at one point in the early 1970s had presidential aspirations.
The enmity between Walker and Mayor Richard J. Daley
Richard J. Daley
Richard Joseph Daley served for 21 years as the mayor and undisputed Democratic boss of Chicago and is considered by historians to be the "last of the big city bosses." He played a major role in the history of the Democratic Party, especially with his support of John F...
's political organization was deep. In 1974, Walker supported legislative candidates against Daley allies. A year later, members of Walker's administration demanded Daley resign as chairman of the Cook County Democratic organization. Walker's deputy governor, Victor deGrazia
Victor deGrazia
Victor R. de Grazia was best known as the campaign manager and deputy governor to Illinois Governor Daniel Walker.deGrazia was the mastermind of Walker's victory over Republican Governor Richard B. Ogilvie in 1972, which was of one of the great upsets in recent Illinois political history.deGrazia...
later said: "... I knew from the beginning that every time Daley looked at Walker, he saw the Church of England and the British suppression of the Irish, and when Dan would look at Daley, he would see the quintessential politician who was only interested in political gain."
"We never established anything even approaching a personal rapport. To some degree, this was an obvious and natural result of my independent political activity. But it went deeper ---- much deeper," said Walker.
Walker did not repeal the income tax
Income tax
An income tax is a tax levied on the income of individuals or businesses . Various income tax systems exist, with varying degrees of tax incidence. Income taxation can be progressive, proportional, or regressive. When the tax is levied on the income of companies, it is often called a corporate...
that Ogilvie had enacted and, wedged between Republicans and machine Democrats, had little success with the Illinois legislature
Illinois General Assembly
The Illinois General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Illinois and comprises the Illinois House of Representatives and the Illinois Senate. The General Assembly was created by the first state constitution adopted in 1818. Illinois has 59 legislative districts, with two...
during his tenure.
In 1976, Walker was defeated in the Democratic primary, losing to Secretary of State Michael Howlett
Michael Howlett
Michael J. Howlett, Sr. was a Democratic politician from the U.S. state of Illinois, who was elected several times to statewide office.-Early life:...
, the candidate supported by Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley
Richard J. Daley
Richard Joseph Daley served for 21 years as the mayor and undisputed Democratic boss of Chicago and is considered by historians to be the "last of the big city bosses." He played a major role in the history of the Democratic Party, especially with his support of John F...
, by a 54% to 46% margin. In the general election, Howlett was overwhelmingly defeated by James R. Thompson
James R. Thompson
James Robert Thompson, Jr. , also known as Big Jim Thompson, was the 37th and longest serving Governor of the US state of Illinois...
.
Post political career and criminal conviction
In the 1980s, Walker entered the private sector with Butler-Walker, Inc, a chain of self-named quick oil change franchises later bought by Jiffy LubeJiffy Lube
Jiffy Lube is a chain of over 2,000 businesses in North America offering oil changes and other automotive services. The company is based in Houston, Texas, and is a subsidiary of Shell Oil.-History:...
and a pair of troubled Savings and Loan
Savings and loan association
A savings and loan association , also known as a thrift, is a financial institution that specializes in accepting savings deposits and making mortgage and other loans...
s. In 1987, he was convicted of improprieties related to the First American Savings & Loan Association of Oak Brook
Oak Brook, Illinois
Oak Brook is a village in DuPage and Cook Counties, in Illinois. The population was 8,702 at the 2000 census. A suburb of Chicago, it is the headquarters of McDonald's and Lions Clubs International.-History:...
. Media at the time reported he received over a million dollars in fraudulent loans for his business and repairs on his yacht, the Governor's Lady. At his sentencing, U.S. District Judge Ann Williams
Ann Claire Williams
Ann Claire Williams is a United States Circuit Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.- Early life and education :Born in Detroit, Williams earned a bachelor's degree from Wayne State University in 1970...
stated, "It's clear to this court that a pattern was established and that you, Mr. Walker, thought this bank was your own personal piggy bank to bail you out whenever you got into trouble." The First American Savings & Loan Association of Oak Brook
Oak Brook, Illinois
Oak Brook is a village in DuPage and Cook Counties, in Illinois. The population was 8,702 at the 2000 census. A suburb of Chicago, it is the headquarters of McDonald's and Lions Clubs International.-History:...
was declared insolvent with a deficit of $23 million and was later bailed out by the United States federal government
Savings and Loan crisis
The savings and loan crisis of the 1980s and 1990s was the failure of about 747 out of the 3,234 savings and loan associations in the United States...
. He was sentenced to seven years in federal prison, and served 18 months at a Duluth, Minnesota
Duluth, Minnesota
Duluth is a port city in the U.S. state of Minnesota and is the county seat of Saint Louis County. The fourth largest city in Minnesota, Duluth had a total population of 86,265 in the 2010 census. Duluth is also the second largest city that is located on Lake Superior after Thunder Bay, Ontario,...
correctional facility. In January 2001 he requested a pardon from outgoing President Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
, but his request was not granted.
Walker became the third of four Governors of Illinois in the 20th and 21st Century to be convicted on federal criminal charges. The other three were Otto Kerner, Jr.
Otto Kerner, Jr.
Otto Kerner, Jr. was the 33rd Governor of Illinois from 1961 to 1968. He is best known for chairing the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders and for accepting bribes....
, George Ryan
George Ryan
George Homer Ryan, Sr. was the 39th Governor of the U.S. state of Illinois from 1999 until 2003. He is a member of the Republican Party. Ryan became nationally known when in 2000 he imposed a moratorium on executions and "raised the national debate on capital punishment"...
, and Rod Blagojevich
Rod Blagojevich
Rod R. Blagojevich is an American politician who served as the 40th Governor of Illinois from 2003 to 2009. A Democrat, Blagojevich was a State Representative before being elected to the United States House of Representatives representing parts of Chicago...
. However, unlike Kerner, Ryan, Blagojevich, Walker's crimes were not related to his term as Governor.
Family
Walker was married in 1947 to Roberta Dowse, a Catholic school teacher from Kenosha, WisconsinKenosha, Wisconsin
Kenosha is a city and the county seat of Kenosha County in the State of Wisconsin in United States. With a population of 99,218 as of May 2011, Kenosha is the fourth-largest city in Wisconsin. Kenosha is also the fourth-largest city on the western shore of Lake Michigan, following Chicago,...
. They had seven children, three boys, Daniel Jr., Charlie and William, and four girls, Kathleen, Julie, Robbie and Margaret. They were divorced in 1977. Roberta Dowse-Walker died in December 2006 from colon cancer. Walker later married Roberta Nelson, who was 14 years his junior, and was divorced in 1989 while he was in prison. In 2007 he resided in Escondido, California
Escondido, California
Escondido is a city occupying a shallow valley ringed by rocky hills, just north of the city of San Diego, California. Founded in 1888, it is one of the oldest cities in San Diego County. The city had a population of 143,911 at the 2010 census. Its municipal government set itself an operating...
, with his third wife, Lillian. Currently, he resides in a private condominium complex in Rosarito, Baja California, Mexico.
Author
In 2007, Southern Illinois University PressSouthern Illinois University Press
Southern Illinois University Press, founded in 1956, is a university press located in Carbondale, Illinois.The press publishes approximately 50 titles annually, among its more than 1,200 titles currently in print....
released The Maverick and the Machine: Governor Dan Walker Tells His Story, in which Walker commented on his business and law troubles, saying "I knew this was against regulations, but, like most businessmen, I saw a huge difference between a law and a regulation." In the book he speaks of his experiences in jail as well as in the political sphere. He also authored The First Hundred Years A.D. 1-100: Failures and Successes of Christianity's Beginning and Thirst for Independence: The San Diego Water Story. In 2003 he had several other writing projects in the works, including a cookbook.
See also
External links
- Oral History Project at the University of Illinois at Springfield. Dan Walker Oral History and Victor deGrazia Oral History