Charles S. Deneen | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Deneenc. 1925 | |
| United States Senator fromIllinois | |
| In office February 26, 1925 – March 3, 1931 | |
| Preceded by | Medill McCormick |
| Succeeded by | J. Hamilton Lewis |
| 23rd Governor of Illinois | |
| In office January 9, 1905 – February 3, 1913 | |
| Lieutenant | Lawrence Sherman John G. Oglesby |
| Preceded by | Richard Yates Jr. |
| Succeeded by | Edward Fitzsimmons Dunne |
| State's Attorney ofCook County, Illinois | |
| In office 1896–1904 | |
| Preceded by | Jacob J. Kern |
| Succeeded by | John J. Healy |
| Member of theIllinois House of Representatives from the 2nd District | |
| In office 1892–1894 Serving with Michael McInerney, Robert McMurdy | |
| Preceded by | Michael McInerney, William J. Kenney, H. Dorsey Patton |
| Succeeded by | Rudolph Mulac, Oscar L. Dudley, Sherman P. Cody |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Charles Samuel Deneen May 4, 1863 Edwardsville, Illinois, US |
| Died | February 5, 1940(1940-02-05) (aged 76) Chicago,Illinois, US |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 4 |
| Relatives | Jason Beghe (great-grandson) |
| Education | McKendree College Union College of Law |
| Profession | Attorney |
| Signature |  |
Charles Samuel Deneen (May 4, 1863 – February 5, 1940) was an American lawyer andRepublican politician who served as the23rd Governor of Illinois, from 1905 to 1913. He was the first Illinois governor to serve two consecutive terms totalling eight years. He was governor during the infamousSpringfield race riot of 1908, which he helped put down. He later served as aU.S. Senatorfrom Illinois, from 1925 to 1931. Deneen had previously served as a member of theIllinois House of Representatives from 1892 to 1894. As an attorney, he had been the lead prosecutor in Chicago's infamousAdolph Luetgert murder trial.
Deneen was born inEdwardsville, Illinois, to Samuel H. Deneen and Mary Frances Ashley.[1] He was raised inLebanon, Illinois, and graduated fromMcKendree College in Lebanon in 1882. He subsequently studied law at McKendree and atUnion College of Law, while supporting himself by teaching school. He was admitted to the Illinois bar in 1886.[2] On May 10, 1891, he married fellow MethodistBina Day Maloney inPrinceton, Illinois.[2] The couple had four children; Charles Ashley, Dorothy, Frances, and Bina.[3]
His political career began soon thereafter, with election to theIllinois House of Representatives in 1892.[1] Deneen wasCook County State's Attorney from 1896 to 1904. In 1896, Deneen appointedFerdinand Lee Barnett as the first black assistant state's attorney in Illinois upon the recommendation of the Cook County CommissionerEdward H. Wright. Deneen and Barnett worked together closely for the next two decades.[4]
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Deneen became Governor of Illinois in 1905 and supported passage of the Illinois anti-lynching law that year. The state had not had many instances of lynchings, but in 1909William "Froggie" James was murdered in a spectacle lynching attended by a mob of 10,000 inCairo, Illinois. The crowd also lynched Henry Salzner, a white man, who had allegedly killed his wife. The governor sent in National Guard troops to suppress violence. Under the 1905 state law, Deneen dismissed Sheriff Frank E. Davis for failing to protect James and Salzner and resisted local efforts to have the officer reinstated.
In1924, Deneen defeated first-term SenatorMedill McCormick in the Republicanprimary for theUnited States Senate. Illinois at that time customarily had a downstate seat and a Chicago-area seat, which McCormick held. McCormick committed suicide in early 1925, for which his widowRuth Hanna McCormick (a future U.S. Representative) blamed Deneen. She defeated him in the1930 Republican primary, but lost the November election to James Hamilton Lewis. In 1928 Deneen's home was bombed during an outbreak of violence among rival political factions in Chicago in advance of thePineapple Primary election.[5]
Deneen died in Chicago on February 5, 1940, and was interred there in theOak Woods Cemetery.[3][6] The public Deneen School of Excellence was named in his honor. It is located in south Chicago next to theDan Ryan Expressway, not far fromAl Capone's former home on South Prairie.
Deneen's daughter Dorothy married Allmand Matteson Blow, who was the son ofJennie Goodell Blow, grandson ofRoswell Eaton Goodell, great-grandson of former Illinois governorJoel Aldrich Matteson, nephew-by-marriage of former Colorado governorJames Benton Grant, and nephew of former Colorado first ladyMary Goodell Grant.[7][8]
Deneen's great-grandson is actorJason Beghe.[9]
Media related toCharles S. Deneen at Wikimedia Commons| Party political offices | ||
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| Preceded by | Republican nominee forGovernor of Illinois 1904,1908,1912 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Republican nominee forU.S. Senator fromIllinois (Class 2) 1924 | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Governor of Illinois 1905–1913 | Succeeded by |
| U.S. Senate | ||
| Preceded by | U.S. senator (Class 2) from Illinois 1925–1931 Served alongside:William B. McKinley,Otis F. Glenn | Succeeded by |
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| Class 3 | ||
| International | |
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| People | |
| Other | |
