Jim Thompson | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Thompson in 1987 | |
| Chair of theIntelligence Oversight Board | |
| In office February 26, 1990 – January 20, 1993 | |
| President | George H. W. Bush |
| Preceded by | W. Glenn Campbell |
| Succeeded by | William Crowe |
| 37thGovernor of Illinois | |
| In office January 10, 1977 – January 14, 1991 | |
| Lieutenant | Dave O'Neal(1977–1981) Vacant(1981–1983) George Ryan(1983–1991) |
| Preceded by | Dan Walker |
| Succeeded by | Jim Edgar |
| Chair of theNational Governors Association | |
| In office August 2, 1983 – July 31, 1984 | |
| Preceded by | Scott Matheson |
| Succeeded by | John Carlin |
| United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois | |
| In office November 10, 1971 – June 30, 1975 | |
| President | Richard Nixon Gerald Ford |
| Preceded by | William J. Bauer |
| Succeeded by | Samuel K. Skinner |
| Personal details | |
| Born | James Robert Thompson Jr. (1936-05-08)May 8, 1936 Chicago,Illinois, U.S. |
| Died | August 14, 2020(2020-08-14) (aged 84) Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse | Jayne Carr |
| Children | 1 |
| Education | University of Illinois, Chicago Washington University(BA) Northwestern University(JD) |
James Robert Thompson Jr. (May 8, 1936 – August 14, 2020) was an American politician, lobbyist, and federal prosecutor who served as the37th governor ofIllinois from 1977 to 1991.[1] He was Illinois'slongest-serving governor, having been elected to four consecutive terms and holding the office for 14 years, and is also the only governor to have served more than two terms.
Thompson was known as a "Rockefeller Republican", governing during his tenure as both afiscal conservative andsocial liberal.[2][3] In later years, Thompson served as a member of the9/11 Commission, charged with investigating theSeptember 11 attacks.[4]
Thompson was born inChicago, the son of Agnes Josephine (Swanson) and James Robert Thompson, a physician. His maternal grandparents were Swedish, and his father was descended from colonial Massachusetts governorDavid Thompson through an entirely paternal line. Through his father's father he is also descended fromJosiah Winslow,John Winthrop the Younger,John Leverett,John Underhill andJohn Mason. His father's mother had ancestors who werePresbyterians ofScottish descent fromCarrickfergus,Ballymena andColeraine,County Antrim, Ireland in what has since becomeNorthern Ireland.[5][6] Thompson graduated from North Park Academy (nowNorth Park University) and studied at theUniversity of Illinois at Chicago Navy Pier campus before transferring toWashington University in St. Louis, where he earned his undergraduate degree.[7] He received hisJ.D. fromNorthwestern University in 1959.[8]
Thompson worked in theCook County State's Attorney's office, taught atNorthwestern University's law school, and was appointed by PresidentRichard Nixon to serve asU.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois. He served from November 1971 until June 1975.[9][10]
As a federal prosecutor in the early 1970s, he obtained a conviction against former governorOtto Kerner Jr. for his use of improper influence on behalf of theracetrack industry.[11]
He also tried and convicted many of Chicago mayorRichard J. Daley's top aides, most notably AldermanThomas E. Keane and County Clerk Matt Danaher, on various corruption charges. People like Keane and Danaher, the mayor's point man on patronage were also major figures in the Cook County Democratic Party's political machine. These high-profile cases gave Thompson the celebrity that fueled his run for governor in 1976.[12]
To the chagrin of many, Thompson was bipartisan in his attacks on corruption in Cook County and Chicago. He not only prosecuted high-profile Democrats, but also prominent Republicans such as County Commissioner Floyd Fulle and former U.S. Senate candidate, William Rentschler.Organized crime in Chicago was harder for his unit to crack and there were few high-profile cases during his era.[12]
 | This sectionneeds attention from an expert in Illinois, biography or politics. The specific problem is:For being the longest serving Illinois governor, there is little detail about his tenure. See thetalk page for details.WikiProject Illinois,WikiProject Biography orWikiProject Politics may be able to help recruit an expert.(June 2015) |
In the1976 election, he won 65 percent of the vote overDemocraticSecretary of StateMichael Howlett, who had defeated incumbent governorDan Walker in the primary and who had the support ofChicago Mayor andCook County Democratic Party chairmanRichard J. Daley. Thompson was the first candidate for governor to receive over 3 million votes; his tally of 3,000,395 remains the largest number of votes ever cast for a candidate in an election for Governor of Illinois. His first term was for only two years because Illinois moved its gubernatorial election from presidential-election years to midterm-election years.
Thompson was re-elected to a full four-year term in1978 with 60 percent of the vote, defeating State ComptrollerMichael Bakalis.In 1982, Thompson was very narrowly re-elected over formerU.S. SenatorAdlai E. Stevenson III. Thompson won the contest by only 5,074 votes.[13]
A rematchin 1986 was expected to be almost as close, but the Democrats were severely hamstrung when supporters ofLyndon LaRouche won the Democratic nominations forlieutenant governor and secretary of state. Stevenson refused to appear on the same ticket as the LaRouchites, and formed theSolidarity Party with the support of the regular state Democratic organization. With the Democrats badly split, Thompson skated to victory in the general election. Thompson was accused of hiding the sad shape that Illinois' economy and budget were in while campaigning, but once elected, called for an emergency session of the Illinois legislature to address the crisis.[citation needed]
In November 1980, Thompson, by his executive order, instituted a hiring freeze for all state agencies, boards, bureaus, and commissions under his control as governor. The order affected approximately 60,000 state positions.[14]
These positions could only be filled if the candidates were first approved by an office created by Thompson, the Governor's Office of Personnel. Suit was brought and the Supreme Court held this political patronage practice unconstitutional as a violation of theFirst Amendment rights of low-level public employees inRutan v. Republican Party of Illinois, 497 U.S. 62 (1990).
In 1989, Governor Thompson agreed to establish a compounding, 3 percentcost-of-living increase for retirees from Illinois government jobs, including public school teachers. Years later, in an interview with a Chicago business magazine, Thompson said he never knew the cost might exceed $1 billion and likely would not have signed it if he had known.[15]In recent years, the cumulative effect of the 3 percent annual increases has been recognized as one of the major causes ofIllinois' public employee pension crisis.
In 1993, the State of Illinois Center in Chicago was renamed theJames R. Thompson Center to honor the former governor.[16]
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During his tenure, Thompson was mentioned as a potential future candidate for president or vice president. In 1978,The Washington Post declared that "during his first year of elective office, Gov. James R. Thompson has passed one test of a viable presidential candidate to opposeJimmy Carter" in1980.[17] Thompson did not run for president, but was reportedly considered as a running mate for Republican nomineeRonald Reagan.[18] For several years, Thompson considered the possibility of making a run for the Republican presidential nominationin 1988.[19][20] AChicago Tribune report in 1988 concluded that Thompson had been very interested in serving as president, but felt that it was too soon for him to run in 1980 and unviable to run against incumbent vice presidentGeorge H. W. Bush in 1988. He was approached for interest on the Bush ticket in 1988 but asked to be not considered, stating he had concern about "the effect of the campaign on his family."[20][21]
After leaving public service, Thompson joinedWinston & Strawn, aChicago-based law firm. Thompson served as chairman of the executive committee from 1991 to 2006, and as chairman and CEO of the firm from 1993 to 2006. He was senior chairman until January 31, 2015.[22]
As CEO of Winston & Strawn, he focused in the area of government relations and regulatory affairs. The firm has lobbied forAmerican Airlines, and he previously representedUnited Airlines.[1]
Winston & Strawn is the same firm that represented former Illinois governorGeorge Ryanpro bono against federal charges relating to the "Licenses-for-Bribes" scandal during Ryan's tenure asIllinois Governor and Secretary of State. Thompson acted as Ryan's lawyer personally.[23]
On April 17, 2006, Ryan was convicted on all 18 counts, which included racketeering, misusing state resources for political gain, and fraud. He was sentenced to 6½ years in federal prison and began serving his sentence on November 7, 2007. Ryan was released from federal prison on July 3, 2013.[24]
Thompson was also a director and head of the Audit Committee forHollinger International, the media company founded byConrad Black, which was the subject of a U.S.Securities and Exchange Commission investigation.[25]
In 2002, he was appointed to serve on the9/11 Commission, where he aggressively questionedRichard Clarke, the former chief counter-terrorism adviser on theUnited States National Security Council.[4] The commission's findings were released in the9/11 Commission Report on July 22, 2004.
During the2008 presidential primary campaign, Thompson announced his support for formerNew York City MayorRudy Giuliani for the2008 Republican nomination.[citation needed] He stressed that Giuliani was the only Republican in the field who could win Illinois.[citation needed]
After suffering from heart issues, Thompson died on August 14, 2020, at the age of 84.[26][27][28][29]
In a tribute onTwitter, political consultantDavid Axelrod, who covered Thompson as a young journalist, described him as "one of the smartest and most formidable politicians I’ve ever known."[30]
James R. Thompson was inducted as a laureate ofThe Lincoln Academy of Illinois and awarded theOrder of Lincoln (the state's highest honor) by the governor of Illinois in 1991 in the area of Government.[31]
A bust of Thompson was erected in 2022 in front of Gate 4 atRate Field, home of theChicago White Sox.[32] The base of the bust states, "Longest serving governor in Illinois history; 1977–1991; He kept the White Sox in Chicago."[32] It is a reference to Thompson's efforts in 1988 to convince Illinois lawmakers to approve funding of a new stadium for the White Sox, who were threatening to move the club to St. Petersburg, Florida's newly builtSuncoast Dome. Legislators ultimately approved a last-minute deal to build a new stadium on June 30, 1988, andnew Comiskey Park opened in 1991.
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| Party political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Republican nominee forGovernor of Illinois 1976,1978,1982,1986 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Chair of theRepublican Governors Association 1981–1982 | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Governor of Illinois 1977–1991 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Chair of theNational Governors Association 1983–1984 | Succeeded by |
| Government offices | ||
| Preceded by Glenn Campbell | Chair of theIntelligence Oversight Board 1990–1993 | Succeeded by |
 | ||
