Frank Orren Lowden

Frank Lowden (1923)

Frank Orren Lowden (born January 26, 1861 in Sunrise , Minnesota , † March 20, 1943 in Tucson , Arizona ) was an American politician and from 1917 to 1921 the 25th governor of Illinois . He also represented his state in the US House of Representatives .

Early years and political advancement

Young Lowden moved with his parents to Hardin County , Iowa , in 1868 . There he attended local schools and later until 1885 Iowa State University . He then studied law in Chicago . After his admission to the bar in 1887, he practiced in his profession in Chicago. During the Spanish-American War of 1898, he served as a lieutenant colonel in the Illinois National Guard . In 1899 he taught law as a professor at Northwestern University in Chicago. His political career began in 1900 when he became a delegate to the Federal Republican Congress, at which President William McKinley was again nominated as a candidate for president. Four years later, Lowden was again at his party's federal convention, this year Theodore Roosevelt was nominated for the presidency. Between 1904 and 1912 he was on the federal executive committee of his party. He also represented his state between 1906 and 1911 as a member of the US Congress in Washington . He was succeeded in this office in 1906 by the death of his predecessor Robert R. Hitt . In 1908 he was confirmed in this office in the regular congressional elections. In 1910 he decided not to run again for Congress. In 1916 he was nominated by his party for the office of governor of Illinois and then also elected by the electorate.

Illinois Governor

Frank Lowden

His four-year term began on January 8, 1917. It was the time of the First World War and the governor, like his colleagues in the other US states, supported the war effort of the federal government under President Woodrow Wilson . Illinois provided over 350,000 soldiers, including National Guard units, to the US armed forces. By the end of the war in November 1918, 4,266 Illinois soldiers had died in the war. Despite the war, he made some notable progress in domestic politics. For example, Illinois government and administration were reorganized, taxes were cut, and school policies were improved. Illinois agreed to the construction of a waterway between the Great Lakes and the Gulf of Mexico (across the Mississippi). Road construction was promoted in order to cope with the increasing volume of traffic. This was financed by taxing registered motor vehicles. In addition, the country's electoral laws have been improved. After its administrative reform, Illinois was considered exemplary for all other US states in this area. There were also riots and unrest during his tenure. For example, the National Guard had to put down riots in East St. Louis in May and July 1917 . The same thing happened in Chicago in 1919. During his tenure, women's suffrage was introduced nationwide in the United States and the Prohibition Act was passed (18th Amendment). The latter should have a very negative impact across the country, but particularly in Illinois and Chicago. It was there in the 1920s that the alcohol smuggling gangs emerged from which the gangster syndicates emerged, which at times were to gain great influence in Chicago and all of Illinois. By 1920 the population of Illinois had risen to nearly 6.5 million. In 1910 that number was 5.6 million. At the end of his tenure on January 10, 1921, Lowden resigned from the office of governor.

Further life

In 1920 Lowden was close to being nominated for the Republican presidential nomination. There was a stalemate between him and Leonard Wood at the nomination convention. After the party congress could not decide on either of the two, a compromise candidate was found in Warren G. Harding , who was then also elected President. In 1924, he was offered the office of Vice President under President Calvin Coolidge by his party . Lowden declined this offer. He then withdrew from politics and devoted himself to his private affairs. But he was a co-founder and later head of the Farm Foundation, which had existed since 1933. Until his death he was chairman of the board of trustees of this foundation. Lowden died in Arizona in 1943 , where he had traveled because of his poor health. He was married to Florence Pullman. They had four children together.

Web links

• Frank Lowden in the National Governors Association (English)
• Frank Orren Lowden in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)
• Frank Lowden Orren in the database of Find a Grave (English)