Henry Horner

Henry Horner (1937)

Henry Horner (born November 30, 1879 in Chicago , Illinois , † October 6, 1940 in Winnetka , Illinois) was an American politician and from 1933 to 1940 the 28th Governor of Illinois.

Early years and political advancement

Henry Horner attended the Chicago Manual Training School and the University of Chicago . He then studied law at Chicago Kent College. After his successful exams and admission to the bar in 1898, he practiced in his hometown. Between 1915 and 1931, Horner served as a probate judge in Cook County . In 1932 he was named the top candidate for the upcoming gubernatorial election by his Democratic Party and was subsequently elected to this office by voters in Illinois. He became the first Jewish governor of that state.

Illinois Governor

Horner took up his new office on January 9, 1933 almost simultaneously with the new President Franklin D. Roosevelt , who was inaugurated on March 4 of that year. When he took office, the great economic crisis had just reached its peak. With the help of the President's New Deal policy, the situation improved significantly in the following years. During Horner's tenure, the prohibition ban of 1919 was lifted again. This removed the ground for alcohol smuggling nationwide. The militant gang wars also gradually came to an end, but not organized crime, which now opened up to other areas such as drug trafficking. A final high point in the violence was the fatal assassination attempt on the Mayor of Chicago in early 1933. In the first year of his tenure, Horner introduced a 2% sales tax in Illinois, which he raised to 3% in 1937. Regarding the electoral system, voter registration was introduced. By comparing the signatures, the identity of the voters could be checked. A minimum wage for women and miners was introduced in 1933. In 1937 a law followed that limited the daily working hours for women to eight hours. In the meantime, a pension law was passed in 1935, which introduced the statutory pension in Illinois. A similar act to introduce unemployment insurance followed later. Oil was discovered in Marion County in 1937 , causing an oil boom in southern Illinois. In 1933, the 100th anniversary of the founding of the city was celebrated in Chicago. On this occasion the waterway from New Orleans to Chicago was opened. In 1934, a major fire destroyed the State Archives, which destroyed many historical documents. Population growth in Illinois slowed significantly in the 1930s. Between 1930 and 1940, the country's population rose by just 300,000 to 7.9 million. The increase was therefore less than in the previous decades. Governor Horner was confirmed in office in 1936. During his second term in office he suffered a heart attack from which he finally died in October 1940. His lieutenant governor John Stelle had to complete the remaining three months of his tenure as governor. Horner owned a valuable collection of Abraham Lincoln memorabilia which he bequeathed to the Illinois Historical Society.

literature

• Robert Sobel and John Raimo (Eds.): Biographical Directory of the Governors of the United States, 1789–1978. Volume 1, Meckler Books, Westport, Conn. 1978, 4 volumes.
• Thomas B. Littlewood: Horner of Illinois . Northwestern University Press, Evanston Illinois 1969.
• Charles J. Masters: Governor Henry Horner, Chicago Politics, And The Great Depression . Southern Illinois University Press, Evanston, Illinois, 2007 ISBN 0-8093-2739-2 .

Web links

• Henry Horner in the National Governor Association (English)
• Henry Horner in the database of Find a Grave (English)