Illinois. Governor (1977-1991 : Thompson)

James Robert Thompson was born on Chicago's West Side on May 8, 1936. He obtained his elementary education in public schools, but followed his high school studies at North Park Academy, a private shcool on the northwest side of Chicago. He attended college at the University of Illinois campus at Navy Pier and Washington University in St. Louis, and received his law degree from Northwestern University. Thompson was admitted to the bar two weeks early by special arrangement so that he could argue--and lose, by a 5-4 decision--the Escobedo case before the U.S. Supreme Court.

In 1969 he was appointed chief of Attorney General William J. Scott's criminal division, but soon after received the appointment of U.S. attorney for the northern Illinois district. It was while he held this office that he successfully prosecuted former Governor Otto Kerner and many other political figures, some Republican, but most members of Mayor Richard J. Daley's Democratic organization. By 1975 Thompson was the best-known Republican in Illinois, but he shrewdly avoided vying for office with Daley. The logical alternative was a run for the governorship.

...