ABOUT THIS BOOK

A reformer who was always colorful, provocative, and controversial, Dan Walker became a political maverick, taking on Mayor Richard J. Daley’s vaunted Chicago machine and the powerful incumbent Richard Ogilvie to become the governor of Illinois. The Maverick and the Machine tells the dramatic story of Walker’s rise from dirt-poor beginnings to the pinnacle of power in Illinois and his conviction on charges of bank fraud that landed him in federal prison. This frank volume also probes the inner sanctum of the governorship and reviews the investigations of Governor Blagojevich’s administration and the criminal trial of former governor George Ryan.

Best Memoir of 2008, San Diego Book Awards
Illinois State Historical Society Certificate of Excellence, 2008

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

Dan Walker (1922-2015), a naval officer during World War II and the Korean War, worked in Chicago as a trial lawyer and business executive before serving as governor of Illinois from 1973 to 1977.

REVIEWS

“We joke readily about the governors, politicians, and public figures who have been sent to jail or narrowly averted that fate, and it is easy to consign Dan Walker to the simple category of crook. He did indeed break the law and rightly went to jail for it, but his memoir reminds us that his life and career were about much more than that. Both the achievements and failures of that life and career need to be understood and taken into account in any fair-minded appraisal of the man, and this work, most assuredly, makes an important contribution to that understanding.”—Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society

“I've known other Illinois governors during the past fifty years, and none of them has written anything as self-revealing as The Maverick and the Machine. Former governor Walker bares his soul, extolling his virtues and confessing his weaknesses while laying out in vivid detail stages of a life with little parallel.”
—Taylor Pensoneau, coauthor of Dan Walker: The Glory and the Tragedy

“A story with a certain Greek tragedy to it, The Maverick and the Machine offers a rare insight into the inner workings of Illinois politics and government. If this were a script for a made-for-television movie, it would be improbable. The story, however, is all too real.”—John S. Jackson, former chancellor of Southern Illinois University Carbondale and visiting professor at the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute

“ A story with a certain Greek tragedy to it, The Maverick and the Machine offers a rare insight into the inner workings of Illinois politics and government. If this were a script for a made-for-television movie, it would be improbable. The story, however, is all too real.” — John S. Jackson, former chancellor of Southern Illinois University Carbondale and visiting professor at the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Contents
List of Illustrations ix
Preface xi
Introduction 1
1. A Tough Father, a Loving Wife, and a Growing Family 5
2. The War, Law School, and the U.S. Supreme Court 17
3. My Introduction to Machine Politics 27
4. The Underbelly of Machine Politics 41
5. My Political Baptism 48
6. Becoming an Independent Democrat 56
7. Becoming Controversial in Chicago 65
8. Marching with Rev. King and Taking On the Mob 75
9. Reporting on Urban Riots and Dealing with Daley 83
10. The Walker Report 91
11. Launching the Campaign for Governor 100
12. The Long Walk 108
13. The Good People of Southern Illinois 124
14. Blister Pains Balanced by Personal Pleasures 133
15. Stories of the Walk 145
16. The End of the 1,197-Mile Walk 158
17. Shaking a Million Hands 169
18. Election Night 180
19. Victory despite Nixon’s Republican Landslide 187
vii
20. The New, Tough Executive Orders 204
21. Fighting with Daley’s Legislators 220
22. A Prison Riot and Midterm Election Victories 232
23. Losing in the 1976 Primary 249
24. A Dramatically New and Different Life 269
25. The Sad Trail to Jail 289
26. Suicidal Thoughts 303
27. More Travail and Finally Peace 309
Conclusion 319
Index 325
Contents
viii