Leland J. Kennedy Memoir - University of Illinois Springfield

Q: What about some of the people who were associated with Stevenson? For example,
William "Botchy" Connors was his floor leader as I understand it.
A: Well that was in the state senate. Well I didn't know him too well. I never did mingle
with the senate. I knew Connors. Oh, I guess one term that - well they'd always come
over to the house to talk to you, and they'd come and caucus. You'd have party
caucuses. Connors and Stevenson were probably vcry different, intellectually and culturally,
and politically I guess you might say. Not that that didn't lessen their chances of saving
their soul or anything like that but they - they were just different people and T don't imagine
they had too many things in common. And I say that complimentary to both of
them. And I don't suppose that Stevenson had a lot in common with anybody in the General
Assembly, quite frankly, due to his - well I don't know - his, not that he couldn't get
along with them. He got along with them, but - and 1 guess he could come in here and
sit down with you and I and make you feel comfortable. He had that knack I thought, the
governor had. Most all of the governors - all of the governors I had had that knack.
As little as I knew Green you could feel comfortable talking to Green. IIe made you feel
at ease which is important I think. You're going in to see the chief executive of the state
and you're a freshman legislator, you probably have some - if you don't have any timidity
about you, you're a wise guy I guess. You can't go in there and tell him he's an S-0-B
even though you might think so because he's going to veto some of your legislation or not
be for proposals to help your state and all that.
That's a knack. I imagine that the people who have had the privilege of dining with the
Roosevelts and then turning around and dining with the Trumans could notice the difference
in their - because they were different types. I mean there was no question about it. And
I guess that's the credit to the world.
Like I - well you watch the news, and see that fellow that succeeded his brother as president
of Lebanon. Hell, he don't look to me like he's evcn thirty-five and there he is over here
from a strife-torn country seeking aid and walking down the White House lawn with the
chief executive of our country and you don't know what they - you've got to trust people
in this world and maybe he and Reagan have formed a - I hope they have - I know nothing
about that situation at all, and I probably don't want to know anything about that, the way
they tear up those countries.
I found Stratton to be a very political motivated governor. He seemed to know more of
the - of course I guess he was brought up in a political family. I only servcd two years
under Stratton but Eileen and I lived in Springfield about a year, or had an apartment up
there, and she'd be up there. Well we'd eat out and we'd see Stratton and his first wife
now I guess. And they'd always stop and talk. He was state treasurer then. IIe was vcry
cordial and his wife was too.
I didn't know - you know I don't know what happened to their marriage. And I guess
Bill's still around, active, where it's necessary, but he was - well you can notice the differcnt
types and I don't know who his Speaker was, T guess Warren Wood was one of his Speakers.
And Warren Wood, he was very helpful and very interesting to talk to and - in fact our
boy went to St. Bedes up in South Peru for four years to high school, and was a hoarder
up there and he had to change trains at Joliet and that's where Wood was from, and that
might have been done during my out-period too, it was some of the time. And Pat met
some of the Wood family at the station. How he met them I don't know but he told them
who he was and he asked if he knew me and it turned out to be my boy.
And they were
very . . . he had a layover that time, the train was late, and they had him out for a sandwich
or something. And those are things that you recall with reasonably good memories.
Q: Well let's see now when you went in in that session in 1947 do you recall thc caucus
for leadership that occurred when you arrived up there?