Leland J. Kennedy Memoir - University of Illinois Springfield

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more German than I was I guess. (laughter) I went to Ireland. But I did never go - I was in Germany as a soldier, but they've been - I talked to one cousin of mine since you left. Her first husband died. He was in the shoe business in Decatur, but I got ahold of her. She's still there. She's remarried to a man by the name of McDermott. But she's been to Ruett, Germany. Q: Did she find a record there? A: Yes. Well I don't know whether she found any records. She found that the only thing that we didn't quite agree on was that - she thought that Grandpa and Grandma Herwick met on a boat coming over here but I questioned the correctness of that because I thought they came over as children, but they may not have. Of course they could have been on the boat as children too as far as that goes. But my paternal grandparents came over at different times, both at eight or nine or ten or something like that. I had that somewhere in the records. Q: Yes. Well good. So you located the . . . A: Yes. I located that, yes, yes. Q: And you say that's near Austria? A: Near the Austrian border, at least that's what Mrs. McDermott said. I assume that she's correct yes. Q: Do you remember any of your grandparents talking about that part of Germany'! A: No. No. My Grandma Herwick, my mother's mother is the only grandparent I knew, and she talked German and my mother talked German and I remember her, oh, quite well. She probably didn't die until I was eight or nine I guess but I don't ever recall her talking about the old country. We referred to it that way. But my mother's sisters, a number of them died fairly young. One of them died at childbirth, and of course Uncle Henry, he left then, left and went somewhere else and we never heard from him. But I mentioned another one of my mother's sisters married a fireman in St. Louis, Worminghouse was their name, so that's quite German. Worminghouse and Herwick, that was a good match. Q: Yes. A: But he was in the firehouse with - he got killed in a - of course I guess they wcre horse-drawn vehicles in those days. He got killed and left a family of six. He died quite young. But one thing I remember him saying was that one of his firehouse mates was the late Cardinal Cody's father. Q: Oh? A: And I believe that Cody did come from St. Louis, Cardinal Cody. I think that's true. They did say that Cardinal Cody's father was a brother fireman. I don't know how close they were or anything like that. That's just family history. Q: Now this is Cardinal Cody from Chicago was it? A: Yes, the one that died. He came from St. Louis and his father was a fireman and my uncle - hell, I don't know what his name was. IIis name was Bill, Bill Worminghouse. They were in the same firehouse together. Q: Well. Did you get to know that uncle at all?
A: No. I knew them. They used to come to Alton or we'd go to Edwardsville. We used to go to Edwardsville on the interurban and you'd have to change down at Mitchell. I guess the oldest uncle I knew - well I knew Uncle Otto Ziegler, he was married to my mother's sister. TJncle Gordon Buckles, he was married to one of my dad's sisters. And she was Mrs. McDermott's mother, and I knew him very well because he was in the transfer business in Edwardsville. And I recall when I got back in politics in 1962 they were all rabid Republicans. I needed to win the Democratic primary is what I needed to win, and they all voted the Democratic primary for me, they all helped me. I didn't win by a whole lot, but I won. (laughter) Q: Switched over for you, huh? Well I'll be darned. Well. A: That's right. (laughter) So I got one thing good that time, the famous bullet from those people. I always ran well in Edwardsville because my dad was from there. He had a number of relatives. Rut they were all Democrats of course. Q: Yes. A: Because his dad had been in politics but his dad died quite young. I didn't know my father's parents at all but he died when he was in his forties. But he was a Democratic politician and in those days, why, they just had a one-year term and of course when I was just starting, why, the local offices were just two-year terms at that timc you know, at least down in here they were. I don't know about anyplace else. Q: Do you mean the alderman positions? A: The alderman and things like that were - the mayor and oh, the assessor and the city clerk. Thc county offices I think later on were four years of course, but at that timc, why, the sheriff couldn't succeed himself you know, and of course the Constitution changed that, or they changed that by legislation where they can succeed themselves, but . . . Q: Well let's see now, you ran for alderman in 1939 was it? A: In 1941. T ran for committeeman in 1940. Q: I see, yes. A: I ran for alderman in 1941. And of course the war came and I was drafted and I didn't resign and I got reelected alderman when I was in service while I was out at that hospital. When I came home to get sworn in, I happened to be on a leave about that time I'm mentioning to you. The election was late that year. I got sworn in after a week or ten days after I came home. Q: Well let's see now. What about the period before you went off to World War I1 in the alderman position. A: I got elected committeeman and I just felt like I could win for alderman. There was an opening there. The incumbent wasn't running. We had two aldermen from each ward. The other alderman, we were renting off of him, but I don't think it had any bearing. I had been around the ward and as I said carried papers and played uptown as a kid and had some acquaintances with the Upper Alton people as just - well there was a Kerr Drugstore up there that 1 used to go into to shoot the breeze. And I knew Gordon Kerr and I knew his dad. Gordon Kerr is a man my age. And his brother Gale. I used to stop in thcrc. And I just decided to run for alderman. No one cndorsed me. You've got to take out your petition and run and work. I made a canvass and I sent out those postal cards and 1 ran a good race. And I say that modestly.
Page 1:
University of Illinois at Springfie
Page 4 and 5: ILLINOIS GENERAL ASSEMBLY ORAL HIST
Page 6 and 7: Preface This oral history of Leland
Page 8 and 9: Volume I Leland J. Kennedy SESSION
Page 10 and 11: next to us was a duplex house and a
Page 12 and 13: Q: Were these family meals that she
Page 14 and 15: I was awful fascinated by politics.
Page 16 and 17: Q: Yes sir. (chuckles) What part of
Page 18 and 19: that much about it, about the makeu
Page 20 and 21: out and there was the number of my
Page 22 and 23: A: Well. Yes, I always remember one
Page 24 and 25: Q: Was it a paddle wheeler or what
Page 26 and 27: een that far back, in that era, may
Page 28 and 29: that wanted to take roomers or boar
Page 30 and 31: A: As you go by, that's the Alton W
Page 32 and 33: Q: Oh? Were you a pretty good corn
Page 34 and 35: A: Maybe it makes good talking to m
Page 36 and 37: A: The Fourth of July and Christmas
Page 38 and 39: A: I mean his wife is I think, and
Page 40 and 41: golden handshake. They'd give you m
Page 42 and 43: A: . . . and the twenty-five. But y
Page 44 and 45: day I would say that half of the fo
Page 46 and 47: Young Democrat convention, elected
Page 48 and 49: in Edwardsville, and you had to pay
Page 50 and 51: - and we were for Smith, and fighti
Page 52 and 53: work. I never was drafted for nothi
Page 56 and 57: Of course there were war clouds han
Page 58 and 59: A: Twice a month. Q: Twice a month?
Page 60 and 61: There was neighbor against neighbor
Page 62 and 63: A: And they did, so that's . . . Q:
Page 64 and 65: SESSION 4, TAPE 7, SIDE 2 Q: That w
Page 66 and 67: ' I 59 you couldn't get across that
Page 68 and 69: A: Well they didn't have none of th
Page 70 and 71: A: Oh no, never saw any. I saw some
Page 72 and 73: VOTE FOR LELAND J. KENNEDY DEMOCRAT
Page 75 and 76: Q: Now when you first went in did y
Page 77 and 78: A: A port of embarkation or for sup
Page 79 and 80: A: Oh yes. I'm sorry about that now
Page 81 and 82: A: Alright. August. I'll tell you -
Page 83 and 84: And he got out before I did, but he
Page 85 and 86: A: No no, never said a word. Oh the
Page 87 and 88: though. He was a good talker, and o
Page 89 and 90: play cards or just talk. Women like
Page 91 and 92: Q: Yes sir. A: We had a strike in s
Page 93 and 94: Of course you'd have a lot of lawye
Page 95 and 96: A: Well that was - that was the bes
Page 97 and 98: polls in a particular city and he's
Page 99 and 100: Q: Yes. A: Bond never did like bein
Page 101 and 102: wife and family when you're out, or
Page 103 and 104: of Illinois) library and muse aroun
Page 105 and 106:
A: Well legislative process, commit
Page 107 and 108:
A: Yes I think so, had a column. We
Page 109 and 110:
A: Well I recall - I guess they're
Page 111 and 112:
state central committeeman. Now sta
Page 113 and 114:
not an Italian name, but what those
Page 115 and 116:
Q: Oh? WOKZ in Alton, Illinois? A:
Page 117 and 118:
This is going back, and I don't hav
Page 119 and 120:
had twelve in the pool. I think it
Page 121 and 122:
Q: Oh is that right? A: Oh my first
Page 123 and 124:
a federal gasoline tax thirty years
Page 125 and 126:
Q: No sir, no sir. Well let's see,
Page 127 and 128:
they changed those desks after reap
Page 129 and 130:
Q: He started that in the 1951 sess
Page 131 and 132:
That wasn't a bone of contention a
Page 133 and 134:
Q: Oh I see. A: I think they'd do t
Page 135 and 136:
Talking about lodging, 1'11 always
Page 137 and 138:
his wife's sister. Of course they w
Page 139 and 140:
A: Oh did she? Q: Yes. A: Well some
Page 141 and 142:
And a lot of those people are all g
Page 143 and 144:
I believe there's a lot of that fam
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Leland J. Kennedy Memoir - University of Illinois Springfield

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