Leland J. Kennedy Memoir - University of Illinois Springfield

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A: And they did, so that's . . . Q: Who were you running against at that time for president pro tem? A: Oh, the man was a senior alderman by the name of Dooley. And he was a good alderman. His two boys were, and still are, longtime friends of mine. And he was a friend of mine. And I guess they just - maybe they didn't want me, but that's why they had a secret ballot. Q: Was there much of a sense of party there between Republicans and Democrats? A: No there wasn't. It was strictly nonpartisan. Of course I think a majority of the council when I was in there were Democrats. But no, there wasn't too many partisan issues. Struif was an excellent mayor and he kept good order, and he ran a good city. Of course he only had so many employees. Wadlow turned out to be quite controversial I believe after I left. Of course he was a Republican state central committeeman for a while. Q: Oh? A: Wadlow was. If you recall he was the father of that big tall boy, Robert Wadlow. He was a giant, he was about eight feet tall. Q: Oh yes. A: That was his dad. Q: I'll be darned. A: No, in fact he was an alderman in the same ward I came from. He lived in the Seventh Ward. He was an alderman for a while. And he ran for mayor and he got elected. And he was quite competent. In fact he was a decent man. And he had a good family, good reputation, but he had a way of rubbing people wrong, at least I guess he did. Ile got elected mayor surprisingly. And you know, now that you mention it - we talk about terms - I believe he was an alderman my last two years, and he resigned when he got elected mayor. I think he was an alderman of the Seventh Ward my last two years. I'm sure he was. And he was a shoe man in Upper Alton. And active in Republican politics, which was alright. I don't see nothing wrong with that. Q: Well now the draft came up in the middle of your first term and - what happened there? Were you actually drafted to serve? A: Well I was drafted, yes, to serve in service like most everybody else I guess. Of course younger men enlisted. After Pearl Harbor, why, it was only a - I had a pretty high number and I was - well, I went in 1943 so I was thirty-five years old. And they got around to me in October I believe in 1943 when I went up to Chicago to take my physical examination. Then you came home and you got three weeks to, you know, to arrange your departure. And I just stayed in the council. I didn't resign. You could take a leave of absence from Shell, and I just worked up there until about two days before I went. And I went down to Camp Claiborne and was in the engineers and . . . Q: I understand you knew ahead of time, or thought ahead of time, that you were going to a specialized unit. A: Well yes, that's right, that's right. I'm glad you mentioned that. 1 voluntecrcd for the pipeline engineers, that's what I done. That's right. Q: How did you learn of that?
A: You know 1 don't know how I learned of that, I guess through the news media. You'd see it in the paper. Of course the pipeline engineers you'd hear about down at Shell. And that's how I done that. I volunteered for the pipeline engineers and went to Camp Claiborne. I may have mentioned this before, but we were the last company I believe that went to Europe. Q: Oh? A: That's what I've heard. I don't know how true that is now. Q: Yes. A: The ones that followed us went to Burma and over in that area of the country because by the time we got overseas it was 1944. I've been told that by people. A fellow that T met in recent years through politics said he was - when we were talking about service, he said, "Well," he said, "do you know, we followed you guys," he said, "and you were the last company that went to Europe." But 1 guess thc way they filled the companies at that time was by replacements you know. We just kept your old company and if you were short ten men or twenty men or whatever you were short, why, they just filled them by replacements. They didn't come over in companies. That's what he meant because they were the company after us and they went over to Rurma I think. But we were filled by replacements. I don't think we had many replacements. We never had any real combat to speak of. We were service troops. And some of us got hurt, but the biggest bulk made it alright through. They just had their annual reunion, their bienniel reunion, and I talked with one fellow I worked with out at Shell not too long ago. He goes every year. They had it one time in Chicago and one time down in St. Louis. That's the only two I've ever gone to. Bccause I left them. I got hurt when the Browns and Cardinals - I was in a truck accident - started the World Series in 1944. And I was only with them from the time I joined them in Claiborne in late 1943 to - 1 wasn't with them a year until I got - well, about a year, almost a year to the day - we went in around the twenty-first of October and I got hurt the fourth, and so I was with them less than a year. Q: Well you joined them at Camp Claiborne? A: Camp Claiborne yes. Q: Did you take your basic training there? A: Yes. Camp Claiborne, yes. Q: What did you think of basic training? A: Well it was like all basic training. We lived in tents. It wasn't too cold, and we had drills and all that, we never had any weapons to speak of. I mean we weren't artillery, we weren't infantry troops. We had carbines, the biggest I guess we had was machine guns. But our basic training was I guess similar to all basic trainings. You trained and ran obstacle courses and marched and drilled and then drilled some more and fall out and fall in. And as I said run obstacle courses. We had guard duty. We drcw guard duty, our company did down at Claiborne, at an ammunition depot, that was part of our routine. Q: What did you think of Louisiana? A: Oh I found Louisiana alright. We were in Claiborne and I believe Claiborne wasn't too far from Polk but we got to go into Lafayette, Louisiana.
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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
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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 54 and 55: more German than I was I guess. (la
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 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
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not an Italian name, but what those
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Q: Oh? WOKZ in Alton, Illinois? A:
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This is going back, and I don't hav
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had twelve in the pool. I think it
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Q: Oh is that right? A: Oh my first
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a federal gasoline tax thirty years
Page 125 and 126:
Q: No sir, no sir. Well let's see,
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they changed those desks after reap
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Q: He started that in the 1951 sess
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That wasn't a bone of contention a
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Q: Oh I see. A: I think they'd do t
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Talking about lodging, 1'11 always
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his wife's sister. Of course they w
Page 139 and 140:
A: Oh did she? Q: Yes. A: Well some
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And a lot of those people are all g
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I believe there's a lot of that fam
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