Leland J. Kennedy Memoir - University of Illinois Springfield

A: Well that was - that was the best fight I had. Well I always had fights in the primary,
but this was in the general election. That was the biggest - well in 1948, a man by the
name of, talking about Barr, a man by the name of Straubc, who had been mayor of
Edwardsville, and his boy went on to be mayor of Edwardsville and he was one of the -
was a running mate of Hotz's. But they weren't going to beat Hodge.
Q: Oh is that right?
A: Oh the Democratic party was the strongest party and Hodge had just worked differently.
Hodge just worked differently than Bill did.
SESSION 5, TAPE 10, SIDE 1
Q: And they were both . . .
A: Very affable men. I mean Hodge in his heyday was very personable. And if he could
have left the money and the women alone, he'd have been alright. But that's not my sin,
that's his, and he's paid his price. They were both just - well, effervescent, a lot of
personality. Straube had a lot of personality, and so did Orville. Glad hand, you know, and
could go - we were in Rotary clubs and Kiwanis clubs and belonged to the Chamber of
Commerce and successful business men, and things of that nature. But Straube didn't beat
him, but that was a - as far as I was concerned you weren't sure yet you see at how established
you were yourself, and I never really got established because 1 got beat myself in
the primary about four years later, so I didn't get established until I made another stab
at it. And then you can see your maturity, and the way that people accept you but. .
Q: Well now you had the Alton Telegraph behind you here.
A: Oh they always endorsed me. We were talking about that the other day. They always
were friendly to me, even when I came back in 1962. There was a man by the name of
McConnell and a man by the name of Miller, and Miller was a member of the county board
and McConnell had been. And had been supervisor of Wood River Township. The Teleg.raph
mentioned all three of our names, but said that they were going to endorse Lee
Kennedy because he had been to Springfield before. Nothing personal about it, they just
thought I had the endorsement coming, and they gave it to me.
Q: What about other newspapers in the area?
A: Oh I didn't get along with the young Monroe, he always gave me lukewarm
editorials. He always endorsed me.
Q: What paper was that?
A: That's the Collinsville Herald. It was a family paper, but it sold out to some eastern
establishment and they editorialized one time something that I had did, and I just wrote
them a letter. They said I better keep my own house clean. And I answered, and I said,
"My own house is clean," I says, "is yours?" I was refused their endorsement. I had served
twenty years in my last primary. They just never made any endorsement at all. Why 1
don't know. They just . . .
Q: What about in that first campaign? Did you actually go to the newspapers then for support?
A: Oh I always went to the newspapers. Well I think most successful politicians do. You
was talking about Cutler, the Chicago Tribune tore him apart one time.