August 11 Illinois History Minute

It’s August 11th, the day that attorney Robert Ingersoll was born in New York State in 1833. Ingersoll lived for several years in southern Illinois and Peoria, where he became one of the best-known Republicans of his day. But despite an appointment as Illinois attorney general, Ingersoll could not win an election, because of his open rejection of religion, earning him the title, the Great Agnostic.

On this day in 1984, President and Illinois native Ronald Reagan was joking around with NPR engineers as he prepared for his weekly radio address:

Reagan’s joke didn’t go on the air --- but a recording was leaked to the news media, drawing criticism from the Soviet Union and presidential opponent, Walter Mondale.