January 10 Illinois History Minute
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On this day in 1977, Republican James R. Thompson was sworn in for the first of four terms as Illinois governor. Jim Thompson ran on his reputation as a corruption-busting federal attorney. He promised honesty and transparency in this 1976 campaign ad.
January 10th is also the day when two reform-minded Democrats took office as governor --- John Peter Altgeld in 1893 and Adlai Stevenson the Second in 1949. But Democrat Joel Matteson, who took office on this day in 1853 and Republican Len Small, sworn-in on June 10th 1921, both had to pay money back to the state that they had obtained improperly.