1. William Grant Stratton was an American politician who served as the 32nd governor of Illinois from 1953 to 1961.
24 Facts About William Stratton
1. 2.
William Stratton was elected State Treasurer in 1942 and 1950.
3.
Mr Stratton was educated in the public schools of Lake County, Illinois and graduated from the University of Arizona in 1934 with a degree in Political Science.
4.
William Stratton holds honorary degrees from the University of Arizona, Bradley University, Lincoln Memorial University, Elmhurst, North Central and Shurtlell Colleges and John Marshall Law School.
5.
William Stratton was first elected to the United States Congress from the state at-large in 1940.
6.
William Stratton joined the US Navy, where he served as a lieutenant from 1944 to 1946.
7.
Mr William Stratton reduced substantially the cost of operating this office during his administration.
8.
Mr William Stratton was inaugurated as the 32nd Governor of Illinois on January 12,1953.
9.
William Stratton was re-elected to a second term in 1956.
10.
William Stratton served on the Executive Committee of the Governors' Conference and in 1955 brought the annual meeting of the nation's governors to Illinois for the first time in history.
11.
In 1957, Governor William Stratton was named chairman of the Governors' Conference, and served as president of the Council of State governments in 1958.
12.
William Stratton was a candidate for Republican nomination for Vice President in 1960.
13.
President Eisenhower, in 1958, named Governor William Stratton a member of the Lincoln Sesquicentennial commission and in 1959, Mr William Stratton was a delegate to the Republican National Convention, and in the latter year led the Illinois delegation as its chairman.
14.
William Stratton won the Republican nomination for governor in 1952 and defeated Lieutenant Governor Sherwood Dixon to become the youngest governor in America at the time.
15.
William Stratton was acquitted on charges of tax evasion in 1965.
16.
William Stratton finished a distant third, with only about seven percent of the primary vote.
17.
Mr William Stratton considered the construction of the first 200 miles of the Illinois tollway system as one of his biggest achievements, his wife, Shirley, said in a telephone interview.
18.
William Stratton obtained a divorce from her on the grounds of desertion in 1949.
19.
William Stratton's second marriage was a happier one, and Shirley actively campaigned for her husband.
20.
William Stratton retired from politics after his failed 1968 gubernatorial race.
21.
William Stratton died on March 2,2001, and was buried at the Rosehill Cemetery in Chicago, Illinois.
22.
William Stratton was interested in the work of a number of civic fraternal and veterans' organizations.
23.
William Stratton was a 33rd degree Mason, Member; Lions Club, Eastern Star, Shrine, Eagles, Elks, Moose, Illinois Athletic Club and Delta Chi fraternity.
24.
William Stratton died at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago on March 2,2001, at 87.