Dan Walker (politician)

Dan Walker
Photograph of Dan Walker
Official portrait, 1973
36th Governor of Illinois
In office
January 8, 1973 – January 10, 1977
LieutenantNeil Hartigan
Preceded byRichard B. Ogilvie
Succeeded byJim Thompson
Personal details
Born(1922-08-06)August 6, 1922
Washington, D.C., U.S.
DiedApril 29, 2015(2015-04-29) (aged 92)
Chula Vista, California, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic
Spouses
Roberta Dowse
(m. 1947; div. 1977)
Roberta Nelson
(m. 1979; div. 1989)
Lillian Stewart
(m. 1996)
[1][2]
Children8
EducationUnited States Naval Academy (BS)
Northwestern University (JD)
Military service
Allegiance United States
Branch/service United States Navy
Years of service1940–1941
1945–1947
1951
Battles/warsWorld War II
Korean War

Daniel J. Walker (August 6, 1922 – April 29, 2015) was an American lawyer, businessman and politician from Illinois. A member of the Democratic party, he served as the 36th governor of Illinois, from 1973 until 1977. Born in Washington, D.C., Walker was raised in San Diego, before serving in the Navy as an enlisted man and officer during World War II and the Korean War. He moved to Illinois between the wars to attend Northwestern University School of Law, entering politics in the state during the 1960s.

Walker was perhaps best known for walking the state of Illinois in 1971 during his candidacy for governor and for being an outsider to Illinois' machine politics. Running against the machine's candidate for the Democratic nomination for governor, Walker scored a rare upset in the March 1972 primary election. He went on that year to defeat the Republican incumbent, but lost his own bid for re-election in 1976. His post political career was marked by high living, but marred by a guilty plea to bank fraud and perjury at the peak of the late 1980s savings and loan crisis.[3][4] After a year and a half in federal prison, Walker retired to the San Diego metro area and wrote several books before he died in 2015.

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference MavMac was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Pearson and Secter, 2015 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ The Associated Press (2015-04-29). "Dan Walker, 92, Dies; Illinois Governor and Later a U.S. Prisoner". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2016-06-16.
  4. ^ "Dan Walker, 92, Dies; Illinois Governor and Later a U.S. Prisoner". The New York Times. 30 April 2015.