William Stratton

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William Grant Stratton (February 26, 1914–March 2, 2001), known as "Billy the Kid", was the Republican Governor of the U.S. state of Illinois from 1953 to 1961, succeeding Adlai Stevenson in that office. Born in 1914 in Ingleside in Lake County, Illinois, the son of William J Stratton (an Illinois politician), he served two non-consecutive terms as an at-large Congressman from Illinois, elected in 1940 and 1946. He was elected state treasurer in 1944 and 1950. He won his party's nomination for governor in 1952, defeating Lt. Governor Sherwood Dixon to become the youngest Governor in America at that time.

In 1960, Governor Stratton ran for an unprecedented third-consecutive term but was defeated by Otto Kerner, Jr..

Acquitted of charges of tax evasion in 1965, he died at the Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, Illinois in 2001. At the time of his death he was a member of the Illinois Civil Service Commission

William G. Stratton Lock and Dam on the Fox River (Illinois) near McHenry, Illinois and William G. Stratton State Park on the Illinois River in Morris, Illinois and the State Office Building (housing offices of many state legislators and other state agencies,) in the Illinois State Capitol complex, completed during his first term as governor, was named the William G. Stratton Building in his honor.

In 1968 he ran in the Republican primary for Governor of Illinois and was defeated by Richard B Ogilvie.

In retirement, Stratton resided in Chicago. Among his pall bearers were his successors as Governor, James R. Thompson, Jim Edgar, and George H. Ryan.

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