Northwestern University; Politics Government, & Public Policy.
Armida Alisjahbana; MA 1987; State Minister of National Development Planning/Head of National Development Planning Agency, Republic of Indonesia.
Jody Baar Topinka; former State Treasurer of Illinois; Republican Gubernatorial Candidate, 2006.
Michael Bakalis; BA 1959, MA 1962, Ph.D. 1966; former Deputy Secretary of Education in the US Department of Education.
Matthew Bogusz; BA 2008; current Mayor of Des Plaines, Illinois.
William M. Bray; former Wisconsin State Senator.
John A. Cade; MBA 1954l former Maryland State Senator.
Cardiss Collins; former US Representative from Illinois.
Dan Cronin; Current Illinois State Senator.
Emery Crosby; Wisconsin State Assembly.
Dennis Daugaard; JD 1978; Current Governor of South Dakota and former Lieutenant Governor of South Dakota.
Karen DeCrow; BS 1959; former President of the National Organization for Women.
Eric Fingerhut; Ohio State Senator and 2004 Ohio Senate Nominee.
Warren A. Grady; Wisconsin State Assembly.
Corwin C. Guell; Wisconsin State Assembly.
Loy W. Henderson; BA 1915; former US Foreign Services Officer.
Earl Dewitt Hutto; former US Represenative from Florida.
Steve Kagen; US Representative from Wisconsin.
Scott L. Klug; MSJ 1976; former US Representative from Wisconsin.
Dan Lipinski; BS 1988; US Representative from Illinois.
Steve Litzow; BA; Washington State Senator from Mercer Island.
Frank Orren Lowden; former Illinois Governor.
Edwin M. Martin; former US Foreign Services Officer.
Carroll Metzner; Wisconsin State Assembly.
Catherine Waugh McCulloch; suffragist.
John McEwen; Wisconsin State Assembly.
Eduardo Mondlane; Revolutionary leader of Mozambique.
Lorraine H. Morton; former Mayor of Evanston, Illinois (1993-2009).
Dawn Clark Netsch; BA 1948; politician.
John J. Nimrod; Illinois politician.
Phyllis Oakley; BA 1956; former Secretary of State for Intelligence and Research, the State Department.
George M. O'Brien; BA 1939; former US Representative from Illinois.
Terry O'Neill; BA; President of the National Organization for Women (NOW).
John Edward Porter; BS and BA 1957; former US Representative from Illinois.
Gary Rader: Green Beret Army Reservist who burned his draft card in 1967.
J. Leonard Reinsch; former White House Press Secretary.
Ora R. Rice; Speaker of the Wisconsin State Assembly.
Alec Ross; BA 1994; Senior Adviser on Innovation to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Amos Sawyer; former Liberia President.
Mike Synar; MA 1974; former US Representative from Oklahoma.
James R. Thompson; former Illinois Governor.
Barbara Ulichny; former Wisconsin State Senator.
Daniel Walker; former Illinois Governor.
Lois Weisberg; BS 1946; Commissioner, Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs.
Richard E. Wiley; BS 1955, JD; former Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission.
Jody Baar Topinka; former State Treasurer of Illinois; Republican Gubernatorial Candidate, 2006.
Michael Bakalis; BA 1959, MA 1962, Ph.D. 1966; former Deputy Secretary of Education in the US Department of Education.
Matthew Bogusz; BA 2008; current Mayor of Des Plaines, Illinois.
William M. Bray; former Wisconsin State Senator.
John A. Cade; MBA 1954l former Maryland State Senator.
Cardiss Collins; former US Representative from Illinois.
Dan Cronin; Current Illinois State Senator.
Emery Crosby; Wisconsin State Assembly.
Dennis Daugaard; JD 1978; Current Governor of South Dakota and former Lieutenant Governor of South Dakota.
Karen DeCrow; BS 1959; former President of the National Organization for Women.
Eric Fingerhut; Ohio State Senator and 2004 Ohio Senate Nominee.
Warren A. Grady; Wisconsin State Assembly.
Corwin C. Guell; Wisconsin State Assembly.
Loy W. Henderson; BA 1915; former US Foreign Services Officer.
Earl Dewitt Hutto; former US Represenative from Florida.
Steve Kagen; US Representative from Wisconsin.
Scott L. Klug; MSJ 1976; former US Representative from Wisconsin.
Dan Lipinski; BS 1988; US Representative from Illinois.
Steve Litzow; BA; Washington State Senator from Mercer Island.
Frank Orren Lowden; former Illinois Governor.
Edwin M. Martin; former US Foreign Services Officer.
Carroll Metzner; Wisconsin State Assembly.
Catherine Waugh McCulloch; suffragist.
John McEwen; Wisconsin State Assembly.
Eduardo Mondlane; Revolutionary leader of Mozambique.
Lorraine H. Morton; former Mayor of Evanston, Illinois (1993-2009).
Dawn Clark Netsch; BA 1948; politician.
John J. Nimrod; Illinois politician.
Phyllis Oakley; BA 1956; former Secretary of State for Intelligence and Research, the State Department.
George M. O'Brien; BA 1939; former US Representative from Illinois.
Terry O'Neill; BA; President of the National Organization for Women (NOW).
John Edward Porter; BS and BA 1957; former US Representative from Illinois.
Gary Rader: Green Beret Army Reservist who burned his draft card in 1967.
J. Leonard Reinsch; former White House Press Secretary.
Ora R. Rice; Speaker of the Wisconsin State Assembly.
Alec Ross; BA 1994; Senior Adviser on Innovation to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Amos Sawyer; former Liberia President.
Mike Synar; MA 1974; former US Representative from Oklahoma.
James R. Thompson; former Illinois Governor.
Barbara Ulichny; former Wisconsin State Senator.
Daniel Walker; former Illinois Governor.
Lois Weisberg; BS 1946; Commissioner, Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs.
Richard E. Wiley; BS 1955, JD; former Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission.
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- John Hoeven was born on 13 March 1957 in Bismarck, North Dakota, USA. He has been married to Mical L. Hoeven since 1983. They have two children.MBA 1981; Current United States Senator from North Dakota and former Governor of North Dakota.
- George Ball was born on 21 December 1909 in Des Moines, Iowa, USA. He died on 26 May 1994 in New York City, New York, USA.former Undersecretary of State.
- Judy Biggert was born on 15 August 1937 in Winnetka, Illinois, USA.Republican congresswoman.
- Rod Blagojevich is an American politician who served as the 40th Governor of Illinois from 2003 until his impeachment in 2009.
A Democrat, Rod Blagojevich was a state representative before being elected to the United States House of Representatives representing parts of Chicago. He was elected governor in 2002, the first Democrat to win the office since Dan Walker's victory 30 years earlier and won reelection to a second term in 2006.former Illinois Governor. - William Jennings Bryan is an American orator and politician from Nebraska. Beginning in 1896, he emerged as a dominant force in the Democratic Party, running three times as the party's nominee for President of the United States in the 1896, 1900, and 1908 elections. He served in the United States House of Representatives and as the United States Secretary of State under Woodrow Wilson.
Born and raised in Illinois, WilliamBryan moved to Nebraska in the 1880s. He won election to the House of Representatives in the 1890 elections, serving two terms before making an unsuccessful run for the Senate in 1894. The Democratic convention nominated Bryan for president, making Bryan the youngest major party presidential nominee in U.S. history. Subsequently, Bryan was also nominated for president by the left-wing Populist Party, and many Populists would eventually follow Bryan into the Democratic Party. In the intensely fought 1896 presidential election, Republican nominee William McKinley emerged triumphant. Bryan gained fame as an orator, as he invented the national stumping tour when he reached an audience of 5 million people in 27 states in 1896.
Bryan retained control of the Democratic Party and won the presidential nomination again in 1900. In the election, McKinley again defeated Bryan, winning several Western states that Bryan had won in 1896. Bryan's influence in the party weakened after the 1900 election and the Democrats nominated the conservative Alton B. Parker in the 1904 presidential election. Bryan regained his stature in the party after Parker's resounding defeat by Theodore Roosevelt and voters from both parties increasingly embraced the progressive reforms that had long been championed by Bryan. Bryan won his party's nomination in the 1908 presidential election, but he was defeated by William Howard Taft. Along with Henry Clay, Bryan is one of the two individuals who never won a presidential election despite receiving electoral votes in three separate presidential elections.
After the Democrats won the presidency in the 1912 election, Woodrow Wilson rewarded Bryan's support with the important cabinet position of Secretary of State. Bryan helped Wilson pass several progressive reforms through Congress. Bryan resigned from his post in 1915.three time Democratic Presidential nominee. - Dale Bumpers is an American politician who served as the 38th Governor of Arkansas (1971-1975) and in the United States Senate (1975-1999). He was a member of the Democratic Party. Prior to his death, he was counsel at the Washington, D.C. office of law firm Arent Fox LLP, where his clients included Riceland Foods and the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences.
Bumpers and his wife Betty were both known for their dedication to the cause of childhood immunization. The Dale and Betty Bumpers Vaccine Research Center (VRC) at the National Institutes of Health was established by former president Clinton to facilitate research in vaccine development.JD 1951; former US Senator and Governor of Arkansas. - ex General Director of the Iraqi Special Tribunal.
- Wendy Chamberlin is known for This is Civilization (2016), S.O.S/State of Security (2010) and Tavis Smiley (2004).BS 1970; former US Ambassador to Pakistan, former assistant administrator, USAID Bureau for Asia and the Near East.
- Chairman of the Council for Environmental Quality.
- Actor
- Composer
- Casting Department
Beau Davidson is a two-time regional Emmy-nominated actor, singer-songwriter, and on-air talent/host, best known for "Runaway Romance," (UPtv) "The Ultimate Legacy" (Hallmark), "Gilmore Girls," (CW), "The Bold and the Beautiful" (CBS) and "The Singing Bee" (CMT).
Beau then attended Northwestern University's School of Music in Chicago, where he graduated magna cum laude with a degree in vocal performance/opera and political science. At Northwestern, Beau appeared as "Danny Zuko" in Grease, "Barrett" in Titanic, and as the leading man in many other school productions.
His 2012 original composition and video "Blessed" earned two Mid-South Emmy nominations as as composer and video producer. Further musical collaborations include his re-imagination of "The Lion Sleeps Tonight," in partnership with National Geographic, and "Heart of Purple and Gold," his original composition for veterans nonprofit Purple Hearts Reunited.
Beau was featured on Oprah in 2009, due to his at-large songwriting via Skype. He was featured in Country Weekly magazine and gained international attention when asked to pen and premiere an honorary lullaby for Keith Urban and Nicole Kidman's daughter, Sunday Rose, on a New Zealand morning television show. Beau won CMT's Music City Madness original song contest with his song "Mr. Wrong," and opened for Josh Gracin and Craig Morgan. He has also appeared and performed on The Today Show, Fox & Friends, Fox's The Strategy Room, and Entertainment Tonight.
In the 2016 Hallmark film "The Ultimate Legacy," Beau performed his original composition "Blessed" as the character Maximilian Swayne, as part of a benefit concert for "Wish for Our Heroes," a real-life military charity.B.Mus. 2003; former surrogate for Mitt Romney; 10 Outstanding Young Americans of 2013.- Rahm Emanuel is an American politician who served as the 55th mayor of Chicago from 2011 to 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 23rd White House Chief of Staff from 2009 to 2010, and as a member of the United States House of Representatives from Chicago between 2003 and 2009.Chicago mayor; former aide to President Bill Clinton; former Democratic congressman of Illinois 5th Congressional District and former White House Chief of Staff for President Barack Obama.
- prominent LGBT rights political advocate, Dick Gephardt's daughter.
- Actor
- Producer
Richard Gephardt was born on 31 January 1941 in St. Louis, Missouri, USA. He is an actor and producer, known for A Broken House (2020), LateLine (1998) and For the Bible Tells Me So (2007). He has been married to Jane Byrnes since 13 August 1966. They have three children.former House Democratic Leader.- Barbara Gittings was born on 31 July 1932 in Vienna, Austria. She died on 18 February 2007 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.American LGBT activist.
- Robert Hanssen was born on 18 April 1944 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He was married to Bernadette Wauck. He died on 5 June 2023 in Florence, Colorado, USA.MBA 1971; former FBI agent.
- Jim Kolbe was born on 28 June 1942 in Evanston, Illinois, USA. He was married to Hector Alfonso and Sarah Dinham. He died on 3 December 2022 in the USA.former US Representative from Arizona, served 11 terms.
- George McGovern, one of the leading liberals in U.S. politics, was born in a Republican household in a small South Dakota town. His family had some struggles during the Great Depression, but they were able to make ends meet. The young, idealistic man joined the Air Force during World War II and became a bomber pilot. He served with great bravery, flying missions over North Africa and Italy, bombing German military targets, and won citation for his duty. Upon returning home, he graduated from college and became a college teacher, teaching history. Up to that point, he had been relatively non-political, as had his parents. That changed in 1952, when he heard a speech by the Democratic nominee, Illinois Governor Adlai Stevenson, and was so inspired by it that he volunteered for the Stevenson campaign. Stevenson lost to retired General Dwight D. Eisenhower, but McGovern remained active in politics, becoming Chairman of the South Dakota Democratic Party. Democrats were very much the minority in the state, but McGovern pursued his duties with great zeal, and in 1956 he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in an upset, helped by growing dissatisfaction with the Eisenhower administration in the rural Midwest. He was reelected in 1958 and in 1960, was an enthusiastic backer of Senator John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts. That same year, McGovern took a gamble by running against Republican U.S. Senator Karl Mundt, who had first been elected in 1948. Although he ran well ahead of what Democrats usually did in the state, he fell short, as Mundt won by a 52% to 48% margin. In 1961, Kennedy appointed McGovern Director of the Food For Peace program, and McGovern was greatly affected by his service in this capacity.
In 1962, McGovern ran for the U.S. Senate again (each state has two U.S. Senators), this time in an open race. He was considered the underdog against Republican Governor Joe Bottum, but managed to win by 597 votes, one of the closest U.S. Senate races in state history. He immediately became one of the Senate's most liberal members, enthusiastically supporting the domestic policies of Kennedy and his successor, Lyndon B. Johnson. His major accomplishment was creation of the Food Stamp program, which was to provide Federal food assistance to impoverished people. But he became increasingly focused on overseas and military affairs. He became an opponent of the growing American involvement in Vietnam and opposed maintaining a large military. In 1968, he was a leading supporter of Robert F. Kennedy and was horrified by the latter's assassination. He was also appalled by the Chicago Police Force's rough treatment of anti-war protesters at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago that same year. He was reelected easily that year, winning 57% of the vote. After Richard Nixon took office, McGovern quickly became a proponent of immediate withdraw of all military forces form Vietnam. In 1969, he chaired the commission which instituted reforming the way the Democratic Party nominated its Presidential candidates, dramatically reducing the role of party leaders and political insiders.
In 1972, McGovern launched a campaign for President. He was given little chance of winning his party's nomination, which seemed to be united around U.S. Senator Edmund Muskie of Maine. However, Muskie's campaign foundered and McGovern ran a close second to Muskie in the Presidential primary in New Hampshire. Helped by his campaign manager, Gary Hart (later a Senator and Presidential candidate himself), McGovern won several other primaries and the nomination. His campaign theme was "America, come home." His main platform, aside from withdraw from Vietnam, was a 37% reduction in defense spending and a guaranteed minimal income for all Americans. At the convention in Miami, he initially won praise for nominating U.S. Senator 'Thomas Eagleton' of Missouri as his running mate. But his campaign was rocked when it was revealed that Eagleston had been treated for depression in a psychiatric ward many years before. McGovern initially claimed that he was "1000 percent" behind Eagleston, but later his campaign staff persuaded Eagleston to drop out of contention. This made McGovern look bad to his most idealistic supporters and haunted him throughout the campaign. Ultimately, former Peace Corps Director Sargent Shriver replaced Eagleston as his running mate, but the damage was done. Throughout the campaign, he was perceived by the public as a well-meaning but fuzzy minded radical leftist. Taking advantage of McGovern's support for amnesty for Vietnam draft dodgers, decriminalizing abortion, and ending Federal drug laws (leaving them to the individual states), Vice President Spiro Agnew labeled McGovern the candidate of "amnesty, abortion, and acid," and the label stuck. The Nixon campaign successfully portrayed McGovern as a pacifist and socialist who would endanger national security, wreck the economy, and bankrupt the government. In the election, McGovern lost overwhelmingly. Nixon out-polled him by 61% to 37%, with a plurality of 18 million votes, a record that has yet to be broken. The only state McGovern won was Massachusetts. His only consolation was that a friend and political ally, Congressman James Abourezk, was elected to the South Dakota's other U.S. Senator.
Following the loss, McGovern returned to his Senate duties. Following Nixon's resignation in disgrace in the wake of the Watergate scandal in 1974, he seemed to have been vindicated in his attacks on Nixon's ethics. However, later that year, he had a surprisingly difficult reelection bid, winning by less than expected against a former Vietnam War prisoner, who felt that McGovern had prolonged his captivity. There were many Demcorats elected that year, and McGovern worked closely with them to cut defense spending and reign in intelligence agencies. He also worked to expand government benefits. He was encouraged when Democrats won the White House with the narrow election of former Georgia Governor Jimmy Carter. But his friend and ally Abourezk was forced to retire in the face of impending defeat in 1978 and polls indicated that McGovern was losing support there, as well. In 1980, McGovern was challenged for reelection by Republican Congressman James Abdnor. While campaigning that year, McGovern ran into two women who angrily complained about his support for defense cuts, then bought some groceries with food stamps. He later remarked that he knew he wouldn't be reelected at that moment. He was right. On election day, Abdnor defeated McGovern by a landslide.
Following his departure from elective office, he was a professor at the University of New Orleans. In 1984, he made a whimsical, late-entering candidacy for President, and narrowly won the primary in Massachusetts, but as expected, lost the nomination to former Vice President Walter Mondale. Also a candidate, and a more successful one, was his former campaign manager, Gary Hart, who won several primaries, although losing the nomination to Mondale. That year, however, then President Ronald Reagan, whose policies McGovern fervently opposed, was reelected by a landslide, nearly as large as Nixon's 1972 margin. For many years, he largely stayed out for the limelight. He went into the motel business, but the business ultimately foundered and he was forced to fold. McGovern later admitted in late 1990, "I wish I had had a better sense of what it took to [meet a payroll] when I was in Washington." In 1991, he surprised nearly everyone when he supported President George Bush's campaign to drive Saddam Hussein out of Kuwait, which culminated in The Persian Gulf War. McGovern defended this by claiming that Hussein was a great threat to the entire region. In 1994, he was hit with personal tragedy when one of his daughters, Teresa, died of exposure while intoxicated. She had been an alcoholic for many years who had been unable to overcome the addiction. McGovern became involved in helping the relatives of alcoholics. In 1998, President Bill Clinton as United States Ambassador to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Agencies, a post he held until 2001.
In more recent years, he has become an advocate for the withdraw of U.S. troops from Iraq.South Dakota Senator and 1972 Democratic Presidential Candidate. - Newton Minow was born on 17 January 1926 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA. He was married to Josephine Baskin. He died on 6 May 2023 in Chicago, Illinois, USA.former director of the Federal Communications Commission.
- Pat Quinn was born on 16 December 1948 in Hinsdale, Illinois, USA.incumbrent governor of Illinois.
- MA 1952; mayor of Odessa, TX 1968 to 1974; lost to George W. Bush in 1978 primary election runoff in Texas' 19th congressional district.
- Additional Crew
Mel Sembler was born on 10 May 1930 in St. Joseph, Missouri, USA. Mel is known for Volevo solo vivere (2006). Mel was married to Betty Schlesinger. Mel died on 31 October 2023 in St. Petersburg, Florida, USA.BS 1952; former US Ambassador to Italy.- Grandson and namesake of Grover Cleveland's second Vice President, Adlai Ewing Stevenson was born in Los Angeles and raised in Bloomington, Illinois. Following a childhood marred by his accidental fatal shooting of an acquaintance in 1912, he attended the Choate School, served briefly as an apprentice seaman in the U.S. Navy and graduated from Princeton University in 1922. After failing law courses at Harvard he graduated from Northwestern University Law School and was admitted to the bar in 1926. During the 1930s Stevenson became active in Illinois Democratic Party affairs and the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations, and worked as a government lawyer during the early years of the New Deal. In 1940-41 he chaired the Chicago branch of the Committee to Defend America by Aiding the Allies. As principal attorney to the Secretary of the Navy he went on World War II survey missions to the Caribbean, South Pacific and Italy; in 1945 he served as adviser to the U.S. delegation to the opening session of the UN. He returned to Illinois in 1947 with ambitions of running for the U.S. Senate the following year, but was instead chosen by leaders of the powerful Cook County Democratic machine as their candidate for governor. After a landslide victory over incumbent Gov. Dwight H. Green, Stevenson compiled a moderately progressive record in office while undergoing the private agony of the breakup of his 20-year marriage. As a fresh face with few enemies in the national Democratic Party, he was nominated for President in 1952 and campaigned with an eloquence, wit, urbanity and grace that captivated many, including Hollywood luminaries as Lauren Bacall, Humphrey Bogart, Mercedes McCambridge and Dore Schary. Although defeated by Dwight D. Eisenhower in both 1952 and 1956, Stevenson remained in the public eye through speeches, books and articles as titular leader of the Democratic Party and keeper of the liberal flame during the Eisenhower years. His refusal to rule himself out of the running for a third nomination in 1960 permanently damaged his relationship with John F. Kennedy. Following JFK's election, Stevenson hoped to be appointed Secretary of State, but instead had to swallow his disappointment and accept the post of Ambassador to the UN, where he is perhaps best remembered for arraigning the Soviet UN envoy, Valerian Zorin, in the "court of world opinion" during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. Exhausted by the stress of his job and feeling increasingly cut off from the center of foreign policy decision-making, Stevenson suffered a fatal heart attack on a street near the U.S. Embassy in London.Illinois governoer and two time Democratic presidential nominee.
- Harold Washington was born on 15 April 1922 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He was married to Nancy Dorothy Finch. He died on 25 November 1987 in Chicago, Illinois, USA.first African American Chicago Mayor.