File:Thomas J. Courtney (51679790293).jpg

This is a photo of Thomas J. Courtney.

Courtney was born December 23, 1892, in Chicago, Illinois to James R. Courtney and Catherine (Hussey) Courtney. His father was a police officer. He had eight siblings: Mildred, Catherine, Agnes, Florence, Ella, Frances, Edward, and James.

After graduating from St. Rita High School in 1912, he worked at the stockyards and at a stationer's office for a year. In 1913, he took a the Chicago civil service exam and became secretary to a police captain.

He married Kathryn Foley in 1917, and the couple had one daughter, Rita.

He was promoted to senior clerk in 1921, and moved to the City Clerk's office. He worked as a clerk for the Committee on Building and Zoning and later was principal clerk of the Chicago City Council. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy in World War I, but fell ill and was unable to serve.

In 1922, Courtney enrolled in night classes at the Chicago-Kent College of Law, and graduated in 1926. That same year, he was elected a state senator from the 11th District.

He resigned from his city job to avoid a conflict of interest. To earn money, he established a legal practice, and served as an attorney both for a committee Chicago City Council and for the Sanitary District of Metropolitan Chicago.

He was reelected in 1930, and served as Democratic minority leader in the senate until his resignation in 1932.

Courtney successfully ran for Cook County State's Attorney in 1932. Anton Cermak put together a slate of Democratic candidates for various local, county, and state offices which he believed would break the Republican Party's hold on Illinois. He proved right.

Taking office on January 1, 1927, Courtney served a record 12 years in office. He made national headlines for prosecuting mobster Roger Touhy, investigating a CTA crash, raiding betting parlors, breaking the slot machine rackets, crushing arson and auto theft rings, and ousting the mob from labor unions.

Most historians agree that although Courtney presented a reformist, tough-on-crime public image, in practice he cut shady deals with the Mafia, protected mob-infested unions if they supported the Democratic Party, and conducted hundreds of investigations without any intent of actually convicting anybody.

Governor Henry Horner (D) had taken office in 1932 in the Cermak landslide. Since then, however, he'd been locked in a bitter political feud with Chicago Mayor Ed Kelly (D) and Democratic Party boss Patrick A. Nash. Kelly had taken office in 1933, appointed to the position after mayor Anton Cermak was assassinated. Nash was his backer. Horner believed Kelly to be corrupt and wanted to end Nash's vast patronage system.

With Kelly seeking his first full term in office in 1939, Courtney decided to challenge him in the Democratic primary.

Unfortunately, the Horner-Kelley feud was over. Kelly had tried to oust Horner in the 1936 Democratic gubernatorial primary, but Horner had proven too canny about the Kelly-Nash machine's electoral fraud tactics. He managed to suppress most fraud in Cook County, while running up huge margins downstate.

The two were seeking a rematch in 1938. Cook County Judge Edmund K. Jarecki oversaw the sanctity of the ballot box in that county. Horner supported Jarecki, while Kelly decided to unseat him by running Illinois state circuit judge John Prystalski. In the U.S. Senate race, Horner was furious that incumbert one-term Senator William Dieterich had expressed anit-semitic and pro-German views. Horner instead supported the senatorial candidacy of Rep. Scott Lucas. Dieterich announced his run for the renomination on January 18, 1938, but 12 days later Horner came out for Lucas. The Kelly-Nash faction, sensing Dieterich's weakness, backed Michael L. Igoe, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, in the race. Dieterich withdrew from the Democratic primary on February 27. Lucas defeated Igoe with 51.4 percent of the vote. Jarecki beat Prystalski with 52.2 percent of the vote. Both went on to easily win the general election in November.

Kelly and Nash fell in line behind Horner, who had bested the machine three times now.

Courtney, for his part, seemed to think that Horner wanted to destroy the Kelly-Nash machine, and immediately went on the offensive against Kelly. Horner tried to rein Courtney in, but Courtney was having none of it. Horner withdrew his backing. In the Democratic mayoral primary, held February 28, 1939, Courtney got only 34.2 percent of the vote to Kelly's 65.2 percent.

Horner suffered a stroke on November 3, 1939, and declined to run for reelection in 1940. Acting Gov. John Stelle lost the Democratic primary to small-town downstate mayor Harry B. Hershey, and Hershey lost to Republican and former United States Attorney Dwight Green (one of the men who had successfully prosecuted Al Capone).

Courtney was the 1944 Democratic nominee for governor of Illinois, but lost by just 40,000 votes to the popular Green (who garnered 52.4 percent).

In 1945, Democrats and Republicans agreed to run a "coalition slate" of individuals for various state judgeships. Courtney was nominated for judge of the Circuit Court of Cook County, and won office unopposed.

Courtney as circuit court judge until December 7, 1970. He died in Chicago on December 3, 1971. He was buried at Mount Olivet Catholic Cemetery in Chicago.

This photo appeared in The Sentinel, v.113 no. 08, 23 February 1939, page 19. There was no copyright notice anywhere on the page or in the newspaper. Copyright notice was required at the time by U.S. copyright law, and omitting it left the item in the public domain.