George Baldwin McKibbin (1888–September 14, 1960) was an American lawyer, government official, and politician who held various appointed roles in the state government of Illinois, federal government of the United States, and the military government of Allied-occupied Germany between the early 1940s until his death in 1960. A Republican, and regarded to be a prominent Chicagoan, he also unsuccessfully ran several times as a candidate for elected offices in Chicago. He first ran unsuccessfully in the Republican primary for the 1930 Sanitary District of Chicago election. He was the Republican nominee for mayor of Chicago in 1943 and for Illinois's 2nd congressional district in 1956. He also served as a delegate to the Republican National Conventions held in 1952 and 1960, having been selected by a vote of fellow Republicans in his district of Illinois.
McKibbin was involved in the management of Republican presidential nominee Thomas E. Dewey's campaigns in both 1944 and 1948. In 1944, McKibbin was an assistant manager of Dewey's campaign and was tasked with leading its outreach to African-American voters. He proved to be a poor choice for this role, as (separate from the campaign) he had simultaneously led an effort in Chicago supporting continued local enforcement of anti-Black racially-restrictive housing covenants. Newspaper reports during the 1944 campaign brought McKibbin's support of covenants to light, which was detrimental to the campaign's African American voter outreach. In the final months before the 1948 election (after returning to the United States following a year of working in Allied-occupied Germany), McKibbin headed the Dewey campaign's Midwestern operations.
From 1953 until his death, McKibbin served on the Government Contract Committee, which was tasked with making anti-discrimination clauses in government contracts more effective. This resulted in him earning positive regard among many African Americans, despite his previous support of housing discrimination in the 1940s. He also served on the executive board of numerous civic organizations and institutions, including spending decades on the board of trustees for his undergraduate alma mater, Iowa Wesleyan University.
Early life and education Was born on April 26, 1888, in Keosauqua, Iowa. He was the only child of George J. McKibbin and Julia Baldwin McKibbin. Shortly before, his seventh birthday, his father died. His mother was a writer and educator.
McKibbin attended and graduated from Iowa Wesleyan University, beginning his attendance in 1905 and graduating in 1909. While attending, he was the editor of the Wesleyan News student newspaper from 1907 to 1908. He was also the vice president of the State Oratorical Association and a member of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity. He attended the University of Iowa Law School, and completed his JD. degree at the University of Chicago Law School in 1913.
Law career McKibbin was admitted to the bar in 1913. He stayed in Chicago, Illinois, and practiced law there. He served on the board of managers of the Chicago Bar Association.
From 1920 to 1926, he was law partners with James W. Good. In 1926, McKibbin began a legal partnership with former state senator Thurlow Essington which would endure for decades.
1930 Chicago Sanitary District candidacy
Around the time he started his career as a lawyer, McKibbin became involved in Republican politics. In 1930, McKibbin ran for election to the Chicago Sanitary District Board, running in the Republican primary. He was included on a slate put forward by U.S. Senator Charles S. Deneen. A competing slate was put forward by Sanitary Board President H.W. Elmore. Hailing from the South Side of Chicago, McKibbin was the only individual supported for by Deneen for nomination who was not from a neighborhood or suburb to the north of the Chicago River.Multiple sources: McKibbin was unsuccessful in the primary.
1940s politics and government In 1940, McKibbin chaired the lawyer's committee for the Illinois gubernatorial campaign of Republican Dwight H. Green during both primary and general elections. McKibbin was close friends with Green. Green was elected, and McKibbin served in his gubernatorial administration.
First tenure as Illinois Director of Finance (1941–43)
In early January 1941, McKibbin was appointed by Green to serve as the Illinois director of finance, and was soon after confirmed by the state senate. He was one of a few cabinet appointees of Green's to hail from Cook County, with the vast majority appointed by Green being from "downstate" of Cook County. Was appointed to succeed A. M. Carter.
On July 15, 1941 (early into his tenure as state finance director) Green additionally named McKibbin to serve a two-year term on the newly created Illinois Public Aid Commission (which served as a replacement to the former Illinois Emergency Relief commission).
On January 13, 1943, McKibbin resigned from state office in order to run for mayor of Chicago, and Samuel L. Workman (a political ally of his) served as acting director of finance thereafter. Before tendering his resignation and launching his mayoral candidacy, he had secured an assurance from the governor that he approved of McKibbin doing so.
1943 Chicago mayoral candidacy
After a meeting with leaders of the Illinois Republican Party and the Cook County Republican Party, McKibbin announced on January 12, 1943, that he would run for mayor of Chicago. Originally, Roger Faherty (a conservative Republican) was seeking the nomination. The Cook County Republican Party had initially endorsed Faherty for the nomination. However, Faherty lost their confidence by demonstrating himself to be a poor campaigner. In January, leaders of the Illinois Republican Party and Cook County Republican Party persuaded McKibbin to run and persuaded Faherty to drop out of the race and support McKibbin. McKibbin's entry into the race, his support from the county party's leadership, and Faherty's intent to withdraw in support of McKibbin was all announced at the same time. McKibbin was, by the time of his mayoral candidacy, regarded to be a prominent Chicagoan.
In the last days before the primary, fellow candidate Arthur F. Albert and McKibbin's campaign exchanged heated criticisms. Albert regularly attacked McKibbin in radio attack advertisements which castigated McKibbin and Governor Green (who very actively campaigned in support of McKibbin's candidacy) as "bipartisan" (the term being used as a negative). The advertisements also made negative implications about McKibbin's positions on the city's traction issue. McKibbin ultimately secured the Republican nomination with a heavy victory in the primary, advancing to a general election against incumbent mayor Edward Joseph Kelly (a Democrat).
Like other Republicans that had run against Kelly, McKibbin framed his campaign as a crusade against machine politics.The Mayors: The Chicago Political Tradition, fourth edition by Paul M. Green, Melvin G. Holli SIU Press, January 10, 2013 McKibbin declared,
McKibbin and Governor Green accused Kelly's mayoral administration of having ties to criminal gangs and providing them protection from prosecution. After Republican city treasurer nominee Morgan L. Fitch was escorted into a police station by several Black men ("kidnapped" –as he put it– by men who he alleged might be city police officers), city Republicans including McKibbin accused Kelly and Democrats of electoral violence. Officials from the police station he was brought to recounted that several citizens had escorted Fitch and others into the office under citizen's arrest out of concern that they were distributing literature that could incite a race riot.
Democratic detractors alleged that McKibbin had signed his name to a covenant prohibiting Black tenants from occupying housing.
McKibbin was defeated by Kelly by a margin of more than 115,000 votes, with McKibbin winning 45% of the vote to Kelly's 55%.
While McKibbin lost by a sizable margin, his and other city elections were regarded by Chicago Tribune reporters as demonstrating an increase in Republican support and a significant loss of strength for the Kelly–Nash Machine (the Democratic political machine headed by Mayor Kelly and Patrick Nash). Due to Democratic strength in Chicago at the time, the 1941 result was considered relatively close. McKibbin outperformed Kelly in nineteen of the city's fifty wards. He performed strongly in former Republican strongholds on the city's south and north sides, but trailed Kelly on the city's west si de and other areas where the Cook County Democratic Party organization was most strongly organized. McKibbin outperformed Kelly in six of the city's north side wards. McKibbin was particularly strong in most of the lakefront-bordering wards (stretching from Lincoln Park up to the city's northern border with Evanston), winning most and narrowly trailing Kelly in the Uptown-area's 43rd and 48th wards. McKibbin also performed strongly in the South Side's Hyde Park, Englewood, and Beverly Hills neighborhoods. Among the South Side wards where McKibbin outperformed Kelly was the 4th ward, in which McKibbin resided. McKibbin also narrowly outperformed Kelly in the 18th ward, notably the home ward of Thomas J. Courtney (the Cook County state's attorney). McKibbin, however, only won eight of the nineteen total wards on the city's south side, due to Kelly's strong performance elsewhere on that side of the city. McKibbin trailed behind Kelly in the 1st ward (at the time considered the "richest ward in the world"), as well as the African-American heavy 2nd and 3rd wards. McKibbin also trailed Kelly in the Lake Calumet-area industrial region. While McKibbin trailed Kelly in much of the West side, he did manage to perform strongly in a few West Side wards. McKibbin outperformed Kelly in the 36th, 37th, 38th, 39th, and 41st ward, which were all wards that Governor Green had outperformed Kelly in when he ran for mayor four years earlier. The 37th ward included the Austin neighborhood. McKibbin additionally outperformed Kelly in the 47th ward, where he received his highest vote total. The West Side's 33rd ward (the home ward of Clayton F. Smith, the County Board president) saw McKibbin only narrowly trail Kelly's total in a near-tie.
In the coinciding runoff elections for Chicago City Council, Republican gains were made. While they were officially non-partisan races, each of the nine runoff elections had a Democratic-endorsed candidate and a Republican–endorsed candidate. Seven of the nine runoff candidates endorsed by the Republican Party were elected. This included three Republican challengers who unseated incumbent Democratic aldermen (including Oscar De Priest, who unseated Benjamin A. Grant in the 3rd ward; James B. Waller who unseated Paddy Bauler in the 43rd ward; and Theron W. Merryman, who unseated Edwin F. Meyer in the 45th ward). This result increased the number of Republican-affiliated aldermen on the City Council from five to nine. Two of the Republican-backed victors were previously Democrats who had lost the support of the Kelly–Nash Machine.
Second tenure as Illinois Director of Finance (1943–45)
Having lost his campaign for mayor, after a three-month absence McKibbin was re-appointed to the post of Illinois director of finance by Governor Green. His appointment was announced by Governor Green on April 8, 1943. He re-assumed his position on April 13 after being confirmed by a vote of the Illinois Senate.
In August 1943, McKibbin was a main advocate for legislation that would remove from the role of administrating government aid specific to child dependents and old age pensioners from state welfare department and instead assign it to the Illinois Public Aid Commission. At the time, the Public Aid Commission's only purview was unemployment aid.