history.htm

The Landscape:

Politics, Southern Illinois and the Draft

   Just as adolesence is a time of great change for all of us, the 1960s was a time of great change for the United States. For the first time, the security and the credibility of even the President could not be taken for granted. Repeatedly, even routinely, the traditional ways of doing things were questioned and attacked.
   By 1966, the proportion of the population under the age of 19 soared to the highest in US history. During the 50's and 60's, elementary and even high school students were subjected to repeated propaganda about the Bill of Rights, equal protection under the law, the Declaration of Independence, and the role of our courts in enforcing the laws. Some of us remember the televised images of the students who just wanted to attend a Little Rock high school only to find their way blocked by the Governor of Arkansas in the schoolhouse door, and the federal troops called in to clear the path. Or the picture of the civil rights marchers crossing the bridge in Selma, Alabama as the police and dogs attacked. And later, the films of battle in the faraway jungles of southeast Asia where the soldiers looked more and more like our classmates and friends every day.

   From 1965-72, at least 50,000 men were drafted into the armed forces each year. Almost all of the draftees were sent to Vietnam. There, many soldiers in ground troops ("grunts") suffered physical trauma, unspeakable emotional horrors, exposure to major drugs such as heroin (attractive in response to death and suffering), and generally used up their remaining adolesence and most of their adulthood. Sometimes, it was scary to see a veteran of Vietnam. Some found it hard to fit into anything. The government did little for them. The war was unpopular. After paying a large price, more than a few felt largely abandoned. For many, getting drafted and serving in Vietnam ruined their lives.

   Suddenly, starting about 1965, there were some really good reasons for going to college. But many very draftable males could not afford college, and they came from families where no one had ever gone to college. Or, they were not "model students" in high school, and may have barely graduated. In short, they could never get into, let alone pay for, most colleges. That's where Clyde Choate, Paul Powell, and Delyte W. Morris came in. Many of us know that Southern Illinois may still be Illinois, but it has more connection to "The South" than it does to Chicago. Through the 1960s, the South was known as "the Solid South" because politically, it was so fully and completely Democratic. This meant that from these areas, if one was elected to office as a Democrat, reelection (over and over) was a virtual certainty. In the state legislature, seniority (and being in the majority party) is power.

   In the late '50s and through the mid '60s, Democrats were rising in power in Springfield. Clyde Choate, from Anna, had served in state House for years and became the majority leader. Almost no state money could be appropriated without his approval. Paul Powell (pronounced "Pawl Pal") was essentially Secretary of State for life (he died in office in 1970, when investigators found his hundreds of shoeboxes packed with hundred dollar bills). Powell, from Vienna, had served in government for many years and had accumulated innumerable political favors. He also commanded a very large patronage army.

   Illinois has always seen the push and pull between Chicago and "downstate" interests. Chicago seems to get the lion's share by some accounts. Choate and Powell wanted to change that.

   Meanwhile, things had been pretty sleepy in Southern Illinois since the tornado leveled Murphysboro in 1927. Other than the horrible coal miners' strikes in the '30s and the opening of the Crab Orchard Wildlife Refuge and lake in the '40s, not much was going on.

   In Carbondale, there was this little "Southern Illinois Normal College." The "Normal" meant it was for teachers. The main purpose was to produce teachers for the area elementary and high schools. The school had existed since 1867, when its first permanent building, "Old Main," was erected. Southern Illinois Normal College had never had more than 1-3 thousand students at any one time.

   In 1948, Delyte W. Morris became "Dean" of the college. Later his title was changed to "Superintendent," still later, "President." By 1970, when he resigned under pressure, he had built an enormous empire which dwarfed anything southern Illinois had ever seen.

   He had overseen the transformation of the little teachers' college into Southern Illinois University, the largest employer in Southern Illinois. The student population had ballooned to almost TWENTY THOUSAND in 1968. Millions upon millions of state dollars poured into Carbondale as building after building (Thompson Point, Phase I, Morris Library, Ag, Pulliam, Woody Hall, University Center, Home Ec, Arena, Lawson, Life Science I, Comm, Triads, Neely, Thompson Point Phase II, Mae Smith & Schneider), shot towards the sky. Almost all of these were built after 1958, when Choate and Powell were at the peak of their power in Springfield.

   Choate, Powell, and Morris had worked together to bring more money and power to Southern Illinois. They succeeded, but they got more than they bargained for.

end of Chapter 1