Editing Alan J. Dixon

{{Short description|American politician (1927–2014)}}
{{for|the English cricketer|Alan Dixon (cricketer)}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| image               = Alan Dixon (Illinois Blue Book Portrait 1989-1990).jpg
| caption             = Dixon, circa 1989
| jr/sr               = United States Senator
| state               = [[Illinois]]
| term_start          = January 3, 1981
| term_end            = January 3, 1993
| predecessor         = [[Adlai Stevenson III]]
| successor           = [[Carol Moseley Braun]]
| office1             = 34th [[Illinois Secretary of State|Secretary of State of Illinois]]
| governor1           = [[Jim Thompson (Illinois politician)|Jim Thompson]]
| term_start1         = January 10, 1977
| term_end1           = January 12, 1981
| predecessor1        = [[Michael Howlett]]
| successor1          = [[Jim Edgar]]
| office2             = 65th [[Illinois Treasurer|Treasurer of Illinois]]
| governor2           = [[Richard B. Ogilvie]]<br>[[Dan Walker (politician)|Dan Walker]]
| term_start2         = January 11, 1971
| term_end2           = January 10, 1977
| predecessor2        = [[Charles W. Woodford]]
| successor2          = [[Donald R. Smith]]
| birth_name          = Alan John Dixon
| birth_date          = {{birth date|1927|7|7}}
| birth_place         = [[Belleville, Illinois]], U.S.
| death_date          = {{death date and age|2014|7|6|1927|7|7}}
| death_place         = [[Fairview Heights, Illinois]], U.S.
| party               = [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]
| education           = [[University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign|University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]])<br>[[Washington University in St. Louis]] ([[Juris Doctor|JD]])
| allegiance          = {{flag|United States|1912}}
| branch              = {{flag|United States Navy}}
| battles             = [[World War II]]
}}
'''Alan John Dixon''' (July 7, 1927 – July 6, 2014) was an American politician and member of the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]] who served in the [[Illinois General Assembly]] from 1951 to 1971, as the [[Illinois Treasurer]] from 1971 to 1977, as the [[Illinois Secretary of State]] from 1977 to 1981 and as a member of the [[United States Senate]] from 1981 to 1993.

==Early life==
Born in [[Belleville, Illinois]], on July 7, 1927,<ref name="congbio">{{CongBio |id=D000366 |name=DIXON, Alan John |inline=yes |date=July 7, 2014 }}</ref> Dixon attended Illinois public schools and later earned his bachelor's degree from the [[University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign]] and his [[Juris Doctor|J.D.]] from [[Washington University School of Law]]<ref>{{Cite news |date=2014-07-08 |title=Alan J. Dixon, 86, Is Dead; U.S. Senator Who Championed Illinois (Published 2014) |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/08/us/politics/alan-j-dixon-86-is-dead-us-senator-who-championed-illinois.html |access-date=2025-03-01 |language=en}}</ref> in 1949.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2014-07-06 |title=Alan J. Dixon: Former U.S. Senator From Illinois Spent A Lifetime In Public Service |url=https://www.stlpr.org/government-politics-issues/2014-07-06/alan-j-dixon-former-u-s-senator-from-illinois-spent-a-lifetime-in-public-service |access-date=2025-03-01 |website=STLPR |language=en}}</ref> While attending the University of Illinois, he joined the [[Delta Upsilon]] fraternity. During [[World War II]], Dixon served in the [[United States Navy]].

==State political career==

===General Assembly===
Dixon served as a member of the [[Illinois House of Representatives]] from 1951 to 1963 and as a member of the [[Illinois State Senate]] from 1963 to 1971, serving as Minority Whip for part of that time.

===Karl Rove and the Dixon campaign incident===
In the fall of 1970, [[Karl Rove]], a future [[White House Deputy Chief of Staff]] in the [[Presidency of George W. Bush|George W. Bush administration]], used a [[Pseudonym|false identity]] to enter the office of Dixon's campaign for [[Illinois Treasurer]] and stole 1.000 sheets of paper with campaign letterhead. Rove then printed fake campaign rally fliers promising "free beer, free food, girls and a good time for nothing", and distributed them at rock concerts and homeless shelters, with the effect of disrupting Dixon's rally. Dixon eventually won the election. Rove's role would not become publicly known until August 1973. Rove told the ''[[Dallas Morning News]]'' in 1999, "It was a youthful prank at the age of 19 and I regret it."<ref name="balz-2003-strategist">{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/campaigns/wh2000/stories/rove072399.htm |title=Karl Rove: The Strategist |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |publisher=[[Washington Post Company]] |author=Dan Balz |date=July 23, 1999 |page=C1 }}</ref>

===1976 elections===
In 1976, Dixon was elected [[Illinois Secretary of State]]. The 1976 Illinois State election was turbulent for the Democratic Party. Outgoing Governor [[Dan Walker (politician)|Dan Walker]] had lost the support of the party and was defeated in the primary election. Dixon's election as Secretary of State left two years on his term as State Treasurer. To prevent Walker from appointing himself or anyone else to the position, Dixon proposed to incoming Republican Governor [[James R. Thompson]] that he would resign after Thompson was inaugurated if Thompson agreed to Dixon's choice for State Treasurer. Dixon's choice was [[Donald R. Smith]], a Republican who was the ranking Civil Service employee in the State Treasurer's office and who had agreed not to run for re-election. Dixon served as Secretary of State until 1981, when he took office as a [[United States senator]] from Illinois.<ref>'Illinois Blue Book 1979–1980,' Alan J. Dixon-Secretary of State, pg. 24–25</ref>

==United States Senate==
Dixon was generally considered a moderate and was less visible nationally than either of his Illinois colleagues, [[Charles H. Percy|Charles Percy]] and [[Paul Simon (politician)|Paul Simon]], both of whom sought the presidency. In 1992, Dixon lost in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate to [[Carol Moseley Braun]]. This defeat shocked observers; at the time no senator had been defeated in a primary in over a decade and Dixon had a long record of electoral success. [[Clarence Thomas Supreme Court nomination|His vote]] to confirm [[Clarence Thomas]] to the [[United States Supreme Court|Supreme Court]] contributed to his defeat.<ref>{{cite news| url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/16/AR2005081601919.html| title = Democrats Feel Heat From Left On Roberts| author = Charles Babington and Dan Balz| date = 2005-08-17| newspaper = [[The Washington Post]]| publisher = [[Washington Post Company]]| quote = Nan Aron, president of the Alliance for Justice, said [...] 'History shows us that voters turned on Alan Dixon for his vote on Clarence Thomas and voters gave Arlen Specter the toughest reelection of his life.'| page = A01}}</ref> Dixon was sharply criticized during the campaign by Braun for supporting Clarence Thomas' nomination despite allegations of Thomas sexually harassing Anita Hill.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Martin|first1=Douglas|title=Alan J. Dixon, 86, Is Dead; U.S. Senator Who Championed Illinois|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/08/us/politics/alan-j-dixon-86-is-dead-us-senator-who-championed-illinois.html?module=Search&mabReward=relbias%3Ar%2C%7B%221%22%3A%22RI%3A11%22%7D|access-date=10 October 2014|work=The New York Times|date=7 July 2014}}</ref>

Braun, a black woman, had the complete support of black voters, and as a known reformist liberal got a large share of liberal voters, and also attracted many women voters in what was termed "The Year of the Woman". Another factor was the third candidate in the race, multi-millionaire attorney Al Hofeld. Hofeld drew away some of the moderate and conservative Democrats who normally supported Dixon. He also spent a large amount of money running advertisements attacking Dixon, weakening his support. The ''Chicago Tribune'' ran a piece in which [[Eric Zorn]] claimed that Dixon's voting to confirm Clarence Thomas in 1991 set off a chain of events that led to [[Barack Obama]]'s election as president in 2008.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20140714070059/http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2014-07-13/opinion/ct-eric-zorn-dixon-gave-us-obama-oped-0713-20140713_1_alan-dixon-anita-hill-thomas How Senator Alan Dixon gave us President Barack Obama]</ref>

===Later life and death===
Dixon chaired the Defense [[Base Realignment and Closure]] Commission in 1994 and 1995. After his term in the Senate, Dixon resumed practicing law with the [[Bryan Cave]] [[law firm]] in [[St. Louis, Missouri|St. Louis]] and lived in [[Fairview Heights, Illinois]], where he died on July 6, 2014, from [[natural causes]] just 1 day shy of his 87th birthday.<ref>[https://www.wsj.com/articles/former-u-s-senator-alan-dixon-dies-1404674650?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLENexttoWhatsNewsFifth Former U.S. Senator Alan Dixon Dies at Home]{{Dead link|date=August 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> His autobiography, ''The Gentleman from Illinois: Stories from Forty Years of Elective Public Service'', was published in 2013 by [[Southern Illinois University Press]].

==Awards==
Alan J. Dixon was inducted as a Laureate of [[The Lincoln Academy of Illinois]] and awarded the Order of Lincoln (the State's highest honor) by the [[Governor of Illinois]] in 1994 in the area of government.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://thelincolnacademyofillinois.org/4632-2/#toggle-id-22|title=Laureates by Year – The Lincoln Academy of Illinois|website=The Lincoln Academy of Illinois|language=en-US|access-date=2016-03-04}}</ref>

==Electoral history==
* '''1980 General Election – U.S. Senate'''
** Alan J. Dixon (D), 56.0%
** [[Dave O'Neal]] (R), 42.5%
* '''1986 General Election – U.S. Senate'''
** Alan J. Dixon (D) (inc.), 65.4%
** [[Judy Koehler]] (R), 34.1%
* '''1992 Democratic Primary – U.S. Senate'''
** [[Carol Moseley Braun]] (D), 38.30%
** Alan J. Dixon (D) (inc.), 34.61%
** Albert Hofeld (D), 27.09%

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-former-sen-alan-dixon-dies-at-age-86-20140706-story.html Chicago Tribune obituary]
* {{C-SPAN|1191}}
* {{Find a Grave}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Dixon, Alan J.}}
[[Category:1927 births]]
[[Category:2014 deaths]]
[[Category:United States Navy personnel of World War II]]
[[Category:Democratic Party United States senators from Illinois]]
[[Category:Illinois lawyers]]
[[Category:Democratic Party Illinois state senators]]
[[Category:Democratic Party members of the Illinois House of Representatives]]
[[Category:People from Belleville, Illinois]]
[[Category:Secretaries of state of Illinois]]
[[Category:State treasurers of Illinois]]
[[Category:United States Navy sailors]]
[[Category:University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign alumni]]
[[Category:Washington University School of Law alumni]]
[[Category:Writers from Illinois]]
[[Category:20th-century United States senators]]
[[Category:Delta Upsilon members]]