Illinois, state, United States: Diversification and Change

In 1937 new oil fields were discovered in southern Illinois, further enhancing the state's industrial development. During World War II the nation's first controlled nuclear reaction was accomplished at the Univ. of Chicago, paving the way for development of nuclear weapons during the war. The war also spurred the further growth of the Chicago metropolitan area, and in the postwar period thousands of African Americans from the rural south came seeking industrial work.

Adlai E. Stevenson, governor of Illinois from 1949 to 1953, achieved national prominence in winning the Democratic presidential nomination in 1952 and 1956. Also during the 1950s the “gateway amendment” to the Illinois constitution simplified the state's constitutional amendment process. In 1970, Illinois adopted a new state constitution that, among other reforms, banned discrimination in employment and housing.

Southern Illinois experienced population declines in the 1950s and 60s as farms in the south became more mechanized, providing fewer jobs in the area. The area was hard-hit again in the 1980s as farm prices fell and farm machinery, the major industrial product of southern Illinois, was no longer in high demand. The northern portion of the state saw a major decline in manufacturing in the 1970s and 80s, which was partially offset by an increase in the service and trade industry and Chicago's continued strength as a financial center. The election of Ronald Reagan as president in 1980 was the first time someone born in the state had won that office, and Barack Obama, who became the first African-American to be elected president in 2008, had served as U.S. senator from Illinois before his election. Flooding along the Mississippi inundated large areas of W Illinois in 1993.

In 2002 a Democrat, Rod Blagojevich, was elected to the office; he was reelected in 2006. In 2009, however, he was impeached and removed from office because of accusations that he had sought to gain from his appointment of the U.S. senator who would succeed Obama. (In 2011 he was convicted in federal courts on charges arising from the case.) Lt. Gov. Patrick J. Quinn, also a Democrat, replaced Blagojevich and won election to the office in 2010, but Quinn lost to Republican Bruce Rauner in 2014. In 2018, Democrat J. B. Pritzker was elected governor; he has championed liberal issues including legalizing the use of recreational marijuana and expanding Medicaid coverage. He also was a strong advocate to replace the state's flat income tax with a graduated one, however a Nov. 2020 ballot referendum to make that change failed to pass.

Sections in this article:

• Introduction
• Diversification and Change
• Discontent and the Rise of the Labor Movement
• Industrialization and Abraham Lincoln
• Statehood and Settlement
• Early Inhabitants and European Exploration
• Government, Politics, and Higher Education
• Economy
• Geography
• Facts and Figures

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