Dwight Herbert Green (January 9, 1897 – February 20, 1958) was an American politician who served as the 30thGovernor of the US state of Illinois, serving from 1941 to 1949.
From childhood to early adulthood
Green was born in Ligonier, Noble County, Indiana, son of Harry Green and Minnie (Gerber) Green. On June 29, 1926, he married Mabel Victoria Kingston. He served in the U.S. Army during World War I. Dwight and Mabel's children were Gloria and Nancy—they attended Springfield High School in LaPorte County. Nancy married Dr. James Gilbert and they had two daughters, Susie and Gloria. Gloria married Dr. Warren McPherson and they had two children, Scott and Victoria. Nancy Green Gilbert died in 2019. Gloria Green McPherson died in 1985.
At the end of the same year, Pearl Harbor thrust Governor Green into the job of leading one of the largest U.S. state governments during World War II. He won widespread support during the war and was reelected in 1944 to serve a second full term.
The coming of peace in 1945 created new challenges for America's big cities and state governments. In particular, there was a sharp shortage of housing for returning veterans and their families, as little had been built during the war or the Great Depression.
The Chicago Democratic party slated an intellectual lawyer, Adlai Stevenson, to oppose Green for a third term in office. In a surprising upset, Stevenson defeated Green in November 1948, ending Green's political career; the defeat was in part owing to his negligence in preventing the deaths of 111 miners in the Centralia mine disaster. Though the disaster was likely accidental, the buildup to the mine explosion was due to the governmental regulaters following a "weak, ineffectual, and indifferent policy toward enforcement of state mining laws".[1]
Later years
Governor Green returned to private life after his 1948 defeat. He died February 20, 1958, and was buried at Rosehill Cemetery in Chicago.