National Affairs: Medill McCormick

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In 1918, the term of Democrat James Hamilton Lewis, who had procured a seat in the Senate in 1912, expired. Medill McCormick ran against him and won. His career in the Senate was marked chiefly by the fact that he was a leader in the irreconcilable group, opposed to the League of Nations. He was strong in Illinois politics, but an enemy of William Hale Thompson, Chicago's famed boss-mayor. This placed him also in opposition to Governor Len Small, Thompson ally. In the primaries last summer, Charles S. Deneen, with the support of these two, was able to take the Republican nomination from Mr. McCormick. The Senator felt his defeat keenly. Some said that he was hoping to obtain a diplomatic appointment, others that he wished to return to Illinois and set upon Len Small and the Governorship at the next election. At any rate, he was in no mood for retiring and would have been heard from soon again, had not Death intervened.