Why Did Ogilvie Hire Cain?

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Richard Buell Ogilvie was the 35th Governor of Illinois and served from 1969 to 1973. Ogilvie, a Republican, made a name for himself in the 1960s as the Sheriff of Cook County, Illinois. While sheriff, he was also elected as the President of the Cook County Board of Commissioners.

Ogilvie narrowly defeated his opponent in the 1968 gubernatorial election: incumbent Democrat Samuel H. Shapiro, whose campaign capitalized on Ogilvie's association with former Chicago police officer Richard Cain, the chief investigator and aide to Ogilvie while he was Cook County Sheriff. Concurrently, Cain was also on the payroll of a notorious Chicago mafia boss and served as an "inside man" to the mob. In 1968, Cain was convicted of misprision of felony, aiding and abetting criminals, and conspiracy to obstruct justice, and in 1969 he pled guilty to perjury. Cain was released from prison in 1971 and was shot and killed in 1973—presumably by members of the Chicago mob—while eating at a diner on Chicago's West Side.

The Non-Partisan Committee for Governor Sam Shapiro took out full-page ads in November, 1968 that detailed Ogilvie's relationship with Cain and speculated that this association meant that he couldn't be trusted as Governor; the ads included the phrase seen on this button, "Why did Ogilvie hire Cain?"