The Caucus Blog of the Illinois House Republicans

U.S. Senator Everett McKinley Dirksen (R-Pekin)

When Illinois legislators passed a state budget with $2 billion of extra spending this spring, some Illinoisans might have remembered words popularly attributed to one of the great Illinois political leaders of the 20th century, U.S. Senator Everett McKinley Dirksen (R-Pekin), “A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you’re talking about real money!”

Everett Dirksen spent nearly 50 years in public service, starting in the Army during World War I, and finishing as Republican leader of the U.S. Senate. He worked as the general manager of a local dredging company after the war, was active in the American Legion, and served as a finance commissioner in Pekin before being elected to Congress in 1932.

In Congress, Dirksen supported some New Deal programs, including the National Labor Relations Act and the Agricultural Adjustment Act. Over time, however, he began to believe that the New Deal was not proving very effective, and he became concerned by the growing size of government and its insatiable appetite for spending. Dirksen wrote that, “the New Deal was long on reform, much longer on relief, yet very short on actual recovery and restoration of normal conditions."