to make any significant impact at the polls, as he campaigned against Democratic candidate Carleton B. McCulloch. Republican party leaders did not want Jackson to take an open endorsement from the Klan for fear it would hurt some parts of the ticket. To remedy the situation, Jackson gave a speech guaranteeing "full civil and religious liberty for Jews, Catholics, and blacks." Although his statement was a kind of lip service to tolerance, the leadership of the Klan refrained from endorsing his candidacy. Jackson won the election by nearly 100,000 votes, despite having lost most of the normally Republican African-American vote to McCulloch. He was inaugurated on January 12, 1925. He stressed the need to run the government economically. His administration oversaw the payoff of the state's US$3.5 million debt and a significant reduction in taxes. He also increased attention on the Department of Conservation. The Indiana Dunes State Park and the George Rogers Clark Memorial were established with his support. Prohibition As governor, Jackson supported stronger prohibition. The Wright Bone Dry Law was passed by the General Assembly to increase penalties and jail time for prohibition violators. It closed some loopholes in the prohibition laws, such as banning the sale of whiskey for medicinal purposes. Jackson was soon caught up in a small scandal when his wife became sick in 1925. Jackson personally procured some medicinal whiskey, and she soon recovered from her sickness. Word soon got out about his actions, but he asked the public for forgiveness. He assured constituents that their prayers and not the whiskey had cured his wife. Klan politics In the autumn of 1925, United States Senator Samuel M. Ralston died in office, and Jackson needed to appoint his replacement. He chose Arthur Raymond Robinson at the advice of Stephenson. Republican leaders were upset with Jackson over the choice, as they had favored the appointment of former senator Albert J. Beveridge. Opponents began to charge that the Klan was in control of the governor's office. The following year Indiana Attorney General Arthur L. Gilliom arrested Edward Shumaker, the leader of the Indiana Anti-Saloon League. He charged Shumaker with contempt of court because of newsletters he was circulating that attacked the Indiana Supreme Court; he accused them of lax enforcement of prohibition laws. He was convicted and sentenced to serve time on the Indiana work farm. As Shumaker was the leader of a key Republican support