the Chicago press of the day. Highly critical of the stylish governor, who retained the parade pomp of John Tanner and his "sunburst colonels", Chicago newspapers alleged that Yates Jr. was compelling state employees to contribute to a slush fund. Further accusations had it that campaign work was compulsory for state employees under Yates. In 1904, Yates was the first Republican West of the Ohio to declare for Theodore Roosevelt. Yates, despite being a sitting governor, did not receive his party's nomination in 1904; he led the field of six candidates for 58 ballots, before throwing his support behind State's Attorney Charles S. Deneen in order to prevent the nomination of Frank O. Lowden, Yates' chief rival at the convention. Interim period In his years prior to Congress, Yates was popular on the Chautauqua circuit. In the 1906–07 United States Senate election, Yates challenged incumbent Shelby Moore Cullom for the Republican nomination. Yates lost the primary and subsequently the Repbulican caucuses of both houses of the Illinois General Assembly renominated Cullom as the Republican candidate. Governor Edward Fitzsimmons Dunne appointed Yates to the Board of Public Utilities. In 1918, he served as an assistant attorney general in the Office of the Illinois Attorney General. Congress He was elected to Congress in 1918. Although he failed to receive his party's nomination in 1928 to the Seventy-first Congress, he was later appointed nominee and elected in place of Henry R. Rathbone who died prior to the election. In 1932, he was unsuccessful in his bid for reelection to the Seventy-third Congress. His final act of service was to cast a vote in 1933 against the repeal of the 18th Amendment. After leaving Congress, Yates resided in Harbor Springs, Michigan, and Springfield, Illinois, while writing his memoirs. He died in Springfield and was buried in Diamond Grove Cemetery, Jacksonville. References 1860 births 1936 deaths 19th-century American newspaper editors Republican Party governors of Illinois Illinois College alumni Illinois lawyers Illinois state court judges MacMurray College alumni Republican Party members of the Illinois House of Representatives Politicians from Jacksonville, Illinois University of Michigan Law School alumni Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Illinois People from Harbor Springs, Michigan