Kerner was the son of Otto Kerner, Sr., a Cook County Circuit Court judge who became Illinois Attorney General in 1932 and saved Illinois from three-two beer hell by clarifying liquor sales law after prohibition. Following in his father's footsteps, Kerner himself went on to receive a law degree and became a United States Attorney and a Cook County judge, and also married Helena Cermak, daughter of Chicago Mayor Anton Cermak, shortly after the mayor was assassinated. In 1960, Kerner ran for Illinois Governor and defeated incumbent William "Billy the Kid" Stratton (sidebar: Stratton was acquitted of charges of tax evasion in 1965), and went on to serve two terms where he most notably chaired the Kerner Commission in 1967 that took a hard look at the racial unrest and riots going on at the time. Kerner declined to run for a third term, and instead became a United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit judge. more ›