Born in Sunrise Township, Minnesota, Lowden practiced law in Chicago after graduating from the University of Iowa.He served as Governor of Illinois from 1917 to 1921, earning wide notice for his reorganization of state government and his handling of the Chicago race riot of 1919.Lowden was a candidate for president at the 1928 Republican National Convention, but Herbert Hoover won the nomination on the first ballot.He introduced the budget system for state expenditure, thereby reducing the rate of taxation in spite of rising prices.[5] He was a strong supporter of the death penalty, and when in 1918 both houses of the Illinois General Assembly voted to abolish capital punishment, he vetoed the bill.[7] Delegates at the Republican convention deadlocked over several ballots between Lowden and General Leonard Wood, resulting in party leaders meeting privately to determine a compromise candidate.He served in this capacity with co-receivers Joseph B. Fleming and James E. Gorman (the latter had been president of the railroad since 1917) until his death in 1943 in Tucson, Arizona.
Lowden's official portrait as Governor of Illinois