Alumni Hall of Fame
John B. Anderson
John B. Anderson, a Rockford native, received his bachelor's degree in 1942, with highest honors in political science. He earned his J.D. from the University of Illinois in 1946. His legal education was interrupted by two years of military service in WW II. He served in the U.S. Field Artillery and rose to the rank of staff sergeant. Mr. Anderson also served as an economic reporting officer in the Eastern Affairs division of the U.S. High Commission for Germany. He returned to the private practice of law in 1955; in 1956 he was elected to a four-year term as States Attorney for Winnebago County. In 1960 Anderson was elected U.S. Representative from the 16th District of Illinois; he served his district for the next twenty years, being elected to ten consecutive terms and an averaging a vote share of 65%. He was a highly respected member of Congress who served on the House Rules Committee, and he was elected chairman of the House Republican Conference in 1969.
In 1980, Anderson sought the Republican nomination for president. After narrow losses to George H.W. Bush in Massachusetts and Ronald Reagan in Vermont, he withdrew from the Republican race and began campaigning as an independent. He qualified for the ballot in all fifty states, and ultimately received more than six million votes. His 7% share of the national vote was one of the highest totals ever received by an independent candidate.
Since leaving elective office Mr. Anderson has been active in a variety of causes. He has served on the faculties of Stanford University, the University of Illinois College of Law, Brandeis University, Bryn Mawr College, Oregon State University, and the University of Massachusetts. Since 1992 he has served as president of the World Federalist Association, a non-profit educational and advocacy organization advancing solutions to global problems through a federal system of democratic global governance. He is chairman of the Board of the Center for Voting and Democracy, and founding board chair of Public Campaign.
He has received numerous honors and honorary doctorates of law. Mr. Anderson continues to lecture frequently on American politics and writes frequently on the role of Congress in both domestic and international affairs and on the merits of proportional representation in elections.