From June, 2012: The Illinois Channel sat down with former US Senator Alan Dixon (D), whose political career spanned 42 years. We met in his law offices at Bryan Cave in St. Louis, not far from his Belleville, Illinois roots.
At the time of this interview in 2012, Sen Dixon was working on his yet to be published autobiography, “The Gentleman from Illinois”
In this interview he shares how the local Democratic party of Belleville made him a magistrate judge, even before he had a law degree. And, how he rose from a low-level office holder to become the most accomplished vote getters in the history of Illinois — a road that saw him serve as Illinois Treasurer, Illinois Secretary of State, and two terms in the US Senate.
In this interview, he shared stories of his service, his thoughts on other senators he served with in the US Senate, and his concerns about the direction of the national Democratic party over the previous 20 years [1992-2012].
Alan Dixon died on July 6, 2014, just one day before his 87th birthday.