John Peter Altgeld (12/30/1847–3/12/02) was the 20th Governor of Illinois from 1893 until 1897, the 1st Democratic governor of that state since the 1850s. A leading figure of the Progressive movement, Altgeld improved workplace safety & child labor laws, pardoned three of the men convicted of the Haymarket Affair & rejected calls in 1894 to break up the Pullman strike with force. In 1896 he was a leader of the left wing of the Democratic Party, opposing President Grover Cleveland & the conservative Bourbon Democrats. He was defeated for reelection in 1896 in an intensely fought, bitter campaign. Originally published in 1938, this is still the best biography of John Peter Altgeld—German immigrant and enemy of orthodoxy—who became governor of Illinois and at the sacrifice of his career pardoned the Haymarket Martyrs.