Russ Feingold: “one of Wisconsin's great progressives died a few days ago. Former Wisconsin Governor John Reynolds passed away on…”

“one of Wisconsin's great progressives died a few days ago. Former Wisconsin Governor John Reynolds passed away on January 6. He was 80. The son of an Attorney General, and the grandson of a Representative in the State Assembly, John Reynolds came from one of Wisconsin's most distinguished political families, and he himself was the model of what public service should mean. Reynolds, a native of Green Bay, was one of the founding fathers of the modern Democratic Party of Wisconsin, but his roots were in the Progressive Party of Robert and Phil La Follette. His grandfather was elected to the State Assembly as a Progressive Republican, and his father, who served as the State's Attorney General, was chairman of the independent Progressive Party. John Reynolds, like his father, served as Wisconsin's Attorney General. He was the State's Governor from 1963 to 1965, and was appointed by President Johnson to serve as a Federal Judge in Wisconsin's Eastern District where he served as Chief Judge from 1971 until 1986. But as impressive as it is, that resume does not do him justice. In memorializing John Reynolds, the Wisconsin State Journal wrote that his true legacy was his support of the rule of law and equal rights under the U.S. Constitution. Indeed, he may be remembered best as a civil rights advocate. His most famous decision as a judge was his 1976 order that Milwaukee schools be desegregated.”