Publication Date
7-1-2013
Abstract
The Walter L. Oblinger Jr. Papers, 1935-1990
Walter L. Oblinger (July 5, 1914-April 11,1990) graduated from Chicago-Kent College of Law in 1939 with an LL.B. At Chicago-Kent he met Josephine Kneidle Harrington (February 14, 1913-September 27, 1998) and the two were married in 1940. Upon graduation, Walter entered the FBI. He was appointed to Pittsburgh, then San Antonio, Washington D.C, and Detroit. At the beginning of World War II, Walter was put in charge of the FBI division on German spies in the Detroit area. During his tenure with the FBI, Walter was involved in several infamous cases, including the hunt for and subsequent arrest of Hans Peter Krug, a German POW who escaped from a British camp in Canada, the subsequent arrest of Krug’s safehouse contacts, and the investigation of the Illiopolis munitions plant explosion.
In 1954, Walter and his wife Josephine opened a law practice in Springfield, Illinois (Oblinger & Oblinger Attorneys at Law) where they practiced until their retirement in 1985. In 1969, Oblinger was awarded a J.D. from Chicago-Kent when his original LL.B. degree was phased out in favor of the adoption of the J.D. as the first law degree. Josephine served as a Republican Illinois State Representative from 1979-1985. In 1985, Walter began writing his autobiography of the time he spent in the FBI. The completed book, Admissions of an FBI Man, was published by Carlton Publishers in 1989.
Recommended Citation
Whipple, Jona, "Guide to MC001 - The Walter L. Oblinger, Jr. Papers" (2013). Finding Aids. 6.
https://scholarship.kentlaw.iit.edu/finding_aid/6