Title Page & Abstract
An Interview with Christine Radogno
Part of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library
Tumultuous 2020 Oral History project
Interview # T20-A-L-2022-06
Christine Radogno, former Illinois state senator, was interviewed on the date listed below as part of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library’s Tumultuous 2020 Oral History project.
Interview dates & location:
Date: January 31, 2022
Location: Amanda Riggenbach in the ALPL’s sound studio and Christine Radogno in her Gilbert, Arizona, home.
Interview Format: Digital audio
Interviewer: Amanda Riggenbach, project manager ALPLM
Total Time: 1:31 / 1.52 hrs.
Accessioned into the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library Archives on March 22, 2022.
The interview is archived at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library in Springfield, Illinois.
© 2021 Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library
Abstract
Christine Radogno, Tumultuous 2020, T20-A-L-2022-06
Biographical Information/Overview of Interview: Christine Radogno was born in Oak Park, Illinois, in 1952. She graduated from Lyons Township High School in 1969 at the age of 16. She attended Loyola University and graduated with a bachelor’s and masters’ degree in social work in 1974. That same year she married Nunzio Radogno, who was studying to become a lawyer at the time. She had a long career as a state senator, which began in 1996. The details of her early life and career can be heard in the Legislators Project, under Illinois Statecraft.
At the time of this interview, Senator Radogno was living in Gilbert, Arizona. She moved there in 2018 to be closer to her daughter and grandchildren. She has another daughter who lives in Westmont, Illinois with her two children. At the start of 2020, Radogno was anticipating a trip to India to tour the country and its sites in March. As COVID-19 concerns became more relevant, she and her fellow travelers considered canceling. Despite their concerns, they decided to go and Radogno describes the way India first responded to the pandemic and her health concerns upon her return to the United States. Throughout the interview, Radogno also compares the COVID-19 pandemic mitigations between Illinois schools and Arizona schools. Her Illinois based grandkids, aged five and seven years old at the start of the pandemic, experienced stricter pandemic mitigations than her Arizona based grandchildren who were seven and nine years old. Radogno details the spring of 2020 and the subsequent semesters up to January of 2022. She also discusses other details about the way her personal life was impacted.
Subject Headings/Key Words: COVID-19; COVID-19 pandemic; Gilbert, Arizona; Westmont, Illinois; school mitigations against COVID-19 pandemic; remote learning; virtual learning; pandemic education
Notes to the Reader: Readers of the oral history memoir should bear in mind that this is a transcript of the spoken word, and that the interviewer, interviewee and editor sought to preserve the informal, conversational style that is inherent in such historical sources. The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum is not responsible for the factual accuracy of the memoir, nor for the views expressed therein. We leave these for the reader to judge.
COPYRIGHT
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