US Congressman. He was born one of five children (James Leonard Igoe was born in 1881, Mary Valerian Igoe was born in 1883, Ann Celestine Igoe was born in 1887, and James Francis Igoe Jr. was born in 1890), to James Francis Igoe and Katherine A. Sherrin Igoe in St. Paul, Minnesota. He was educated in local parochial schools and later attended and was educated at the prestigious De La Salle Institute in Chicago, Illinois. He then studied law at Georgetown University's Law Department in Washington, D.C., and graduated from there with an LL.B or Bachelor of Laws Degree in 1908. He was then admitted to the bar that same year and he commenced to practicing law in Chicago, Illinois, shortly thereafter. He then served as Chief Assistant in the United States Attorney's Office of the Northern District of Illinois from 1915 to 1917. He then entered politics and was elected as a Member of the Illinois State House of Representatives and served in that position from 1913 to 1930. In 1920, he beat Maclay Horne for the nomination as Illinois's State Attorney and ran 200,000 votes ahead of the Democratic ticket losing to the Republican Robert Emmett Crowe (as a lawyer he later prosecuted the famous Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb murder case). He also served as a Delegate to the Democratic National Convention from Illinois in 1924. Member of the Board of South Park Commissioners from 1924 to 1932, Member of the Committee on Rules and Order of Business in 1924, 1932, and again in 1936. During this time, he married Ruth Louise O'Connor on November 22, 1928, and they had a son, Michael Lambert Igoe Jr., who would also become an attorney and Secretary of the Cook County, Illinois, Board. In 1932, he sought the Democratic Party nomination for the office of Governor of Illinois, but he was defeated by Henry Horner. He then decided to run for a seat in the United States Congress and was elected. A Member of the Democratic Party, he then served the State of Illinois as At-Large (Seventy-Fourth Congress) in the United States House of Representatives from January 3, 1935, until his resignation on June 2, 1935. After his term in the United States Congress expired on June 2, 1935, he was succeeded in office by United States Representative Lewis Marshall Long. He had resigned from his seat in the United States Congress to take the post of the United States Attorney which had just been established by 52 Stat. 584. He was personally appointed to the post by then-President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and he served as a Judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois from November 21, 1935, to August 31, 1938. During this time, he also ran as a Candidate in the Primary for United States Senate from Illinois in 1938. It was during this time that he had retired from private practice after thirty years (1908 to 1939). He was then appointed to the same position by then-President Franklin Delano Roosevelt on January 5, 1939. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on February 9, 1939, and received his commission on March 4, 1939. He continued serving as a Judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois until he achieved senior status on August 31, 1965. He then continued as a Senior Judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois from August 31, 1965, to August 31, 1967, when his service in office was terminated due to his death. After his term ended due to his death on August 31, 1967, he was succeeded in office by Attorney and Judge William Joseph Lynch. During his almost thirty years on the federal bench, he heard cases mostly devoted to the tangled financial affairs of traction companies and midwestern railroads. He passed away on August 31, 1967, at the age of 82, due to a heart ailment at the Passavant Memorial Hospital (now Northwestern Memorial Hospital) in Chicago, Illinois, and his funeral was held at the Holy Name Cathedral also located in Chicago, Illinois. He was buried in the All Saints Cemetery in Des Plaines, Illinois. His wife Ruth passed away on January 22, 1987, at the age of 88, and she was buried beside her husband. He was a member of the Knights of Columbus and the Foresters Organizations.