The Act was signed into law by President Theodore Roosevelt on January 26, 1907, and was named for its sponsor, South Carolina Senator Ben Tillman.

The presidents of all the big insurance firms, and many of the smaller ones, testified that they had made corporate contributions to the Republican presidential campaigns of 1896, 1900, and 1904.

"[I]t is obvious," The New York Times said, "that a deterrent, an actual prohibition, is needed to shut off the corrupting stream that flows from corporation treasuries.

"[2] The Times and the New York Daily Tribune both called on Congress to reintroduce a bill to prohibit corporate contributions that former New Hampshire Republican Senator William E. Chandler had drafted in 1901.

[3] With the investigation and the media focusing attention on his 1901 bill, Chandler tried to get one of his fellow Republicans to reintroduce it in the upcoming Fifty-Ninth Congress.