The Lives of John Lennon released to the public. Lennon's widow Yoko Ono threatened to sue for libel, claiming the book made her briefly consider suicide, but never pursued any legal action, later explaining that she wanted to maintain a positive attitude and that her lawyers had advised her a civil action would only draw more attention to the book. Lennon's first wife Cynthia Lennon denounced the book, stating "Every single person was annihilated. My mother was called a bulldog and a domineering woman, which was nothing—"nothing"—like my mother. And he called "me" a spaniel. I thought, I'd rather be a spaniel than a Rottweiler,
John Brown Lennon confidant, opposed the effort. That year he ran for mayor of Bloomington, Illinois on the Labor Party ticket, narrowly losing the election by 286 votes to Republican and incumbent mayor, Edward Jones. John Brown Lennon died on January 18, 1923. He is buried in Park Hill Cemetery in Bloomington, Illinois. John Brown Lennon John Brown Lennon (October 12, 1850 - January 18, 1923) was an American labor union leader and general-secretary of the Journeyman Tailors Union of America (JTU). In 1890, he was elected treasurer of the American Federation of Labor and served in that capacity until he was defeated