29. Warren Harding

Harding is consistently ranked as one of the worst presidents in U.S. history. He was a very successful self-made newspaper publisher from Ohio. Once he entered politics he served in the Ohio senate, as Lieutenant Governor of Ohio and as a U.S. Senator from Ohio. In spite of whatever preparation he had for the office of the president even in his day he was not well thought of. His one shortened term in office was overtaken by multiple scandals involving some of his closest advisors and friends.

I would bet that if you ask an average American what they know about Warren Harding you would get one of four responses.

1. “Who?”
2. “Didn’t he die in office”
3. “Wasn’t there a scandal involving teapot’s”
4. “Wasn’t he the president with the middle name Gamaliel”

When Harding was almost ten years old his father, George, bought a small newspaper. By the time he was in his teens Harding had learned how to handle simple printing jobs and could run a small printing press. After college Harding returned to Marion, Ohio and with two other partners bought the smallest of the towns newspapers, the Marion Star. By the time he was twenty-one he had made enough money to buy out his partners. Eventually his paper became so popular that the other papers couldn’t keep up and went out of business. Harding became active in many aspects of the town and his reputation grew:

• Member of the Chamber of Commerce
• A 33-degree Mason
• An Elk
• A Rotarian
• Played Coronet in the town band
• Managed the town baseball team (also playing 1st base)

While he popular with most of the people in Marion, he had repeated run-ins with one of the wealthiest men in town; Amos Hall Kling. Many of Harding’s political views that he published put him at odds with some of the political establishment including Kling. The relationship with Kling was not improved when in 1891 Harding married Kling’s daughter Florence. Kling started up a rival newspaper to try in an unsuccessful attempt to defeat Harding’s newspaper. In 1900 Kling secretly bought up all of Harding’s debts and called them due. Harding was able to raise the funds from other sources and paid the debts. The two were eventually able to get passed their differences.

Using the editorial pages of his newspaper to support various Republicans around the state brought Harding appreciation within the party. In 1887 Harding became a delegate to the Ohio State Republican Party Convention. Finally in 1900 he won his first political office by being elected to the Ohio State Senate. He served two terms in the State Senate and went on to become Lieutenant Governor. Losing a bid for Governor Harding returned to Marion and the work of the newspaper.

In 1914 Harding won a U.S. Senate election and spent six fairly undistinguished years in the Senate. For the most part he voted lock-step with the Republicans and didn’t introduce any important legislation. He voted for prohibition even though he was against it, he believed that the people of Ohio were in favor of the amendment. Not believing that the time was right for woman to vote, he still voted for the bill. He was definitely with the Republicans in their opposition to the League of Nations, especially a provision that seemed to commit American forces to support any other League member that was attacked.

Harding was convinced to run for president in 1920 by Harry Daugherty. Daugherty would goon to be Harding’s campaign manager and eventually his Attorney General. Once Harding was convinced, Daugherty went to work trying to secure the Republican nomination. Harding came in fourth on the first ballot at the convention. General Leonard Wood was the favorite, but couldn’t secure the required majority of votes. Republican leaders locked themselves away in a “smoke-filled room” (Room 404 of the Blackstone Hotel in Chicago) to decide who was the best compromise candidate. After an all-night session the tentative decision was made to nominate Harding. Harding was approached the next day and told about the decision, but was asked if there was anything in his past that could be a problem. In spite of rumors of adultery, Harding replied that there was nothing he could think of that could cause problems.

Harding won the general election with over 60% of the popular vote promising a “return to normalcy” after WWI, an economic downturn and eight years of a Democrat in the White House. When he started filling his cabinet he made some selections based on merit and some based on personal friendships. The three selections based on friendship would end up defining his administration and his legacy. Unfortunately not for the positive.

Before I get into the scandals, there were major positive thing that Harding accomplished. He signed into law the Budget and Accounting Act which, in part, requires the president to submit a budget to congress. It created much stricter accounting rules and made the presidential budget director accountable to the president and not the Secretary of the Treasury. The second was the creation of the Bureau of Veteran Affairs.

Harding did not agree to the Treaty of Versailles and the League of Nations and so he negotiated a separate peace with Germany and Austria finally bringing an official end to WWI. After the war he supported a broad reduction in naval power globally.

His old friend Harry Daugherty (the same man that convinced him to run for president) was made the Attorney General. In his position at the Justice Department Daugherty accepted bribes to grant immunity to people that illegally sold alcohol. He also accepted bribes from wealthy federal prisoners to grant them paroles. When this all came to light Daugherty tried to put the blame on his personal assistant, Jess Smith. Smith ended up committing suicide. Daugherty was ultimately acquitted after two trials.

The next scandal involved a friend named Charles Forbes at the Veteran’s Bureau. Forbes was convicted of selling off government medical supplies and taking kick-backs for approving new VA hospitals. When Harding confronted him Forbes fled to Europe. He ultimately returned to the U.S. and was convicted and sentenced to two years in prison, becoming the first former cabinet member to go to prison.

The biggest scandal did not fully come to light until after Harding died. This scandal involved Albert Fall at the Department of the Interior. The Teapot Dome scandal, as it has become known, involved the illegal leasing of federal oil deposits. The oil reserve had been set aside for use by the navy in case of an emergency. There were two locations involved, one in California and one in Wyoming. The one in Wyoming was covered by a rock formation that looked like a teapot, giving it the name Teapot Dome. Fall was convicted of defrauding the government and sentenced to jail time.

Harding once said “I have no trouble with my enemies, but my damn friends, they’re the ones keeping me walking the floors as night.” The scandals were clearly taking a toll on Harding. A western trip was planned and Harding became the first president to visit Alaska (at that time a territory). On the trip home Harding fell ill in Seattle. His personal doctor determined that it was food poisoning and would not let any other doctor examine him. Several other doctors were convinced that Harding had suffered a heart attack. Harding died in San Francisco on August 2nd, 1923. His term in office was the shortest of any 20th century president.

I would also be remiss if I didn’t discuss the extra-marital affairs. Harding carried on at least two long affairs and it’s rumored there were two more. The longest one involved a young girl named Nan Britton that Harding met back in Marion when she was a teenager. When Harding moved to Washington he helped find her a job. There is a story about an encounter with Nan in a closet off the Oval Office with the Secret Service standing by to keep Harding’s wife out. Four years after Harding’s death Nan wrote a book claiming that Harding was the father of her child. The other affair went on for fifteen years with the wife of a good friend.

Talking about a president’s legacy is always subjective, but Harding’s term can’t be discussed with the scandals. While there was never any indication that Harding was complicit in any of the scandals (there were more than the big three) he did create an environment where he trusted his cabinet members to manage their departments without any oversight. When rumors about the scandals started Harding was slow to react.

Trivia:

• First sitting United States Senator to be elected president
• First (maybe only) newspaper editor to be elected president
• He was obsessed with playing poker and once bet (and lost) a complete set of priceless White House china
• First president to give a speech over the radio
• First president to own a radio
• First president to ride to his inauguration in a car
• He was the first president for whom woman could vote
• His mother held a medical license
• It’s rumored that his great-grandmother was African-American (this was brought up several times during his political career)
• He literally worked to preserve the Constitution by having it removed from the files of the State Dept., where it had been rotting, and had it placed in a protective glass case
• Harding won in 1920, a year that saw six past or future presidents running for either president or vice president; Harding, Wilson, Coolidge, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt and Hoover.
• The election of 1920 was the first to be carried live on the radio
• First president born after the Civil War

Vital Stats:

• Wife: Florence Mabel Kling (1860-1924, m. 1891)
• Children: None legitimate, one or two rumored illegitimate.  Florence had a son from a previous marriage. 
• Party affiliation: Republican Party
• Presidency: 1921-1923
• Born: November 2nd, 1865 (Blooming Grove, Ohio)
• Died: August 2nd, 1923 (San Francisco, California)

28. Woodrow Wilson

By many measures, Wilson was our most intellectual president.  In his time he was widely admired, in part for his writings on the role of government, the power of the presidency and the workings of government.  His most famous book is Congressional Government.  Published in 1885, it argued for a stronger presidency.  Wilson earned a PhD in History and Political Science from John’s Hopkins University in 1886 and eventually became the president of Princeton University. 

Wilson’s tenure as president of Princeton serves as a glimpse at what his tenure as president of the United States would look like a few years later.  Serving from 1902 – 1910, Wilson set to work quickly in the beginning to make changes that he felt would improve the success of Princeton.  He hired younger scholars and had them form discussions groups which increased the interaction between teachers and students.  Changing the curriculum to standardize some courses that every student would be required was his next step.  These and other changes made a noticeable difference in the academic standards in just four years. As he continued to try and make changes he eventually ran into opinion differences with the wealthy alumni and board members.  Wilson had wanted to centralize the university functions, creating Quads, or a series of four buildings with an interior square, and to move the graduate school closer. The concept of the Quad has become popular on college campuses today with its centralization of dining, housing and study areas.  He lost the fight for this centralization concept, in part because a wealthy donor had given money to build a graduate school away from the main campus.  After serving about eight years, Wilson left Princeton to run for Governor of New Jersey.

After winning the Democratic nomination, Wilson outlined his progressive platform for reforms in the state.  His ideas for reducing the power of party bosses and other forms of political influence made him very popular and he won the election in a landslide.  True to his word, in the first six months of his two year term he brought public utilities under state regulation, reorganized and improved the state school system and enacted antitrust legislation.

Wilson’s success as Governor of New Jersey made him a popular candidate for president in 1912.  He won the nomination at the Democratic convention in Baltimore in part because William Jennings Bryan threw his support behind him.  The presidential election was a closely contested race between Wilson, incumbent president Taft and ex-president Teddy Roosevelt.  Roosevelt had split from the Republican Party and formed a third party; the Bull Moose Party.  In the end Wilson pulled out an electoral college landslide (435 out of 531 electoral votes).  The election was much closer in the popular vote with Wilson getting 42%.

In characteristic Wilson fashion he hit the ground running by calling a special session of congress and announcing his plans.  The first issue he took on was high tariffs.  When the issue got bogged down in Congress, Wilson called a press conference and made an appeal directly to the people (the first time a president had used the press in this manner).  He pointed out that special interest groups were pressuring Congress to keep the high tariffs.  When huge amounts of letters started to arrive on congressmen’s desks, they folded and passed the legislation.  The Underwood Tariff returned tariffs to the levels of seventy years prior.  The revenue that was lost by lowering tariffs was recovered by the collection of the first individual income taxes that were allowed after the passage of the 16th amendment. 

Also in his first year he supported the creation of the Federal Reserve System to regulate banking.  This system of twelve regionally distributed banks was designed to help regulate banks.  The three main objectives given to the Fed (as it is informally known) were maximum employment, stable prices and moderate long term interest rates.  The main tool that the Fed has to accomplish these goals is to increase or decrease the amount of money in circulation.

Continuing on with his predecessor’s policies of antitrust legislation Wilson secured the creation of the Federal Trade Commission with the power to investigate unfair business practices.  He also secured passage of laws that made certain business practices illegal (price fixing, child labor, etc.) and a law that created a forty-hour maximum work week. 

In spite of the obvious success of Wilson’s first year in office, his second would prove to be much more difficult.  Several revolutions in Mexico had created an unstable government.  In April 1914 tensions between Mexico and the United States increased when American sailors were arrested in Mexico.  Wilson ordered a naval blockade to prevent German ships from delivering munitions.  A battle broke out in the city of Veracruz leaving about 500 people dead.  The countries of Columbia and Argentina offered to mediate peace terms, but fighting broke out again.  When Francisco “Pancho” Villa was ordered to start making raids into the United States in March 1916 (including sacking the town of Columbus, New Mexico) the fighting escalated.  Wilson ordered John “Black Jack” Pershing to lead an expedition into Mexico to capture Pancho Villa.  The expedition lasted almost a year and is largely considered a failure.  Finally in January 1917 both sides agreed to mediation and Pershing was recalled.  Pershing would eventually reach the rank of General of the Armies, only one of two ever to be given that rank and the only one to receive it in his lifetime (Washington was given the promotion by an act of Congress in 1976).

During the tensions with Mexico in 1914, Wilson’s first wife, Ellen, died from Bright’s disease.  They had been married almost 30 years.  In 1915, Wilson met and married his second wife Edith.

Much of the rest of his first term was taken up with World War I, which started in August 1914 (at the time referred to as either the World War or the Great War).  A great book to understand the origins of the First World War is The Guns of August by Barbara Tuchman.  It is a bit difficult to understand how the assassination of someone in line to be head of the Austro-Hungarian Empire (Archduke Franz Ferdinand) by a Serbian would cause Germany to declare war on Russia and invade France, but it did. 

Wilson was successful in keeping the U.S. out of the war for the duration of his first term.  This was in spite of a lot of pressure from Republicans to build up the military in anticipation of war.  Wilson even attempted to mediate a peace between the warring parties.  In 1915 a German U-Boat sunk the Lusitania, a British ocean liner that the Germans claimed was transporting weapons.  Over 1000 passengers died, including 128 Americans.  After the outcry the Germans agreed to limit their aggression to clear military targets.  It is still not clear today if the Lusitania was carrying munitions.  Attempts have been unsuccessful to dive down to the final resting place and retrieve information to understand exactly what happened to the Lusitania.

Narrowly winning reelection in 1916, Wilson continued his peace initiatives.  The Central Powers  (Germany, etc) believed that victory was inevitable and the Allies would only agree to peace if the empires of their enemies fell.  Neither side wanted to budge.

Finally in April of 1917 with the resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare by the Germans and the discovery of the Zimmerman Telegram (in which Germany was trying to convince Mexico to attack the US), Wilson went to Congress to gain a declaration of war.  Germany was offering to help Mexico reclaim the territory they had lost during the Mexican-American War.  In his address to Congress, Wilson pointed to the telegram and submarine warfare as evidence that Germany was provoking war.  In his address he called it the “war to end war”, clearly already thinking ahead to his fourteen points and the League of Nations.  Wilson received a standing ovation for his speech, which was much more unusual than today.  He responded that “My message today was a message of death for your young men.  How strange it is to applaud that”.

The Germans surrendered in the November of 1918.  In the end, the United States lost 177,000 killed and 206,000 wounded.  This compared to the United Kingdom with 996,000 killed, France with 1.7 million killed and Russia with 3.3 million killed.  Among the Central Powers, Germany had 2.5 million killed, Austro-Hungary with 1.6 million killed and the Ottoman Empire with 2.9 million killed (13.7% of the population!).  The end of the war also saw the end of the Autro-Hungarion Empire, the Ottoman Empire, the German Empire and the Russian Empires (October Revolution and the rise of Communism).

Wilson went to work rolling out his Fourteen Points, which included the creation of the League of Nations.  The peace negotiations took place in Paris at the Palace of Versailles.  A great book on the topic of the negotiations is Paris 1919 by Margaret MacMillan.  Wilson was ultimately successful in the creation of the League of Nations with one major country opting out; the United States.  Historians are generally critical of Wilson because he drove forward with his Fourteen Points and the League of Nations without consulting leaders in Congress.  The end result was that he didn’t have the support in Congress and it failed to pass.  The Treaty of Versailles was never ratified by the U.S. Congress; it wasn’t until 1921 that there was a formal end to the hostilities between the U.S. and the Central Powers.

Campaigning tirelessly to get support for passage of the League of Nations, Wilson suffered a series of strokes, with the one of October 2nd, 1919 incapacitating him, leaving him paralyzed on his left side and blind in his left eye.  The public was never told the extent of his health.  He was essentially kept away from congressional leaders and the vice president for the remainder of his term.  This is the most serious case of a sitting president being incapacitated and was cited in the arguments for the 25th amendment.

Wilson retired from public office after the election of 1920 and lived until February 3rd, 1924.  His legacy is vast.  He was, arguably, the first U.S. President to be seen as a world leader.  His attempts at peace negotiations, his Fourteen Points and the League of Nations made him the most recognized global leader of his day.

Many modern politicians refer to Wilsonian diplomacy when they feel that the United States needs to get involved in a global issue; Korea, Vietnam, Kosovo, Somalia, Iraq, etc.  It is the belief, right or wrong, that the United States has the power, prestige and responsibility to make a difference in all of these areas and to stand up to people that would abuse the power of their office.

Trivia to impress random people on the street:

• Wilson would paint his golf balls black so that he could continue playing through the winter.
• Wilson was the first president to show a film in the White House: The Birth of Nation
• Wilson is the only president that earned a PhD; History and Political Science from Johns Hopkins University
• Wilson’s father served in the Confederate Army as a chaplain, caring for Confederate soldiers in his church in Richmond.
• As a young man Wilson saw Robert E. Lee in Richmond soon after the civil war
• Wilson was the first man associated with the South to be elected since Taylor
• He was only second Democrat to be elected since between 1860 and 1932 (Cleveland)
• He was the first president since John Adams to personally deliver his State of the Union Address to Congress
• His first name was Thomas, he chose to go by Woodrow instead of Thomas or Tom, that says a lot I think.
• Wilson only won 41.9% of the popular vote in 1912.  However low that seems it only ranks third lowest.  Lincoln only won 39.8% in 1860 and John Quincy Adams won the election with only 30.5% of the popular vote.
• It should be noted that while Wilson only received 41.9% of the popular vote his win was a landslide in the electoral college receiving 435 votes compared to Roosevelt with 88 votes and Taft with 8 votes.
• The federal highway system was also started during Wilson’s first term.
• Wilson is one of three presidents to be widowed while in office; Tyler, B. Harrison.  Jackson’s wife died after he was elected, but before he was inaugurated
• Wilson is one of three presidents to get married while in office; Tyler, Cleveland.
• In the 1916 election, if 1,500 more people in California had voted for his opponent (Charles Evan Hughes) Wilson would not have won re-election.
• When Wilson traveled to Europe to settle the peace terms, he visited Pope Benedict XV in Rome, making Wilson the first American President to visit the Pope while in office.
• In spite of his poor health at the end of his second term Wilson lived long enough to attend the funeral of his successor, Warren Harding.

Vital Stats:

• Wife: Ellen Louise Axson (1860-1914, m. 1885), Edith Bolling Galt (1872-1961, m. 1915) 
• Children: Margaret Woodrow (1886-1944), Jessie Woodrow (1887-1933), Eleanor Randolph (1889-1967) 
• Party affiliation: Democratic Party
• Presidency: 1913-1921
• Born: December 28th, 1856 (Staunton, Virginia) 
• Died: February 3rd, 1924 (Washington D.C.)

27. William Howard Taft

Probably the most reluctant of presidents, William Taft had no real desire to be president.  He often stated that a spot on the United States Supreme Court was his real goal.  However, in 1908 with Theodore Roosevelt deciding not to run, Taft was convinced by Republican leaders that he was the best person to continue Roosevelt’s policies.  Prior to becoming president Taft had a long, successful career in public service.  Four presidents appointed him government positions, to include cabinet posts.

Besides being president Taft is probably best known for being the first civilian Governor of the Philippine Islands.  Taft was sent to the Philippines in 1900 by President McKinley to help that country prepare for self-rule.  The country had been ruled over by the Spanish until they were defeated by the United States.  As part of the terms of the treaty, the Americans took control of several Spanish possessions, including the Philippines.  The United States had no interest in keeping the Philippines, but felt that they should help them set up a civilian system of governing. 

One of the biggest challenges turned out to be the current governor of the Philippines, Arthur MacArthur (Douglas MacArthur’s father).  MacArthur was the military governor of the Philippines who didn’t like giving up control to a civilian and certainly not a big fat one that smiled all the time.  Taft won the day and sent Arthur MacArthur packing.  Taft turned out to be a very successful governor and was very popular among the Filipinos.  In one instance, Taft took on the Catholic priests on the islands.  Under the Spanish the Catholic priests controlled huge estates.  They lost their holdings during the war with America, but wanted the lands restored.  The Filipinos blamed the priests for much of the tyranny they had endured during the Spanish occupation.  Taft worked out a deal that involved the United States compensating the Catholic priests for the land and them reselling the land to the Filipinos.

In 1903, President Roosevelt offered to nominate Taft for a seat on the Supreme Court, knowing that it was Taft’s ambition.  Taft was always dedicated to any task he took on, and in 1903 he didn’t feel that his work in the Philippines was complete and he decided to turn down the offer (Roosevelt would make the offer 2 or 3 times, but Taft always declined out of a sense of duty).  Finally, in 1904 Taft, feeling that his work in the Philippines was complete, accepted a position as Roosevelt’s Secretary of War.  Taft was one of Roosevelt’s top advisors for the next four years.  Believing that Taft would continue his policies, Roosevelt decided not to run for another term and convinced Taft to run.

Ironically it was Taft’s continuing Roosevelt’s drive to break up some of the big businesses that ultimately led to the break in their relationship.  During the one term of Taft’s administration they filed 90 anti-trust law suits compared to 54 under Roosevelt. The case involved U. S. Steel Corporation, run by J. P. Morgan and its acquisition of a Tennessee company while Roosevelt was president.  During the financial crisis of 1907 Morgan was approached by the government to try and help avoid a financial collapse.  U. S. Steel was allowed to buy several failing brokerage firms.  The firms owned stock in the Tennessee Coal and Iron Company.  This allowed the brokerage firms and the Tennessee company to remain in business.  The suit alleged that Morgan was essentially purchasing the Tennessee company under false pretenses and implied that Roosevelt (who approved the deal) and been played.  It was the naming of Roosevelt, by name, in the suit that caused the break in the relationship.  The break would have far reaching consequences, not just for the two men involved, but for the Republican Party as well.

Taft either never understood the political game, or felt that if he could produce results the politics wouldn’t matter.  Unfortunately for him his policies didn’t make either side of the Republican Party, nor the American people happy.  His support of the Payne-Aldrich Act to lower tariffs (and therefore the cost of goods) alienated businesses and some members of the Republican Party for lower tariffs.  It also angered the Progressive wing of the Republican Party by lowering them enough.  When the Senate finally passed the bill it was with some attachments that actually raised tariffs on some goods.

In the election of 1912 Roosevelt returned with the Bull Moose Party and split the Republican vote.  Taft came in third place behind Roosevelt in the general election losing of course to Woodrow Wilson.  Taft received only 8 electoral votes compared to 88 for Roosevelt and 435 for Wilson.

Happy to leave Washington, Taft returned to academia becoming a Law professor at Yale.  In one of his only positive acts, President Harding finally gave Taft what he had wanted, making him the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court in 1921.  It was this capacity that Taft made some long lasting and positive impacts.  He successfully lobbied Congress to appropriate money to build the Supreme Court its own building (where they sit today) and get them out of the old Senate chamber, believing that in order for the Supreme Court to be a completely separate third branch the new building was necessary.  The building wouldn’t be started until after Taft’s death.  Taft also advocated for the passage of the Judiciary Act of 1925.  The effect of this act is that it allowed the Supreme Court to pick and choose which cases it would hear based on the importance of the law in question.  This greatly reduced the back log of cases on the docket.  Taft remained on the Supreme Court until shortly before his death in 1930.

In the end he is considered, at best, the middle of the pack with respect to American presidents.  It doesn’t help his reputation that the presidents before and after him are both highly regarded.

Try these out at a party!

• At 325 pounds Taft was the heaviest president.  The story goes that he would frequently get stuck in the bath tub at the White House and have to be helped out.
• Taft was part of a line of influential Ohio politicians. 
  • His father served as Secretary of War and Attorney General for President Grant and then as a minister and ambassador under President Arthur.
  • His son Robert A. Taft would serve 4 terms as a United States Senator
  • His grandson, Robert A. Taft Jr., would be elected to the House of Representatives and a term in the United States Senate.
  • His great-grandson, Bob Taft would be serve as Governor of Ohio from 1999 – 2007
• As Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, Taft delivered the oath of office to two presidents; Coolidge and Hoover.
• Within a year of leaving office Taft lost 80 pounds.
• Taft is one of two presidents buried at Arlington Cemetery (Kennedy) and one of four Chief Justices.
• After a fire burned much of the town of Moron, California, in the 1920s, it was renamed Taft, California, in his honor.
• Taft is the last president to have facial hair.
• Contained within the Payne-Aldrich Act was the first corporate income tax.  This would become a significant source of revenue for the government.
• Taft appointed six judges to the Supreme Court; tied with Washington’s six and bested by F. D. R.’s nine.
• Taft was the first president to have a Presidential car

Vital Stats:

• Wife: Helen Herron (1891-1943, m. 1886)
• Children: Robert Alphonso (1889 – 1953), Helen Herron (1891 – 1987), Charles Phelps (1897 – 1983)
• Party affiliation: Republican Party
• Presidency: 1909-1913
• Born: September 15th, 1858 (Cincinnati, Ohio) 
• Died: March 8th, 1930 (Washington D.C.)

26. Theodore Roosevelt

Arguably the most charismatic and energetic of the American Presidents, Teddy Roosevelt still maintains a hold on the American people.  Consistently ranked in the top tier of American presidents, Teddy was an avid outdoorsman, conservationist, believed in the strength of American power and believed that every American deserved a “Square Deal”.  Even though he came from a wealthy New York family, like his distant cousin a couple generations later, he believed that the average American needed, and deserved, a government that would protect them from unfair business practices.

Growing up Teddy suffered many health issues; he was nearsighted, asthmatic and frequently ill.  He became an avid reader and was very interested in books on American history and nature.  Seeing that Teddy was taking care of his intellectual development, his father urged him to become more active or his various ailments would limit his future prospects.  Embarking on a training program that included riding horses, swimming, boxing and hunting, Teddy developed into a healthy teenager.  Before graduating from Harvard, Teddy had already published two books on birds.  He would go on to write more than 18 books (several consisted of multiple volumes) on topics ranging from American history, ranching, exploration and wildlife.  One book that he published in 1882 (at the age of 24) was about the American Navy during the War of 1812.  It didn’t draw much public interest, but was considered a respectable history and became required reading at the Naval War College and a copy was required to be aboard every ship in the US fleet.

Roosevelt entered politics soon after graduating from Harvard, getting elected to the New York state assembly at the age of twenty-three.  Not being one to back down from a fight, Roosevelt quickly starting taking on corrupt judges and supported laws that began regulating working conditions.  Within the New York Republican Party Roosevelt was starting to get noticed as an up and coming force.  It was during his third term that his young wife died a couple days after giving birth to a daughter, Alice (Alice would go on to be a force of her own, probably the most influential child of a president).  His wife’s death hit him hard and he left New York to stay on a cattle ranch that he had purchased in the Dakota Territory.  Leaving his newborn daughter with his sister, Teddy spent about two years living on running his cattle ranch, hunting, studying the plants and wildlife and writing books.

Returning to New York in 1886 Roosevelt fell in love with Edith Kermit Carow. He had known her most his life.  He also returned to New York politics and became a candidate for the Mayor of New York.  Losing badly, he decided to take Edith to London, where they were married.  On their return to the United States they moved into the estate that Roosevelt had built at Oyster Bay, Long Island that he had named Sagamore Hill.  It was here that they would raise their five children (as well as Alice from his first marriage) and spend the rest of their lives.

During the election of 1888 Roosevelt supported Benjamin Harrison.  He was appointed to serve on the U.S. Civil Service Commission by Harrison.  While on the commission Roosevelt earned a reputation as a real reformer by rewriting the civil service exam to make it fairer and opening more jobs to women.  Upon his return to New York City in 1895 Roosevelt took a position as one of the four police commissioners (he had served as a sheriff during his time in the Dakota Territory).  As with anything Teddy took on, he attacked the problems in the New York police department head on.  The New York Police department was considered one of the most corrupt in the country.  Even though he was one of four commissioners, Teddy in his usual fashion stole the limelight.  By the time he was done exposing police bribery rings, enforcing alcohol regulations and establishing new disciplinary rules he was not very popular with many of the powers that controlled New York City.  By this time, though, Roosevelt already had an interest in national politics and knew that his actions would play well in a country where the citizens were tired of the corruption in business and politics.  By the time he left the position he was well known throughout the country; in fact, many Americans thought New York City only had one Police Commissioner.

When William McKinley was elected in 1896, Roosevelt talked many of his friends in Washington into convincing him into appointing Roosevelt has Assistant Secretary of the Navy (a bit ironic given his stance against patronage).  The Secretary of the Navy, John Long, was not very active.  Sensing a power vacuum, Roosevelt filled it as usual.  A story goes that ten days after the U.S. Maine exploded in Havana Harbor the Secretary went off for a massage leaving his assistant in charge for four hours.  During that four hours Roosevelt instructed the Navy worldwide to prepare for war, ordered ammunition and supplies, brought in experts to advise and went to Congress requesting person to recruit more sailors.  The Navy at that time had a fleet in Asia commanded by Commodore George Dewey.  Roosevelt’s instructions to Dewey were to move the fleet to the Philippines and prepare to attack the Spanish-held islands.  Roosevelt’s actions were crucial in ensuring a quick defeat of the Spanish Navy.

When the Spanish-American War did break out, Roosevelt resigned his position with the Navy and recruited a regiment of his friends, both cowboys from the Dakota Territory and his Ivy League friends.  The regiment officially known as the 1st U.S. Volunteer Cavalry Unit became known as the “Rough Riders”.   During the Battles of Kettle Hill and San Juan Hill the unit performed heroically under the leadership of Roosevelt.  Already being well known from his time as the New York Police Commissioner, Teddy’s fame continued to climb.  For his actions Roosevelt was nominated for the Medal of Honor.

During and after the war the newspapers took to calling him Teddy, which Roosevelt hated, calling it “an outrageous impertinence”.  In the summer after the war, Roosevelt accepted a Republican invitation to run for Governor of New York.  Winning the race narrowly, Roosevelt took the job with the now familiar energy and single mindedness that made him famous.  He advocated for higher pay for teachers, supported pro-labor legislation, led support for a bill that outlawed racial discrimination in schools and pushed for preservation for forests and wildlife; all were themes that he had consistently supported.

All of his actions were a thorn in the side of the New York political power brokers like “Boss” Platt.  Platt, in his effort to get rid of Roosevelt, convinced the Republican Party to essentially sideline him by putting him on the 1900 ticket with McKinley.  In those days the vice-president had no political power.  Not everyone was that anxious to have Roosevelt a heart-beat away from the presidency.  When Mark Hanna, a major force in the Republican Party, found out that the members of the party wanted to nominate Roosevelt for vice-president said, “Why, everybody's gone crazy! What is the matter with all of you? Here's this convention going headlong for Roosevelt for Vice President. Don't any of you realize that there's only one life between that madman and the Presidency? Platt (Senator from NY) and Quay are no better than idiots! What harm can he do as Governor of New York compared to the damage he will do as President if McKinley should die?” Because the Republican establishment felt that they had effectively put a muzzle on Roosevelt, it made the shock of the assassination of McKinley even harder.  Only six months into his second term McKinley was assassinated and Theodore Roosevelt became the 26th President of the United States.  Mark Hanna, on hearing of McKinley’s death said, “Now look, that damn cowboy is President of the United States”.

Anyone that had followed the career of Theodore Roosevelt knew what was coming.  Even though McKinley was the first president to be seen regularly on film, Roosevelt understood the power of the medium.  With the conviction that he was working for the ordinary American Roosevelt immediately turned his sights on big businesses.  Unlike some of the more radical reformers, Roosevelt did not want to break up all big businesses, just the ones that he felt were exploiting their size for financial gain at the expense of public good.  Roosevelt earned a reputation as a “trustbuster” by bringing more regulations on businesses.  Trusts were formed by big businesses that made similar products or provided similar services in an effort to control the market and keep out potential competitors.  During his terms in office, his administration filed 43 lawsuits against various trusts.  The most important was the victory against Northern Securities Company, a combination of several railroad companies that operated as one company to control shipping prices.  Roosevelt created an environment in Washington where it was no longer possible to just look the other way when these big trusts forced out competition.  Probably the biggest victory of the government over big business happened during his successor’s administration with the break-up of Standard Oil.

Throughout his terms Roosevelt was consistent in his belief that every American deserved a “Square Deal”, meaning that the government would not show preferential treatment to anyone, rich or poor, but would try to make sure that the playing field was as fair as possible.  In this vein he put Oliver Wendell Holmes on the U.S. Supreme Court, believing that Holmes would support his efforts to break up the large companies.  In general Holmes did support that effort, but insisted on reviewing each case on its own.

In foreign policy, Roosevelt often said when negotiating one should “speak softly and carry a big stick”, meaning that you should attempt a peaceful resolution to all international issues, but be prepared to back up the talk with action.  By issuing a policy that became known as the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine he stated that if any country in the Western Hemisphere acted in a way that caused a European country to intervene then the U.S. would consider it a threat to its own interests.  His most controversial stand involved Panama.  At that time it was part of Columbia.  The French had started planning to build a canal through Panama that would essentially connect the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and reduce the amount of time by half for a ship to travel from one side to the other.   Initially conceived as a way to get goods from one side to the other faster, Roosevelt recognized the military advantages.  When Columbia refused the canal plans Roosevelt supported a separatist movement that wanted an independent Panama.  Roosevelt moved U.S. Naval vessels off the coast of Columbia to prevent Columbia from intervening.  The United States officially recognized the independent country of Panama and for its support received full control of a ten mile strip of land in which to build a canal.  The U.S. retained control of the Panama Canal until Dec 31st, 1999 when the country of Panama took control with a pledge to keep the canal neutral.

Winning his own term outright in 1904 Roosevelt continued his crusade against unfair business practices.  As part of this he signed the Hepburn Act which gave the Interstate Commerce Commission the power to set railroad freight prices. Another key piece of legislation that he signed was the Pure Food and Drug bill which set standards for food safety and regulated medicine.  Food safety had become a major issue in the country with the publication of Upton Sinclair’s book, The Jungle, which exposed horrific conditions in meat packing plants.

One of T.R.’s most lasting legacies is his efforts around conservation.  During the seven years that he was in office he had doubled the number of national parks, created fifty-one wildlife refuges and proclaimed eighteen national monuments.  Two of the national treasures that he effectively saved from developments were Yellowstone National Park and the Grand Canyon National Monument (which would become a national park).

Keeping his pledge not to run for a second full term Roosevelt effectively chose his successor by supporting William Howard Taft in the 1908 election.  Shortly after leaving office he went on an African adventure partly sponsored by the Smithsonian Institution to study the wildlife.  On his return he was not happy with the direction that Taft had taken the country and decided to run against him in the 1912 election.  Taft supporters were able to hold him off for the Republican nomination, but because of that Teddy decided to create a third party, the Bull Moose party. After splitting the Republican vote, the move gave the election to Woodrow Wilson.

Roosevelt died in his sleep in January, 1919.  At the time of his death Vice President Thomas Marshall said “Death had to take him sleeping, for if Roosevelt had been awake, there would have been a fight.”  That’s a pretty good summary of the life of Theodore Roosevelt.

Bully!

• On a hunting trip Teddy Roosevelt refused to shoot at a small bear cub.  The incident was published in the news inspiring a toy company to create “Teddy Bears”.
• Every member of Teddy Roosevelt’s family owned a set of stilts, including his wife.
• At the age of 42, Teddy Roosevelt was the youngest man to become president.  He became president on the death of William McKinley.  JFK remains the youngest man elected president.
• When Teddy was running for election in 1912 he was shot in the chest while giving a speech in Milwaukee.  He refused medical care and continued on with his speech.  The bullet had passed through the steel case for his glasses and a 50 page copy of his speech.  Teddy decided that since he wasn’t spitting blood the bullet hadn’t penetrated too far. He was right.
• Teddy’s first wife and mother died on the same day, February 14th, 1884, his wife of Bright’s disease and his mother of Typhoid fever.  His first daughter Alice had been born only two days prior.
• He was awarded the 1906 Nobel Peace Prize for negotiating the end of the Russo-Japanese War in Portsmouth, New Hampshire in 1905.  Only three American Presidents have won the Nobel Peace prize. Carter and Obama are the other two.
• He was the first American to win a Nobel Prize in any field
• In 1906, Roosevelt traveled to Panama, becoming the first sitting president to visit a foreign country. 
• Only president to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor
• Teddy and his son  Gen.Theodore Roosevelt Jr. are one of only two sets of fathers and sons to both win the Medal of Honor.  His son won the Medal of Honor for bravery leading an assault during the D-Day landings in WWII.  As a Brigadier General he was the highest ranking soldier in the first wave at Omaha Beach.  He died a month later from a heart attack at the age of 56.  President Teddy Roosevelt received the Medal of Honor for bravery during the Spanish American War. It was awarded posthumously in 2000 by President Bill Clinton.  The other set were Gen. Arthur McArthur and his son Gen. Douglass McArthur.
• He was the only president who always carried a gun with him while he was president.
• In the election of 1912, Roosevelt running under the newly formed Bull Moose party became the only 3rd party candidate to come in second, losing to Woodrow Wilson.
• As near as I can find, Teddy Roosevelt was the only president married overseas. He was married to his second wife Edith in London.
• He originated such familiar phrases as "the lunatic fringe," "muckrakers," and "my hat is in the ring."
• He also coined the term hyphenated Americans stating that “There is no room in this country for hyphenated Americanism…  The one absolutely certain way of bringing this nation to ruin, of preventing all possibility of its continuing to be a nation at all, would be to permit it to become a tangle of squabbling nationalities.”
• The executive mansion was called the President's House until TR called it the White House on his stationery.
• While president, Roosevelt used to spar several rounds in the White House gym. (He had been on the boxing team at Harvard.) Once, he even went a few rounds with John L. Sullivan, the heavyweight champion. On one unfortunate occasion, the President's sparring partner scored with a hard blow to the left eye. As a result of the blow, TR permanently lost the use of this eye. The injury, however, remained a well-kept secret for years, simply because TR feared the humiliation that would result from the news that the President had been blinded in one eye during a sparring session in the White House gym.
• He was the first president to ride in an automobile on state business
• He was the first president to fly in an airplane
• He was the first president to ride in a submarine

Vital Stats:

• Wife: Alice Hathaway Lee (1861-1884, m. 1880), Edith Kermit Carow (1861 – 1948, m. 1886) 
• Children: Alice Lee (1884 – 1980), Theodore Jr. (1887 – 1944), Kermit (1889 – 1943), Ethel Carow (1891 – 1977), Archibald Bulloch (1894 – 1979), Quentin (1897 – 1918)
• Party affiliation: Republican Party, Bull Moose Party 
• Presidency: 1901-1909
• Born: October 7th, 1858 (New York, New York) 
• Died: January 6th, 1919 (Oyster Bay, Long Island, New York)

25. William McKinley

The two things that people probably know about President William McKinley is that he was assassinated in office and the Spanish American War took place during his administration.  McKinley is sometimes called the first modern president.  During his terms, the United States really emerged as a world leader from an industrial, economic and military standpoint.  Many of his policies continued well into the 20th century.  His view on the powers of the president was much broader than the presidents immediately before him.

Before becoming president, McKinley served as a congressman from Ohio and the Governor of Ohio.  It was while he was serving in Congress that he authored and was able to get the McKinley Tariff Act passed.  The act raised tariffs on most imported goods.  He felt that the domestic industries needed the tariff protection to allow them to compete with foreign goods.  The new tariffs were unpopular around the country as it meant that consumers would have to pay more for their goods.  The McKinley Tariff Act is credited with contributing to the loss of 93 Republican seats in the House of Representatives and giving the Democrats a large majority (238-86) in the midterm elections of 1890.  One of the Republican seats lost was McKinley’s as he lost a close race.  He served a total of 6 terms in the House, where he became very knowledgeable about the workings of the legislative branch and how to get laws passed.

Through both his congressional and gubernatorial career McKinley was a consistent supporter of a laissez-faire approach to the economy.  That means government for the most part did not interfere with business with unnecessary regulations or laws.  McKinley had flip-flopped on the issue of bimetallism, but in the presidential campaign of 1896 he came out strongly in favor of the gold standard.  This coupled with his consistent approach to tariffs made him very popular with businesses.  He easily beat William Jennings Bryan for the presidency.  Repeating the economic policies of McKinley, presidential candidates from the Republican Party would go on to win 7 of the next 9 presidential elections and hold the office for 28 of the next 36 years.

One of the biggest things that occurred during his presidency was the Spanish-American War.  The outcome of this war is still felt today.  Prior to the McKinley presidency, America was largely an isolationist country.  We occasionally rattled our sword to ward off European interests in South and Central America citing the Monroe Doctrine, but that was the extent.  However in the mid 1890s, the Cuban people started to revolt against the Spanish presence.  Stories, largely fabricated, about the treatment of the Cubans by the Spanish started to be printed in American newspapers.  This was the era of Yellow journalism and the competition to sell newspapers was heating up between William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer.  The sensational stories fired up the public who now believed that military action was required against the Spanish on behalf of the Cuban people.  McKinley urged patience and diplomacy.  However, on the February 15th, 1898, the U.S.S. Maine, a U.S. Navy ship that was anchored at the harbor in Havana, exploded, killing 266 sailors on board.  McKinley continued to urge caution until the official cause of the explosion was known. To this day there doesn’t seem to be a clear explanation for the explosion on the Maine.  There are a couple theories: a naval mine planted by the Spanish Navy, an undetected fire in one her coal bunkers or that it was intentionally to bring the U.S. into the war.  At this point the cause was irrelevant. In April, McKinley asked Congress to declare war against Spain.  The war only lasted a little over four months, but there were several important outcomes:

• The rise of Teddy Roosevelt after his heroism at the Battle of San Juan Hill
• The emergence of the United States Navy as a world power (they won crucial battles in Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Philippines)
• The acquisition by the United States, as part of the peace treaty, of several Spanish holdings to include Guam, Puerto Rico and the Philippines

For the first time in history, the United States was in possession of lands that were not part of North America.  This led to the Democrats saying that McKinley was trying to create an American empire on the model of the European countries.

In the Philippines, insurrections were started by rebels that were no more interested in being ruled by the United States than they were by the Spanish.  Over the next several years McKinley sent 70,000 troops to put down the insurrection.  The fighting went on until 1902 when the rebels were finally defeated.  Additionally, McKinley’s Open Door Policy was threatened by the Boxer Rebellion.  The Boxer Rebellion was an uprising in China against foreign influence.  The Boxers (nicknamed by western diplomats and businesses) were a group that called themselves the Righteous and Harmonious Fists.  McKinley sent in U.S. Marines to fight alongside other Western Powers to put down the rebellion.

McKinley sailed to re-election in 1900, easily defeating William Jennings Bryan yet again.  In September 1901, only a few months into his second term, McKinley decided to visit the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York.  On September 5, he went into the Temple of Music and greeted a line of people that wanted to shake hands with the president.  One of the people in line turned out to be Leon Czolgosz.  Czolgosz had his right hand bandaged to conceal the .32 caliber pistol that he was carrying.  When he reached the front of the line he shot McKinley twice.  The first bullet grazed his shoulder, but the second hit him in the stomach.  There were many ironies surrounding the operation. First, the recently invented x-ray machine was on display at the exposition, but doctors were concerned about using it because they didn’t know what side effects it would have. Also, despite the thousands of lights embellishing the exteriors of the exposition buildings, the operating room did not have one.  The doctors had to work by reflecting light off of metal pans. (They couldn’t use candles due to the use of ether) McKinley lived for eight days following the shooting.

McKinley’s biggest legacy in my opinion is the change in American foreign policy and the expansion of American influence around the world.  This is one of the primary reasons that he is referred to as the first modern president.

Trivia:

• He was the last president elected in the 19th century
• His first inauguration was the first presidential inauguration to be filmed
• He was the first president to appear on film extensively
• His face is on the $500 bill
• McKinley was the first president to ride in a self-propelled vehicle.  Unfortunately it was the electric powered ambulance that took him to the hospital after he had been shot.
• McKinley and Benjamin Harrison died the same year (1901).  On only two other occasions has more than one president died in the same year; 1826 Adams and Jefferson, 1862 Tyler and Van Buren
• Last Civil War veteran to become president.  He served under General Rutherford Hayes and eventually reached the rank of Captain.
• McKinley entered the Civil War as an enlisted soldier and was promoted to first lieutenant for bravery during the battle of Antietam
• His vice president during his first term, Garret Hobart, died in office in 1899.  For the remainder of his first term he did not have a vice president.
• One of his Secretaries of State was John Hay who had been Abraham Lincolns personal secretary
• After he was shot he was heard to say to his secretary George Cortelyou “My wife, Cortelyou, be careful how you tell her, oh be careful.”  His wife Ida was in very poor health at this time.
• After Leon shot McKinley the crowd jumped on him.  McKinley was heard to say “Boys!  Don’t let them hurt him.” because it appeared that the crowd was going to kill him on the spot.
• The building where he was shot was torn down, as was all of the exposition building.  There is a stone marker on a residential street in Buffalo that marks the approximate location of the shooting.
• There is some controversy around the naming of Mt. McKinley in Alaska.  In the late 1890’s a gold prospector, who was a McKinley supported, named the mountain Mt. McKinley.  The local people in the area call the mountain Denali.  In fact the officially registered name in the Alaska Board of Geographic Names is Denali while in the national Board of Geographic Names it is called Mt. McKinley.  Attempts by the Alaskan delegation in congress to change the name to Denali in the national register have been blocked several times by the Ohio delegation.

Vital Stats:

• Wife: Ida Saxton (1847-1907, m. 1871)
• Children: Katherine (1871-1876), Esther (1873-1873)
• Party affiliation: Republican Party 
• Presidency: 1897-1901
• Born: January 29th, 1843 (Niles, Ohio) 
• Died: September 14th, 1901 (Buffalo, New York)

23. Benjamin Harrison

It’s really no surprise that Benjamin Harrison went into politics.  He belonged to a prominent Virginia family that settled in America in 1630.  His great-grandfather, also named Benjamin Harrison, was a signer of the Declaration of Independence; his grandfather, William Henry Harrison was President of the United States; and his father was a congressman from Ohio. 

Harrison graduated from the University of Miami in Oxford, Ohio in 1852.  Caroline Scott, his future wife, attended the Oxford Female Institute across town.  They were married by her father, a Presbyterian minister, in 1853.  They would eventually have two children.  In 1854, Harrison used some money that he inherited from an aunt to move to Indianapolis and began practicing law.

The newly formed Indiana Republican Party gave Harrison the political experience that he was looking for.  He was elected to the post of recorder for the Indiana Supreme Court in 1860.  When the civil war broke out, Harrison had a successful law firm going with William Fishback so he was hesitant to leave.  Ultimately, in 1862, he volunteered to raise a regiment at the urging of Governor Morton, who felt that Indiana was not doing its part to support the war effort.  Harrison’s unit, the 70th Indiana Infantry Regiment spent most of the time from 1862-1864 doing reconnaissance missions and guarding railroads.  In 1864, his unit was transferred to General Sherman and took part in key battles during Sherman’s March to the Sea campaign.  Before the end of the war in 1865, Harrison received his final promotion to brigadier general.  After the war Harrison returned to Indianapolis to continue his law practice.

His law practice continued to thrive and Harrison grew in stature in the Republican Party.  This increased stature did not equate to electoral success.  Harrison lost the election for Indiana Governor twice (1872 & 1876).  In 1881 the Indiana legislature elected Harrison to serve in the United States Senate.  Serving in the Senate from 1881-1887, he championed many of the causes that he would fight for during his presidency.  He lost his bid for re-election in 1886 when the newly Democratic legislature selected a Democrat to fill the seat.  The Democratic Party completed a redistricting of the state in 1885 which resulted in increased seats for democrats even though the overall state was heavily republican.

Harrison received the Republican nomination for President in 1888.  He was not the leading candidate; in fact he was fourth on the first ballot.  As so often has happened the support for the top candidates decreased and Harrison was able to secure the nomination on the eighth ballot.  Harrison defeated the incumbent president (Grover Cleveland) while losing the popular vote.

As president Harrison faced several international issues.  Fishing rights in the Bering Sea caused a conflict with Great Britain that had to be resolved through arbitration using a third party.  American soldiers were attacked in Chile leading Harrison to threaten to break diplomatic ties.  This was eventually resolved with an apology and reparations from the government of Chile.  The final international issue arose due in part to a rise in the Italian mafia in New Orleans.  A police officer was killed and this was followed by the killing of 11 Italians by an angry mob.  Harrison apologized to the Italian government.  The Italian government wanted the perpetrators charged in federal court, but Harrison explained that it would be unconstitutional for the federal government to step in.

Late in his presidency some Americans started a revolt in Hawaii against Queen Liliuokalani who had started to take actions that were not favorable to American businesses in Hawaii.  The insurrection was successful and the Americans asked that the United States annex Hawaii, Harrison was in favor of this since it would give the navy an increased presence in the Pacific Ocean.  Harrison started the process, but it was not completed before he left office and Cleveland withdrew the request from Congress.

On the domestic front Harrison, favored and signed the McKinley Tariff Act increasing tariffs on many imported goods.  This caused a problem with the federal budget because it was already running a surplus and this act just increased it.  The 51st Congress, often referred to as the Billion-dollar Congress, decided to dramatically increase spending.  Some of the spending went to increasing benefits to Civil War veterans, including people who didn’t even fight in the war, children of veterans and for injuries suffered after the war.

The other major piece of legislations was the Sherman Antitrust Act which forbade big companies from driving smaller companies out of business.

Harrison was generally viewed as a nice, honest person, but was not able to rally great enthusiasm for his causes.  By the end of his first term his popularity was declining, in part because the public did not approve of the McKinley Tariff Act and the increased government spending.  During the campaign of 1892 Harrison’s wife, Caroline, became very ill.  He refused to leave her bedside and did not campaign.  Out of respect Grover Cleveland did not campaign either.  In the end Cleveland beat Harrison both the popular vote and the Electoral College.  Caroline died shortly before the election.

Moving back to Indianapolis, Harrison stayed active in local and national politics.  It was an active retirement.  He lectured on constitutional law at Stanford University, wrote a book called This Country of Ours and remarried.  The second marriage was to Caroline’s niece, Mary Scott Lord Dimmick, who was a widow.  Mary was 25 years younger than Harrison and they had one child, Elizabeth.

In 1900, the nation of Venezuela hired Harrison to represent their interests at the International Court of Arbitration.  Venezuela was involved in a border dispute with Great Britain.  Harrison traveled to Paris to represent his client, but lost the case.  In early 1901 Harrison fell ill and died from pneumonia at his home in Indianapolis.

Harrison’s primary legacy is probably around his international affairs.  It was really during his administration that the United States started to emerge as a player on the international scene.

Party Conversation Starters:

• On of Benjamin Harrison’s nicknames was Centennial President because he took office 100 years after Washington (1889).  George H. W. Bush would be the Bicentennial President.
• In 1878, John Scott Harrison’s (Benjamin’s father) body was stolen and sold to the Ohio Medical College in Cincinnati.  It was eventually recovered and reburied.
• He had electricity installed in the White House for the first time; however, neither he nor Caroline would touch the light switches for fear of electrocution!
• The oldest known recording of a President’s voice is of Benjamin Harrison.  Hayes was the first to have his voice recorded, but no copy is believed to still exist.
• Queen Victoria had the Resolute Desk built and sent to Benjamin Harrison as a gift.  It was made from the timbers of the HMS Resolute, an English ship that was recovered and returned to the Queen.  An exact copy was placed in Windsor Castle.  Several Presidents have used this desk and it is currently in use by Barack Obama in the Oval Office.
• Neither of his children with Caroline attended his second wedding in 1896 to Caroline’s niece.
• It was raining during Harrison’s inauguration ceremony so Grover Cleveland held an umbrella over Harrison’s head.
• More states were added to the union during Harrison’s term (6) than any since Washington: North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Washington, Idaho and Wyoming.
• During his retirement, he served on the Board of Trustees of Purdue University.  The dorm Harrison Hall is named after him.

Vital Stats:

• Wife: Caroline Lavinia Scott (1832-1892, m. 1853); Mary Scott Lord Dimmick (1858-1948, m. 1896) 
• Children: Russell Benjamin (1854-1936), Mary Scott (1858-1930), unnamed girl (died at birth in 1861), Elizabeth(1897-1955) 
• Party affiliation: Republican Party 
• Presidency: 1889-1893
• Born: August 20, 1833 (North Bend, Ohio) 
• Died: March13, 1901 (Indianapolis, Indiana)

22/24 Grover Cleveland

The two terms of Grover Cleveland cause some level of confusion to this day.  If anyone knows anything about the presidency of Grover Cleveland, it is that he is the only president with nonconsecutive terms.  So he is considered the 22nd and 24th president.  This throws the numbering off and during Obama’s inaugural address in 2009, he stated “Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath.”  He was wrong.  He is the 44th president, but only the 43rd person to take the oath due to Cleveland’s nonconsecutive terms.

Grover Cleveland was born Stephen Grover Cleveland in New Jersey, the fifth of nine children.  His father, Richard, died when Grover was 16 years old.  He gave up plans for college and ended up moving to Buffalo, where his uncle owned a ranch.  While in Buffalo he studied for and passed the bar in 1859.  When the Civil War broke out Cleveland hired another man, George Benninsky, to take his place. This was legal under the Federal Conscription Act.

He practiced law on and off for the next 20 years, dabbling in politics along the way.  He lost an election for District Attorney in 1865 and was elected sheriff of Erie County in 1870.  His reputation was increasing and he was elected Mayor of Buffalo in 1881, where he earned the nickname “veto mayor”.  Cleveland found that most of the city contracts were being awarded to a few connected people and started to expose the practice.

This era in New York politics was a battle between entrenched party machines like Roscoe Conklings, and the reformers who felt that contracts and government jobs should be based on merit.  The battle was going on at the national level as well with James Garfield and, later, Chester Arthur fighting against the status quo.  In this environment Cleveland easily won the 1882 race for Governor of New York as a reformer.  In his first two months in office he vetoed eight bills.  The first one that received attention was a bill to reduce the fare on New York City trains.  The bill was popular in part because Jay Gould, who owned the trains, was unpopular.  However, Cleveland believed that it was unfair, Gould had taken over the failing trains and made the system profitable again.

Cleveland had built a reputation as a reformer, so he was the front runner for the Democratic nomination for president in the election of 1884.  James Blaine turned out to be his Republican opponent.  There were many shortcomings to the Blaine candidacy, including close ties to the railroads and big business.  In an age of reform these would be held against him.  The only thing that seems to have caused a bump in the road was a minor scandal. 

OK, maybe fathering an illegitimate child in 1874 isn’t a minor scandal.  He did have relations with the woman, but apparently so did several other men.  Cleveland took the high road and sent money to the woman to support the child.  Even during the election he admitted fathering the child despite lack of proof that the child was his.  It is believed that he did this because of all the men involved with her, he was the only bachelor.

Winning the election comfortably in the electoral college (219-182) Cleveland prepared to move to DC.  During his first term he supported the rights of Native Americans.  During the Arthur administration almost 500,000 acres of tribal land had been offered for sale.  Much of this land was returned during Cleveland’s term.  He was not, however, supportive of women’s rights.  It was during this time that Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton published the three volumes of The History of Women’s Suffrage and were pushing to get the right to vote.  Cleveland’s sister, who served as his hostess since he wasn’t married, was a strong supporter of the suffrage movement.  On a side note, The History of Women’s Suffrage is a free download on the Kindle!

During his first term he was faced with a budget surplus that members of Congress wanted to spend on pet projects in their districts.  Cleveland believed that the surplus was due to high tariffs and favored lowering the tariffs to bring relief to consumers.  The tariffs were supported by businesses because it made imported products more expensive.  Congress did not support his view and the tariff question became an issue in the 1888 election.

Also during his first term he supported the creation of the Interstate Commerce Commission.  The ICC was originally created to regulate the railroads and ensure rates were fair.  Over time the reach of this agency was increased to cover telegraphs, telephones, trucking, wireless carriers and busing.  The ICC survived until 1995 when it was replaced by Surface Transportation Board. The telephone portion of the regulations were moved to the Federal Communications Commission in 1934.  The ICC was the first independent agency created by the federal government.

In 1886 Cleveland married Frances Folsom in the White House.  There was a 27 year difference in the newly married couples ages.  Francis was the daughter of an old law partner of Cleveland’s.  When Francis was born Grover bought the parents a baby carriage for her. In fact, when her father died, Grover even took over the upbringing of young Francis.  The public was aware of all of the circumstances around the couple, but didn’t seem to mind.

The election of 1888 remains the one of the closest in history.  In fact, Cleveland received 100,000 more popular votes than Harrison, but Harrison easily won the electoral count (233-168).  Harrison’s home state of Indiana was a key state in 1888 and Harrison won that state due in part to an infamous fraud called the Blocks of Five.  People essentially sold their votes.

Returning to his law practice, Cleveland continued to follow politics and voiced his opposition to bimetallism, which would allow silver to also be used to mint money.  The Harrison administration signed the McKinley Tariff Act of 1890 which raised taxes on imports.   This was very unpopular with the public and in the 1892 election they elected Cleveland to his second term.

The beginning of his second term was made difficult due to a financial crisis.  The financial crisis led to failed businesses, higher unemployment and labor unrest as the surviving companies looked to cut costs through wage and benefit cuts.  The  Pulman Strike in 1894 led to the shutdown of some of the railroad lines.  Cleveland, feeling that because the railroads carried U.S. Mail, sent in troops to Chicago to break the strike.

He also had to deal with international issues citing the Monroe Doctrine to support Venezuela and Cuba as they fought against European powers.  Viewing the attempted annexation of Hawaii by Harrison as American Imperialism he withdrew the treatise from congress only five days after taking office.

During his second term Cleveland faced a serious medical issue.  A tumor had formed on the roof of his mouth.  It was decided that the tumor would need to be removed.  Because the financial markets were still agitated and the midterm elections were approaching Cleveland decided to have the operation in secret.  The operation took place aboard a yacht (the Oneida) off Long Island.  It involved removing a portion of his upper jaw that left him disfigured; a hard rubber prosthetic was created to disguise it.

By the end of his second term his popularity was low so the democrats selected William Jennings Bryan (who lost to William McKinley).  He returned to private life, having two more children after leaving office and living until 1908.

Trivia:

• The city of Cleveland, Ohio is named for one of Grover Cleveland’s ancestors, General Moses Cleaveland.  The village of Cleaveland was founded in 1796 and named for the leader of the group.  A story is that in 1832 the local newspaper, The Cleveland Advertiser, dropped the ‘a’ because the full original spelling wouldn’t fit on the paper’s masthead.  Another story states that the original surveying party misspelled it on the original map.
• Grover Cleveland is the only president to have a job as a hangman.  He was once the sheriff of Erie County, New York and twice had to spring the trap at a hanging.
• Cleveland is on the $1,000 bill.  The $1,000 bill is still used as legal tender, but is no longer being printed.
• Cleveland dedicated the Statue of Liberty on October 26th, 1886
• Cleveland won the popular vote in 3 consecutive presidential elections.  Only FDR exceeded that accomplishment.
• His second vice-president Adlai Stevenson I, is the grandfather of Adlai Stevenon III, the Democratic candidate for president in 1952 and 1956.
• When Cleveland won the presidential election in 1884 he was the first Democratic president in 24 years.
• Cleveland was the second of three presidents that were mayors at some point; A. Johnson (Greeneville, Tenn), Coolidge (Northampton, Mass)
• Because of the revelation about his fathering an illegitimate child Republicans would chant “Ma, Ma where’s my Pa” at campaign stops.  Once he won the election his supporters added “Gone to the White House, ha ha ha”
• One of the other men that was thought to be the possible father of the illegitimate child was Richard Folsom, his law partner and his future wife’s father!
• As president he vetoed more bills than any of his predecessors.
• At 21, Francis remains the youngest first lady
• Francis and Jackie Kennedy are the only first ladies to remarry after the death of their husbands
• There is a new book about the secret surgery called “The President is a Sick Man”.

Vital Stats:

• Wife: Francis Folsom (1864-1947, m. 1886)
• Children: Oscar Folsom (1874-?, the illegitimate child), Ruth (1891-1904), Esther (1893-1980), Marion (1895-1977), Richard Folsom (1897-1974), Francis Grover (1903-1995)
• Party affiliation: Democratic Party 
• Presidency: 1881-1885
• Born: March 18th, 1837 (Caldwell, New Jersey) 
• Died: June 24th, 1908 (Princeton, New Jersey)