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  Harrison, Benjamin
CANDIDATE DETAILS
AffiliationRepublican  
<-  1896-01-01  
 
NameBenjamin Harrison
Address1230 N. Delaware Street
Indianapolis, Indiana , United States
EmailNone
WebsiteNone
Born August 20, 1833
DiedMarch 13, 1901 (67 years)
ContributorJake
Last ModifedNJLBT
Feb 17, 2021 07:27pm
Tags English - Presbyterian -
InfoNominated for President on the eighth ballot at the 1888 Republican Convention, Benjamin Harrison conducted one of the first “front-porch” campaigns, delivering short speeches to delegations that visited him in Indianapolis. As he was only 5 feet, 6 inches tall, Democrats called him “Little Ben”; Republicans replied that he was big enough to wear the hat of his grandfather, “Old Tippecanoe.”

Born in 1833 on a farm by the Ohio River below Cincinnati, Harrison attended Miami University in Ohio and read law in Cincinnati. He moved to Indianapolis, where he practiced law and campaigned for the Republican Party. He married Caroline Lavinia Scott in 1853. After the Civil War–he was Colonel of the 70th Volunteer Infantry–Harrison became a pillar of Indianapolis, enhancing his reputation as a brilliant lawyer.

The Democrats defeated him for Governor of Indiana in 1876 by unfairly stigmatizing him as “Kid Gloves” Harrison. In the 1880’s he served in the United States Senate, where he championed Indians. homesteaders, and Civil War veterans.

In the Presidential election, Harrison received 100,000 fewer popular votes than Cleveland, but carried the Electoral College 233 to 168. Although Harrison had made no political bargains, his supporters had given innumerable pledges upon his behalf.

When Boss Matt Quay of Pennsylvania heard that Harrison ascribed his narrow victory to Providence, Quay exclaimed that Harrison would never know “how close a number of men were compelled to approach… the penitentiary to make him President.”

Harrison was proud of the vigorous foreign policy which he helped shape. The first Pan American Congress met in Washington in 1889, establishing an information center which later became the Pan American Union. At the end of his administration Harrison submitted to the Senate a treaty to annex Hawaii; to his disappointment, President Cleveland later withdrew it.

Substantial appropriation bills were signed by Harrison for internal improvements, naval expansion, and subsidies for steamship lines. For the first time except in war, Congress appropriated a billion dollars. When critics attacked “the billion-dollar Congress,” Speaker Thomas B. Reed replied, “This is a billion-dollar country.” President Harrison also signed the Sherman Anti-Trust Act “to protect trade and commerce against unlawful restraints and monopolies,” the first Federal act attempting to regulate trusts.

The most perplexing domestic problem Harrison faced was the tariff issue. The high tariff rates in effect had created a surplus of money in the Treasury. Low-tariff advocates argued that the surplus was hurting business. Republican leaders in Congress successfully met the challenge. Representative William McKinley and Senator Nelson W. Aldrich framed a still higher tariff bill; some rates were intentionally prohibitive.

Harrison tried to make the tariff more acceptable by writing in reciprocity provisions. To cope with the Treasury surplus, the tariff was removed from imported raw sugar; sugar growers within the United States were given two cents a pound bounty on their production.

Long before the end of the Harrison Administration, the Treasury surplus had evaporated, and prosperity seemed about to disappear as well. Congressional elections in 1890 went stingingly against the Republicans, and party leaders decided to abandon President Harrison although he had cooperated with Congress on party legislation. Nevertheless, his party renominated him in 1892, but he was defeated by Cleveland.

After he left office, Harrison returned to Indianapolis, and married the widowed Mrs. Mary Dimmick in 1896. A dignified elder statesman, he died in 1901.

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JOB APPROVAL POLLS
DateFirmApproveDisapproveDon't Know
06/13/2007-06/24/2007 Rasmussen Reports 30.00% ( 0.0) 35.00% ( 0.0) 35.00% ( 0.0)

BOOKS
Title Purchase Contributor

EVENTS
Start Date End Date Type Title Contributor

NEWS
Date Category Headline Article Contributor

DISCUSSION
Importance? 10.00000 Average

FAMILY
Wife Caroline Lavinia Scott Harrison 00, 1853-Oct 25, 1892
Wife Mary Scott Lord Dimmick Harrison Apr 06, 1896-Mar 13, 1901
Son Russell Benjamin Harrison 1854-1936
Grandson William H. Harrison 1896-1990
Daughter Mary "Mamie" Scott Harrison McKee 1858-1930
Daughter Elizabeth Harrison Walker 1897-1955
Father John Scott Harrison 1804-1878
Grandfather William Henry Harrison 1773-1841
Great-Grandfather Benjamin Harrison 1726-1791
Grand Uncle Carter B. Harrison 1756-1808
Great-Grandmother Elizabeth Harrison 1730-1792
Aunt Elizabeth "Betsey" Bassett Harrison Short 1796-1846
Uncle John Cleves Symmes Harrison 1798-1830
Aunt Lucy Singleton Harrison Este 1800-1826
Uncle William Henry Harrison, Jr. 1802-1838
Uncle Benjamin Harrison 1806-1840
Aunt Mary Symmes Harrison Thornton 1809-1842
Uncle Carter Bassett Harrison 1811-1839
Aunt Anna Tuthill Harrison Taylor 1813-1845
Uncle James Findlay Harrison 1814-1817
Grandmother Anna Tuthill Symmes Harrison 1775-1864
Great-Grandfather John C. Symmes 1742-1814

INFORMATION LINKS
Benjamin Harrison - First Annual Message (December 3, 1889)  Discuss
Benjamin Harrison - Fourth Annual Message (December 6, 1892)  Discuss
Benjamin Harrison - Second Annual Message (December 1, 1890)  Discuss
Benjamin Harrison - Third Annual Message (December 9, 1891)  Discuss
President Benjamin Harrison Inaugural Address March 4, 1889  Discuss
RACES
  01/09/1893 US President Lost 32.66% (-29.73%)
  11/08/1892 US President National Vote Lost 42.96% (-3.09%)
  06/10/1892 US President - R Convention Won 59.16% (+38.96%)
  01/14/1889 US President Won 58.10% (+16.21%)
  11/06/1888 US President National Vote Lost 47.82% (-0.80%)
  06/25/1888 US President - R Convention Won 37.67% (+20.43%)
  11/02/1886 IN US Senate Lost 0.00% (-100.00%)
  11/02/1880 IN US Senate Won 100.00% (+100.00%)
  06/08/1880 US President - R Convention Lost 0.08% (-32.87%)
  10/10/1876 IN Governor Lost 47.88% (-1.18%)
ENDORSEMENTS