Joseph B. Foraker

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Joseph B. Foraker bigraphy, stories - Union United States Army officer

Joseph B. Foraker : biography

July 5, 1846 – May 10, 1917

Joseph Benson Foraker (July 5, 1846 – May 10, 1917) was the 37th Governor of Ohio from 1886 to 1890 and a Republican United States Senator from 1897 until 1909.

Foraker was born in rural Ohio in 1846, and enlisted at age 16 in the Union Army during the American Civil War. He fought for almost three years, attaining the rank of captain. After the war, he was a member of Cornell University’s first graduating class, and became a lawyer. Interesting himself in politics, he was elected a judge in 1879 and became well known as a political speaker. He was defeated in his first run for governor in 1883, but was elected two years later. As governor, he built an alliance with Cleveland industrialist Mark Hanna, but fell out with him in 1888. Foraker was defeated for re-election in 1889, but was elected United States Senator by the Ohio General Assembly in 1896, after an unsuccessful bid for that office in 1892.

In the Senate, he supported the Spanish–American War and the annexation of the Philippines and Puerto Rico; the Foraker Act gave Puerto Rico its first civil government under American rule. He came to differ with President Theodore Roosevelt over railroad regulation and political patronage. Their largest disagreement was over the Brownsville Affair, in which black soldiers were accused of terrorizing a Texas town, and Roosevelt dismissed the entire battalion. Foraker zealously opposed Roosevelt’s actions as unfair, and fought for the soldiers’ reinstatement. The two men’s disagreement broke out into an angry confrontation at the 1907 Gridiron Dinner, after which Roosevelt worked to defeat Foraker’s re-election bid. Foraker died in 1917; in 1972, the Army reversed the dismissals and cleared the soldiers.

Notes

Senator (1897–1909)

On March 4, 1897, the same day William McKinley became president, Joseph Foraker was sworn in as senator from Ohio. The new legislator was escorted to the bar of the Senate by Sherman; his swearing-in helped cement a modest Republican majority. Foraker continued his private legal work, which was not unusual at the time as many senators maintained business interests. Wealthy through his law practice, Foraker did not stand out in that regard either, as the "rich man’s club" of the Senate of that era contained about 25 millionaires.

Rivalry with Hanna

During the 1896 campaign, Hanna served as chairman of the Republican National Committee, in charge of McKinley’s campaign, and obtained millions for his presidential candidate by soliciting donations from wealthy businessmen. After the November election, Foraker met with Hanna and was surprised to learn that President-elect McKinley and Hanna planned that Sherman would be appointed Secretary of State and that the industrialist would take Sherman’s place in the Senate. Foraker objected to both components of this plan, feeling that Hanna was not qualified as a legislator, and that Sherman, whose faculties were starting to fail, should not become Secretary of State. Foraker met with McKinley, but failed to convince him.

Bushnell (who would get to appoint a temporary replacement) and Foraker (a close political ally of the governor) did not want to appoint Hanna; their faction had several candidates, including Bushnell himself, for the next election for Sherman’s seat in 1898. Bushnell and Foraker resisted for a month once the pending appointment of Sherman became known in January 1897, during which time the governor offered the seat to Congressman Theodore E. Burton, who declined. It was not until February 21 that Bushnell finally announced Hanna’s appointment, effective upon Sherman’s resignation. This controversy to some extent overshadowed Foraker’s swearing-in as senator on March 4—Hanna adherents claimed that Bushnell had delayed the effective date of the industrialist’s appointment until Foraker took his seat so that Hanna would be the junior senator. In his memoirs, Foraker denied this, noting that Sherman was unwilling to resign until the afternoon of March 4, after the new president and Congress were sworn in and the new Cabinet, including Sherman, was confirmed by the Senate. Hanna was given his commission as senator by Bushnell on the morning of March 5.