Caleb Cushing

Caleb Cushing 1800-1879, American statesman, b. Salisbury, Mass. After practicing law he served in the Massachusetts state legislature and later in Congress (1835-43). A loyal Whig, he chose to stand by John Tyler, after the death of President William H. Harrison, rather than follow Henry Clay in his opposition program. As the first American commissioner to China, Cushing negotiated (1844) the opening of the ports of China to U.S. trade. He remained prominent in politics, engineered (1852) the nomination of Franklin Pierce at the Democratic convention of 1852, and served efficiently as Pierce's Attorney General (1853-57). Secession convinced him that conciliation was impossible, and he supported Lincoln. He later acted (1871-72) as counsel for the United States at the arbitration of the Alabama claims and was (1874-77) minister to Spain.

Bibliography: See biography by C. M. Fuess (1923, repr. 1965).

Cushing, Caleb (b. Salisbury, Mass., 17 Jan. 1800; d. Newburyport, Mass., 2 Jan. 1879), lawyer, attorney general, diplomat, and unconfirmed nominee for chief justice of the Supreme Court. Cushing attended Harvard Law School and became a member of the Massachusetts bar. In 1834 he was elected to Congress as a Whig, serving four terms. Although Cushing was against slavery, he believed that it was more important to preserve the Union than to abolish slavery. He became alienated from the Whig party when he sided with President John Tyler against Henry Clay. The Senate repeatedly rejected Tyler's attempt in 1843 to name Cushing secretary of the treasury. His shifts of party affiliation—from Whig to Democrat in 1841 and from Democrat to Republican in 1861—can be explained by his devotion to the Union, although many saw him as a political chameleon.

In 1844 Tyler sent Cushing to China to negotiate an important commercial agreement with that country. President Franklin Pierce appointed him attorney general in 1852. Cushing expanded the duties of that office, handling pardons, extraditions, and judicial appointments, matters formerly managed by the State Department. Cushing was the first attorney general to adhere to the residence requirement, abandoning his private law practice while in office.

President Ulysses S. Grant nominated Cushing as chief justice of the Supreme Court on 9 January 1874. His age and his political record hurt him in the Senate. When it became obvious that he would not be confirmed, Grant withdrew his name at Cushing's request on 14 January. Partisan motives deprived the country of a chief justice who was honest, learned in the law, and devoted to the Union.

After serving as ambassador to Spain from 1874 to 1877, Cushing retired to Newburyport, where he died on 2 January 1879.

See also Nominees, Rejection of.

Judith K. Schafer