Benjamin Harrison

Benjamin Harrison was born in 1833 in North Bend, Ohio . The grandson of the ninth U.S. president, William Henry Harrison (1773–1841; served 1841), Benjamin Harrison became a lawyer and moved to Indiana , where he volunteered in Republican Party campaigns. Harrison fought in the American Civil War (1861–65) as a colonel. When he returned home, he built a reputation as an excellent lawyer.

Harrison served in the U.S. Senate throughout most of the 1880s, where he supported Native Americans and Civil War veterans. In the 1888 presidential campaign, he defended high tariffs (taxes imposed on goods imported from other countries), conservation of wilderness lands, and limited civil service reform. He broke from the traditional Republican viewpoint in his opposition to the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, which ended Chinese immigration to the United States. (See Asian Immigration .)

Harrison was the first candidate to participate in what became known as “front porch speeches.” People would visit him at his home in Indiana and listen to him speak from his front porch. This campaign style encouraged citizens to think of Harrison as one of them, a regular man with a regular home and family. These speeches were not as informal as they appeared; Harrison's campaign managers carefully selected which newspaper reporters and community members would attend.

Harrison beat his opponent, President Grover Cleveland (1837–1908; served 1885–89 and 1893–97). A Republican president was back in office, and for the first time in years, the Republican Party dominated both the executive branch and legislative branch of the federal government.

In the White House

Harrison was not a unique leader, but his administration was efficient and productive. Some of the legislation that passed during his presidency had a major impact on American business. Harrison supported the McKinley Tariff of 1890, a law that raised tariff rates an average of 49.5 percent. The bill also gave the president expanded powers in the area of foreign trade.

The American public hated giant corporations and big businesses that took over the economy and forced consumers into paying high fees and prices. Republicans and Democrats alike rallied together in the call for reform of dishonest business practices such as monopolies . (Monopolies are businesses that have total control over a certain sector of the economy, including prices; in a monopoly, there is no competition.) As a result of this public outcry, the Harrison administration supported and passed the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890. This act was the first federal law to regulate big business. The Sherman Antitrust Act made it a federal crime for businesses to form trusts (the concept of several companies banding together to form an organization that limits competition by controlling the production and distribution of a product or service). Although it had flaws, it was an important first step.

Another important piece of legislation passed during Harrison's term was the Sherman Silver Purchase Act of 1890. This bill had the U.S. Treasury purchase 4.5 million ounces of silver at market price each month. The silver was bought with treasury notes that could be redeemed in either gold or silver. Holders of these notes were so eager to turn them in for gold (because they received more money per note that way) that they nearly emptied the Treasury's supply. The act increased the production of silver, which sent silver prices down rather than up, and that was the intent. The act was repealed in 1893, the year of the worst economic decline the United States had ever experienced. Historians point to several factors that contributed to the Panic of 1893 , including the Sherman Silver Purchase Act. In addition to the depletion of the nation's gold reserves and the decrease in silver prices, railroads went bankrupt and banks across the country began to fail. The result was high unemployment and a severe shortage of money circulating in the economy.

Harrison's foreign policy Harrison was one of the most active presidents in the area of foreign diplomacy. He took the United States to the brink of war with Chile over an incident involving American sailors who were harmed in the port city of Valparaiso. After discussion between the countries' leaders, Chile apologized and paid the United States $75,000 for the incident.

In 1889, the president called the first modern Pan-American Conference in Washington, D.C. Leaders from North, Central, and South America attended the conference in an effort to develop military, economic, social, political, and commercial cooperation between the three Americas. Conference attendees developed treaties on how to resolve international conflicts and revised tariff levels. In addition, an organization that would eventually be known as the Pan-American Union was established. The union offered technical and informational services to the Americas and provided a safe place for official documents. By forming various councils, the union took on the responsibility for furthering cooperative relations throughout the Americas. Its founding is celebrated on Pan-American Day each year in April.

As successful as he was in other foreign endeavors, Harrison did not achieve his goal where Hawaii was concerned. Harrison was in favor of annexing (adding another U.S. territory) Hawaii, but he was unable to convince the Senate to do so. Still, because of his efforts and because Hawaii did eventually become part of the United States, modern historians credit Harrison and his administration for putting the United States on its path to becoming an empire.

Harrison's popularity wanes Harrison's popularity among the public took a severe blow on three national issues. The first was his support of the McKinley Tariff. Millions of citizens lost trust in a president who seemed to be siding more with big-business interests than with the average working man. The second issue involved the dissatisfaction of farmers—those hardest hit by the depression—in the South and West. Harrison had done virtually nothing to improve the farmers’ situation, so he lost their support. Finally, a series of violent labor strikes linked Harrison to monopoly industrialists and bankers. Voters did not feel represented in the White House.

Furthermore, Harrison passed a great deal of Republican legislation in his first year in office. Because of the amount of money Congress spent, it soon became known as the “Billion Dollar” Congress.

Harrison could not undo the damage his image had suffered. He had never been known publicly as an overly friendly man, yet he put his family at the center of his life. (In fact, Harrison's campaign activities in 1892 were very minimal due to the illness of first lady Caroline Harrison. She died two weeks before the election.) Harrison's tendency to be a private man, coupled with the unpopular events throughout his term, led him directly out of the White House. Grover Cleveland was reelected in the 1892 election. Upon learning of his defeat, Harrison told his family he felt like he had been freed from prison. He died in 1901.