Saturday, March 30, 2013
Although initially he rejoined his old law partnership
Although initially he rejoined his old law partnership, he established his own offices in 1893, the year his son Joseph Jr. became an assistant in his office upon graduation from Cornell.[64] Joseph Benson Foraker Jr. was the first child of a Cornell alumnus to graduate from the university.[65] Sony VAIO VGN-BZAAPS Battery
The senior Foraker, though he accepted a broad array of cases, was a "political lawyer", lobbying the legislature to grant franchises to his clients, and arranging for bills unfavorable to his clients (who included the Edison Electric Company, Cincinnati Bell Telephone Company, and the Cincinnati Street Railway Company) to be quashed.[66] Sony VAIO VGN-CS118E/Q Battery
The former governor was enraged when in March 1890, Hanna gave a speech in New York stating, "Foraker is dead as a factor in our politics and Ohio is again as reliable a Republican state as it ever was."[63] Foraker determined to secure election to the Senate; although the Democratic-controlled legislature had elected Calvin Brice to the Senate in 1890, Sony VAIO VGN-CS118E/R Battery
Sherman's seat would be up for election in January 1892. McKinley was defeated for re-election to Congress in November 1890; his stature in Ohio politics was not diminished by the loss, as he was seen as a victim of gerrymandering. When the former congressman ran for governor the following year, he asked Foraker to place his name in nomination, Sony VAIO VGN-CS118E/W Battery
which he did. Although some saw this as a rapprochement between the Sherman and Foraker factions, the former governor's supporters, such as Kurtz and millionaire Springfield manufacturer Asa Bushnell, were already campaigning for Foraker for Senate.[67][68][69]
McKinley was elected governor in November 1891, and the Republicans took a two-thirds majority in the legislature. Sony VAIO VGN-CS11S/P Battery
During the campaign, supporters of both Foraker and Sherman had sought pledges from candidates, and in the aftermath of the legislative elections, both men expressed confidence.[70] Sherman was handicapped by his age (68), unpopularity, and a cold personality; according to Horner, "Sony VAIO VGN-CS11S/Q Battery
Foraker was simply more of a man of the people than Sherman could ever hope to be."[71] Sherman's aide, Jacob C. Donaldson, later wrote, "the situation was bad, almost desperate".[71] Hanna had made significant campaign contributions to legislative candidates, and was outraged when legislators believed to favor Sherman instead announced that they would vote for Foraker; Sony VAIO VGN-CS11S/W Battery
according to his biographer, Herbert Croly, "The situation looked desperate; but it was saved, so Mr. Sherman himself stated to his friends, by Mr. Hanna's energy, enthusiasm and ability to bend other men to his will. Three of the Cleveland representatives, who had gone into hiding, were unearthed and forced into line."[72] Sony VAIO VGN-CS11Z/R Battery
Donaldson noted, "Several of them were ruined by their perfidy."[73] Foraker was defeated narrowly in the Republican caucus, first on a vote to hold a secret ballot (which would have benefited him), and then on the endorsement vote, which supported Sherman, who was subsequently elected by the legislature.[74] Sony VAIO VGN-CS120J/P Battery
According to Horner, "It is difficult to know which mattered more to Hanna—making sure his old friend Sherman kept his job or making sure that Foraker did not get it."[75]
Sherman was not magnanimous in victory, telling friends that he would not rest until he "tomahawked the last of Foraker's crowd".[76] Nevertheless, at the Republican state convention, Sony VAIO VGN-CS120J/Q Battery
Foraker and his supporters were able to gain their goal of half the delegates-at-large to the 1892 Republican National Convention in Minneapolis, free to vote as they pleased.[77]. President Harrison was seeking renomination; other men spoken of as possible candidates were Blaine (who had again disclaimed any interest in running) and McKinley. Sony VAIO VGN-CS120J/R Battery
Prior to the Minneapolis convention, Hanna wrote to Foraker for the first time in four years, seeking to put aside differences in support of McKinley.[78] Foraker agreed; he disliked Harrison and did not feel he could be re-elected. McKinley finished third for the nomination, a fraction of a vote behind Blaine. Sony VAIO VGN-CS190JTB Battery
Harrison was defeated by Cleveland in the November election, and McKinley was spoken of as the most likely Republican presidential contender for 1896.
Foraker had little involvement in politics in 1893 and 1894, concentrating on the law. He still sought a Senate seat, Sony VAIO VGN-CS190JTP Battery
however, and carefully planned his strategy for the 1895 state convention in Zanesville. Foraker forces gained full control, nominating Bushnell for governor to succeed McKinley, and Foraker allies for other state offices. The convention also endorsed Foraker for Senate, Sony VAIO VGN-CS190JTQ Battery
the first time a specific individual had been backed for Senate by an Ohio Republican convention. According to Walters, "The Zanesville convention represented the highest pinnicle of Foraker's power in Ohio politics. He had selected the platform, chosen the next governor and the complete ticket, and had secured for himself virtual election to the United States Senate."[80] Sony VAIO VGN-CS190JTR Battery
Foraker took a leading role as a speaker in the campaign, and the November election resulted in victory for Bushnell and a Republican majority in the legislature.[81] That majority, on January 15, 1896, elected Joseph Foraker to the Senate.[82]
Even before the senatorial election, the rival factions in the Ohio Republican Party were battling less than usual, Sony VAIO VGN-CS190JTW Battery
but it was not until the day of the senatorial election that McKinley and Foraker reached a definite understanding for peace during the 1896 campaign. Foraker agreed to support McKinley's presidential bid, and to travel to New York to approach that state's Republican political boss, Sony VAIO VGN-CS190NAB Battery
Senator Thomas Platt, hoping to gain Platt's support for McKinley.[83] In March, Foraker addressed the state convention in support of McKinley in a widely publicized speech. However, he was reluctant to be a delegate to the national convention, fearing that he would be blamed if anything went wrong with McKinley's candidacy. Sony VAIO VGN-CS190NAC Battery
It was only after considerable prodding from the presidential candidate that Foraker agreed to be a delegate, and to place McKinley's name in nomination. McKinley desired that Foraker nominate him to show that he had the united support of the state Republican Party.[c][84] Sony VAIO VGN-CS190NAD Battery
Senator-elect Foraker eventually agreed, and gave the nominating speech, part of which was heard by McKinley via telephone line to Canton.[85]
The Democrats nominated former Nebraska congressman William Jennings Bryan, who had electrified the Democratic National Convention with his Cross of Gold speech.[86] Sony VAIO VGN-CS190NBB Battery
When Bryan accepted his nomination with a lengthy address in New York, the senator-elect commented, "Mr. Bryan made himself by one speech, and now he has unmade himself by one speech". Although Foraker went to Europe for four weeks (his sole trip abroad), he gave almost 200 speeches for the Republicans once he returned.[87] Sony VAIO VGN-CS190NCA Battery
McKinley was elected president with a comfortable majority in the Electoral College.
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. Sony VAIO VGN-CS190NCB Battery
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. Sony VAIO VGN-CS190NCC Battery
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.[90] After the November election, Sony VAIO VGN-CS50B/W Battery
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, Sony VAIO VGN-CS51B/W Battery
whose faculties were starting to fail, should not become Secretary of State. Foraker met with McKinley, but failed to convince him.[91]
Bushnell (who would get to appoint a temporary replacement) and Foraker (a close political ally of the governor) did not want to appoint Hanna; Sony VAIO VGN-CS52JB/W Battery
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, Sony VAIO VGN-CS60B/P Battery
who declined. It was not until February 21 that Bushnell finally announced Hanna's appointment, effective upon Sherman's resignation.[91]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. Sony VAIO VGN-CS60B/Q Battery
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.[92][93] Sony VAIO VGN-CS60B/R Battery
Foraker had known that with McKinley in the Executive Mansion (as the White House was still formally known) and Sherman expected to be senior senator, he could expect only limited patronage appointments for his supporters.[87] With McKinley's close friend Hanna instead in the Senate, Sony VAIO VGN-CS61B/P Battery
Foraker was allowed to recommend appointees to the President, but McKinley allowed Hanna to exercise a veto over Foraker's candidates.[94]
Foraker was not visibly involved in the unsuccessful efforts to deny Hanna re-election in 1898, but several of his allies, including Bushnell and Kurtz, were part of the opposition.[95Sony VAIO VGN-CS61B/Q Battery
] Foraker nominated McKinley again atthe 1900 convention; his florid praise of the president pleased the delegates. As McKinley's original vice president, Garret Hobart, had died in 1899, he required a new running mate for the 1900 campaign, and the convention chose the popular Spanish-American War hero, Sony VAIO VGN-CS61B/R Battery
New York Governor Theodore Roosevelt. Foraker had maintained friendly relations with Roosevelt since the two men met at the 1884 convention, but Hanna bitterly opposed the choice.[96][97] Foraker spoke widely during McKinley's successful re-election campaign.[98] Sony VAIO VGN-CS62JB/P Battery
After President McKinley was assassinated in September 1901, Foraker attended the funeral services and addressed a large memorial meeting at the Cincinnati Music Hall. When politics resumed after the mourning, Foraker spoke in defense of President Roosevelt's inviting Booker T. Washington, an African American, to the White House. Sony VAIO VGN-CS62JB/Q Battery
This helped ensure support from the black community in Foraker's successful re-election bid in January 1902, which was not opposed by the Hanna faction.[98]
Both Hanna and Foraker had been spoken of as possible Republican presidential candidates in 1904; with President Roosevelt now likely to be the nominee, both men's presidential ambitions were pushed back four years.[99] Sony VAIO VGN-CS62JB/R Battery
Hanna in particular was reluctant to publicly put aside his presidential candidacy, believing that keeping it alive would help assure his re-election by the legislature in 1904.[100] In 1903, Foraker saw an opportunity to embarrass Hanna and boost his own chances for 1908 by getting the Republican state convention to pass a resolution endorsing Roosevelt for re-election. Sony VAIO VGN-CS71B/W Battery
If Hanna supported the resolution, he made it clear he would not be a candidate; if he opposed it, he risked Roosevelt's wrath. Hanna sent Roosevelt a telegram that he would oppose the resolution; Roosevelt replied that he expected his administration's supporters to vote for such a resolution, and Hanna gave in.[101] Sony VAIO VGN-CS72JB/W Battery
In February 1904, Hanna died of typhoid fever, and his Senate seat and factional leadership were won by Charles Dick, a four-term congressman who had received favorable publicity due to his Spanish-American War service. Dick was able to work out an accommodation with Foraker's faction and was thereafter considered the leader of Ohio's Republican "stand-patters", who saw no immediate need for social change. Sony VAIO VGN-CS90HS Battery
In the year between his swearing-in and the 1898 Spanish-American War, Foraker was an enthusiastic supporter of Cuban independence from Spain. A special session of Congress, called at the request of President McKinley, met beginning in March 1897 to consider new tariff legislation; Sony VAIO VGN-CS90NS Battery
hawkish senators, including Foraker (who was made a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee), took the opportunity to press resolutions in support of the Cuban insurgents.[103] Foraker was impatient with McKinley's policy towards Spain, decrying the President'sState of the Union communication to Congress in December 1897 and his so-called Sony VAIO VGN-CS90S Battery
"war message", which some deemed insufficiently bellicose, in April 1898. The senator stated to a reporter of the latter, "I have no patience with the message and you may say so. I have heard nothing but condemnation of the message on all hands."[104]
Foraker had introduced a resolution calling for Spain to withdraw from Cuba, Sony VAIO VGN-CS91HS Battery
and for the recognition of the rebels as the legitimate government of an independent Cuba. The resolution that passed Congress in April called for all those things except recognition (deleted at the request of the administration) and authorized the President to use force to achieve those aims. Sony VAIO VGN-CS91NS Battery
McKinley's signature on the joint resolution caused Spain to break off diplomatic relations and war was quickly declared. Foraker followed the war closely—his elder son was fighting in it—and was an early proponent of the US keeping Spanish colonies it had captured, such as the Philippines and Puerto Rico.[105][106] Sony VAIO VGN-CS91S Battery
McKinley had attempted to annex Hawaii, but the annexation treaty failed to be ratified by the Senate. Congressional leaders decided to try again, this time using a joint resolution that would bypass the need for a two-thirds vote in the Senate. The American victory at the Battle of Manila Bay in early May revived interest in the Hawaiian matter. Sony VAIO VGN-CS92DS Battery
Foraker was a major proponent of the resolution in the Foreign Relations Committee and was the only committee member to speak in the debate. Opposition was mostly from Democrats, who objected to the revolution by which American interests had taken control of the islands in 1893, a seizure defended by Foraker. Sony VAIO VGN-CS92JS Battery
In early July, proponents were able to get the resolution through both houses of Congress, and President McKinley signed it on July 8.[107]
The new American possession of Puerto Rico found itself in financial woes soon after its acquisition—its principal export, coffee, was now barred by high tariffs from both Spanish and American markets. Sony VAIO VGN-CS92XS Battery
Foraker took the lead in drafting and pressing legislation establishing a civil government for the island. Although Foraker had proposed to eliminate tariffs on imports from Puerto Rico, to secure passage of the legislation he had to accept a rate of 15% for two years as the island developed a taxation system, after which there would be no tariff, Sony VAIO PCG-3B1M Battery
and the money would be used to develop the island.[108] The Foraker Act was signed by President McKinley on April 12, 1900. It required an American-appointed governor and a legislature in which a majority of the upper house would be American-appointed, and did not grant Puerto Ricans American citizenship.[109] Sony VAIO PCG-3C1T Battery
Foraker had wanted to give the islanders US citizenship, but neither the administration nor much of the Congress agreed with him.[110] In 1901, the Foraker Act was upheld by the Supreme Court, which ruled in Downes v. Bidwell that the Constitution did not apply to Puerto Rico and that Congress could legislate for it (or, in the phrase then current, the Constitution did not follow the flag). Sony VAIO PCG-3D1M Battery
Foraker maintained generally friendly relations with Roosevelt in the president's first term: lacking an electoral mandate, Roosevelt had pledged after the assassination to carry out McKinley's policies. Elected in his own right in November 1904, President Roosevelt felt more free to support progressive policies. Sony VAIO PCG-3G2M Battery
When Roosevelt told Foraker his plans after the election, Foraker initially took no alarm, but according to Walters, "the resulting antagonism led to the political elimination of Foraker in 1908."[112]
Their relationship began to break down over the question of railroad regulation. Sony VAIO PCG-5R1M Battery
The President in 1905 sought legislation to give the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) the power to set freight rates; Foraker considered the proposed law unconstitutional, and introduced a bill by which the railroad would set the rates, and if the ICC found they were excessive, it could ask the Attorney General to bring suit. Sony VAIO PCG-7141M Battery
Foraker spoke repeatedly against the administration-favored bill as it moved through the Senate, and was one of only three senators (and the only Republican) to oppose the resulting Hepburn Act on final Senate passage. As the Ohio legislature had passed a resolution urging Foraker and Dick to vote for the bill, Sony VAIO PCG-7143M Battery
he faced anger at home; one newspaper wrote that Foraker had extinguished his chances of becoming president with his vote. The following year, Foraker also broke with the administration on the question of statehood for Arizona Territory and New Mexico Territory, Sony VAIO PCG-7151M Battery
feeling that the two territories should not be combined into one state unless a merger was approved in referenda. Foraker's position prevailed in Congress; despite his stance, Roosevelt signed the resulting bill. The two men also differed on issues of patronage, Sony VAIO PCG-7154M Battery
and on a series of treaties requiring Senate ratification that allowed for international agreements without the need for Senate approval. Roosevelt wrote to a friend that Foraker seemed determine to fight him on every point, good or bad.
On the night of August 14, 1906, gunshots were heard in the border town of Brownsville, Sony VAIO PCG-7162M Battery
Texas; one resident was killed and a police officer wounded. Various military items, including discharged rifle shells, were presented by the local mayor as evidence that troops of the 25th Infantry Battalion, stationed outside of town and consisting of African Americans, were responsible. When questioned, all denied involvement. Sony VAIO PCG-7181M Battery
Nevertheless, their white officers reported to the War Department that undetermined men belonging to the 25th Infantry were responsible, and that others of the battalion were aware of who had done it, but were remaining silent. Despite an almost total lack of evidence, on November 5, Sony VAIO PCG-41112M Battery
1906 (just after the midterm congressional elections), Roosevelt ordered 167 soldiers dishonorably discharged and made ineligible for federal employment, including such decorated soldiers as First Sergeant Mingo Sanders, who had fought alongside Roosevelt in Cuba. Sony VAIO PCG-7153M Battery
The President adhered to his decision despite appeals from both whites and African Americans.[114][115]
Foraker was initially convinced of the guilt of the men, but reconsidered after evidence obtained in a private investigation by progressive organizations was presented to him (the attorney presenting it, an African American, Sony VAIO PCG-71312M Battery
was denied an audience with Roosevelt).[116][117] According to Roosevelt biographer Edmund Morris, "Foraker had a passion for racial justice."[118] Recalling Foraker's desire, as a soldier, to see slavery abolished and the African American given the same civil and political rights as the white man, Sony VAIO PCG-7144M Battery
Morris explains, "Senator Foraker merely felt the same about the Constitution in 1906 as Private Foraker had felt in 1862."[118]Despite his desire to see justice done, Foraker also saw political advantage in opposing Roosevelt over the Brownsville issue; he might boost his own presidential ambitions for 1908 by making both Roosevelt and his designated heir apparent, Secretary of War William Howard Taft, look bad. Sony VAIO PCG-7191L Battery
Foraker battled to have the Senate investigate the Brownsville case, and got the body to pass a resolution requiring Taft to turn over information. By late January 1907, after further investigation, Roosevelt had rescinded the part of the order barring the soldiers from federal employment, Sony VAIO PCG-3C1M Battery
and had stated that he would reconsider the case of anyone who could present proof of his innocence. Foraker had claimed that the president lacked the authority to discharge the men; to get a resolution passed for an investigatory committee, he had to withdraw that assertion.[120] Sony VAIO PCG-3F1M Battery
Matters came to a head at the Gridiron Dinner[d] on January 27; the program showed cartoons of the leading attendees and accompanying verses. Foraker's read "All coons look alike to me", suggesting his Brownsville stance was to attract the African-American vote. According to Walters, Sony VAIO PCG-3H1M Battery
"the jests had been pointed and the cartoons biting;" Roosevelt was seen to be angry.[121][122] Nevertheless, when the President rose to speak, all that was expected was a few minutes of humorous comments.[123] Instead, in his speech, Roosevelt attacked Foraker and defended his own conduct in the Brownsville case. Sony VAIO PCG-3J1M Battery
Although it was not customary to permit anyone to follow a president's speech, Foraker was allowed to reply. The Washington Post reported that Foraker "gave the President the plainest talk he has probably ever listened to." Foraker stated that Sergeant Sanders had been dishonorably discharged even though Sony VAIO PCG-8141M Battery
"he was as innocent of any offense against the law of any kind whatever as the President himself"—and, he charged, Roosevelt was fully aware the soldiers had been wronged.[126] He denied that he was after votes with his position, "I was seeking to provide for those men an opportunity to be heard in their own defense, Sony VAIO PCG-8161M Battery
to give them a chance to confront their accusers and cross-examine their witnesses, and establish the real facts in the case."[127] Roosevelt spoke in angry rebuttal, but according to his biographer Morris, "Never before, at the Gridiron or anywhere else, had a President been challenged before an audience." Sony VAIO PCG-3C2M Battery
In the aftermath of the Gridiron Dinner, Foraker was increasingly ostracized, both politically and socially.[129] Unwelcome at the White House, he was excluded from patronage. Nevertheless, the Committee on Military Affairs, on which Foraker sat, went ahead and held hearings into the Brownsville matter between February and June 1907.[130] Sony VAIO PCG-5N2M Battery
Author John Weaver, in his 1997 book on the Brownsville case, takes note of "Foraker's masterful presentation of fact and law", including his cross-examination of witnesses who sought to convince the committee of the soldiers' guilt.[131] In March 1908, the committee issued its report, by a vote of 9–4 endorsing the President's action. Sony VAIO PCG-5P1M Battery
While the official minority report found the evidence inconclusive, Foraker and Connecticut Senator Morgan G. Bulkeley signed a separate report stating that "the weight of the testimony shows that none of the soldiers of the Twenty-fifth U.S. Infantry participated in the shooting affray".[132] Sony VAIO PCG-5S1M Battery
Although he knew he had little chance of winning, Foraker challenged Taft, his fellow Cincinnatian, for the Republican nomination for president. He hoped to secure a deal whereby he would endorse Taft in exchange for support in the senatorial election to be held in January 1909.[e] Sony VAIO PCG-9Z1M Battery
Roosevelt was determined to drive Foraker from politics, and Taft refused to deal. Taft won at each stage of the delegate-selection process, gaining all but two delegates from Ohio. At the 1908 Republican National Convention, Taft received 702 votes and was nominated; Foraker received 16, of which 11 came from African Americans.[133] Sony VAIO PCG-7171M Battery
After Foraker's defeat for the presidential nomination, he began work to gain re-election to the Senate. His vote on the Hepburn Act and his opposition to Roosevelt had provoked opposition to him within the Ohio Republican Party; in addition, both he and Dick were seen by some as the face of the old guard of the party, out of place in the Progressive Era. Sony VAIO PCG-7186M Battery
Many of those who opposed him proposed Congressman Theodore E. Burton for the Senate seat; Foraker stated that the first thing to do was secure a Republican legislature, with the question of who should be senator left until victory was obtained. Amid speculation as to Taft's position on Foraker, the two men met, to all appearances cordially, Sony VAIO PCG-81112M Battery
on September 2 at the Grand Army of the Republicencampment at Toledo, and later that day, the two men appeared on the same platform. Taft spoke in appreciation of Foraker, who, as governor, had appointed him as a judge, giving him his start in public life. Foraker, for his part, Sony VAIO PCG-31311M Battery
stated that Taft would be his party leader during the campaign, and called on the presidential candidate at his headquarters in Cincinnati a week later. The Taft campaign asked Foraker to preside, and to introduce Taft, at a rally to be held at the Cincinnati Music Hall on September 22.[134] In a letter to a newspaper publisher, Taft pointed out that Foraker "can be useful with the colored vote and the Grand Army vote".[135] Sony VAIO PCG-8152M Battery
The seeming rapprochement was shattered when publisher William Randolph Hearst, giving a speech in Columbus, read from letters to Foraker by Standard Oil Company vice president John D. Archbold. During Foraker's first term in the Senate, he had done legal work for Standard Oil; Sony VAIO PCG-31111M Battery
in the letters, Archbold made reference to legislation he considered objectionable, and also made references to substantial fees to Foraker. However, the publisher read them in such a way as to suggest a causal relationship between the killing of the legislation and the fees. Foraker quickly denied any impropriety, Sony VAIO PCG-61111M Battery
stating that the relationship was not secret and the excerpts had been read out of context.[136] Foraker noted that when he was retained by the corporation in December 1898, it had not yet come under federal scrutiny, and when Archbold had sought to retain him in 1906, he had declined. Sony VAIO PCG-51112M Battery
Standard Oil was wildly unpopular, and the controversy put Taft in a difficult position. Foraker sent a letter to Taft, hand-delivered by Senator Dick, expressing his willingness to avoid the Music Hall meeting. Taft said only that he hoped Foraker would meet with the organizers of the event and follow their recommendation, Sony VAIO PCG-51211M Battery
which Foraker took to mean that Taft was giving credence to Hearst's charges and did not want him there. Foraker cancelled all remaining campaign speeches.[137] Ohio helped elect Taft and elected a Democratic governor, but returned a Republican legislature, which would elect a senator in January 1909.[138] Sony VAIO PCG-51212M Battery
Through December, Foraker worked to try to retain his Senate seat. His rivals were Burton and the President-elect's brother, former congressman Charles Phelps Taft, though near the end of the contest, former lieutenant governor Warren G. Harding asked for his name to be considered. Sony VAIO PCG-41111M Battery
Both Foraker and Burton opposed Charles Taft's call for a caucus of the Republican legislators to determine the party's candidate.[139] On December 29, President Roosevelt weighed in on the question. Roosevelt "lost no time in putting the Republican members of the Ohio legislature on notice that to re-elect Sony VAIO PCG-41111V Battery
Mr. Foraker to the Senate would be regarded as nothing less than treason to the party".[140] Roosevelt accused Foraker of seeking to make a bargain with the Democrats to secure his re-election in exchange for a Democratic replacement for Dick in 1911. Faced with this presidential intervention and Charles Taft's withdrawal from the race, Sony VAIO PCG-61412V Battery
Foraker saw no path to victory and conceded on December 31. Burton was endorsed by the Republican caucus two days later and was elected by the legislature on January 12.[141]
Foraker continued to work on Brownsville in his remaining time in office, guiding a resolution through Congress to establish a board of inquiry with the power to reinstate the soldiers. Sony VAIO PCG-71112M Battery
The bill, which was not opposed by the administration, was less than Foraker wanted; he had hoped for a requirement that unless specific evidence was shown against a man, he would be allowed to re-enlist. The legislation passed both houses[142] and was signed by Roosevelt on March 2, 1909.[f][143] Sony VAIO PCG-81111V Battery
On March 6, 1909, shortly after he left the Senate, Joseph Foraker was the guest of honor at a mass meeting at Washington's Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church. Though both whites and African Americans assembled to recognize the former senator, all the speakers were African Americans, save Foraker. Sony VAIO PCG-81111V Battery
Presented with a silver loving cup, he addressed the crowd,
I have said that I do not believe that a man in that battalion had anything to do with the shooting up of "Brownsville", but whether any one of them had, it was our duty to ourselves as a great, strong, and powerful nation to give every man a hearing, to deal fairly and squarely with every man; Sony VAIO PCG-81212M Battery
to see to it that justice was done to him; that he should be heard.
As with his defeat for governor twenty years earlier, Foraker returned after losing re-election to Cincinnati and the full-time practice of law. He found a number of well-paying corporations willing to retain him as counsel; Sony VAIO PCG-81212V Battery
he represented the American Multigraph Company before the Supreme Court, seeking to overturn a Taft-backed law imposing an excise tax on corporations. Several cases were consolidated into Flint v. Stone Tracy Co.(1911) in which the Supreme Court upheld the law.[145][146] Sony VAIO PCG-51111M Battery
Although he expressed bitterness upon leaving office, wishing he had never left the farm in Highland County, he soon resumed his involvement in politics, speaking for the unsuccessful Republican candidate for governor, Harding, in 1910. The gubernatorial candidate had long been a Foraker supporter, though he had backed Taft in 1908. Sony VAIO VPCS13X9E/B battery
In 1912, Foraker made speeches in support of Taft's re-election bid, although he felt he had been badly treated by Taft in 1908. He refused, however, to attack the third-party candidate, former president Roosevelt, whose candidacy split the party and led to the election of Democrat Woodrow Wilson.[147][148] Sony VAIO VPCS12V9E/B battery
In 1913, ratification of the Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution changed the method of choosing senators from legislative vote to election by the people.[149] Buoyed by positive reviews of his participation in the 1912 campaign, and wishing to avenge his defeat for re-election, Sony VAIO VPCS12V9E/B battery
Foraker entered the 1914 Republican primary against Senator Burton and former congressman Ralph D. Cole. Burton's withdrawal transformed Foraker into the favorite. A number of Foraker enemies, and those who believed that his "old guard" Republicanism was out of date, called on Harding to enter the primary. Sony VAIO VPCF13M8E/B battery
Harding was reluctant, but was eventually persuaded. Although Harding did not attack Foraker, his supporters, including Cleveland publisher Dan R. Hanna (son of the late senator), had no such scruples. Harding was victorious in the primary with 88,540 votes to 76,817 for Foraker and 52,237 for Cole, and subsequently won the general election. Sony VAIO VPCF13Z0E/B battery
Harding sent Foraker a letter regretting the primary result, but Foraker was more bitter towards the electorate, feeling they had taken his long public service and returned ingratitude.[150]
With his political career at an end, Foraker began work on his memoirs, Notes of a Busy Life, published in 1916. Sony VAIO VPCM13M1E/L battery
The issuance of the autobiography led to a letter from Roosevelt, stating that after reading Foraker's memoirs, he regretted his attacks. Roosevelt concluded the letter with an invitation to visit him at his homein New York. Foraker treasured this letter, which he felt re-established his friendship with Roosevelt,[151]although the two men did not meet in the short time remaining to Foraker.[152] Sony VAIO VPCM13M1E/W battery
Foraker supported President Wilson as he moved the nation closer to intervention in World War I. In April 1917, Foraker was one of a group of Cincinnatians who organized to support Wilson when the President asked Congress to declare war on Germany. The former senator's ill-health (he had suffered several heart attacks during the preceding winter) Sony VAIO VPCF22M1E battery
limited his participation, and on May 7, he was stricken with another attack in downtown Cincinnati. Taken home, he lapsed in and out of consciousness for three days before dying on May 10, 1917. Hundreds of prominent Cincinnatians attended his interment at Spring Grove Cemetery on May 13. Sony VAIO VPCF11M1E/H battery
Historian Allen Nevins, in his foreword to Walters' biography of Foraker, suggested that Foraker did not attain the presidency, as he had hoped, because of the ambitions of other Ohio politicians. While Foraker might have secured the nomination in 1888 as a compromise candidate, Sony VAIO VPCF13M0E/B battery
had not his pledges to Sherman prevented it, having "stood aside for an older man[,] year after year he was compelled to stand aside for younger leaders. First McKinley, with Hanna at his side, was given precedence; then Taft, whom Foraker had given a start in public life, scaled the peak. Foraker, for all his administrative capacity, Sony VAIO VPCYB2M1E battery
his wide popular appeal, and his unflinching courage, had the tragic lot of seeing a succession of associates go above him."[154] Even Foraker's final defeat, in 1914, proved to be part of the political rise of another president from Ohio, Harding.[155]Nevins noted the aggressive nature of Foraker's political style, and commented, Sony VAIO VPCYB3V1E battery
"How much of his failure to reach high office was attributable to ill fortune and how much to some of his traits, readers … may judge for themselves."[154] Cincinnati editor Murat Halstead, a contemporary, attributed the fact that Foraker did not get nominated in 1888 to the surplus of ambitious Ohio men at the convention: in addition to Sherman, Sony VAIO VPCY11M1E battery
Foraker, and McKinley, even Harrison had been born in Ohio.[156]
According to Nevins, "in the era which began after McKinley's assassination he did not show the progressive qualities which the electorate increasingly demanded; indeed, he seemed positively reactionary."[157] Sony VAIO VPCS12L9E/B battery
Walters agreed, noting that Foraker's 1914 defeat was caused in part by fears that his "uncompromising Republicanism of an earlier era would injure the party. The stirring principles of the New Freedom called for new leaders."[158]Historian Benjamin Kendrick noted that "Mr. Foraker was among the first of prominent politicians to be retired because of their too close connection with 'Big Business.'"[159] Sony VAIO VPCF11S1E/B battery
Historian Louis L. Gould, who wrote a study of the McKinley administration, stated that Foraker "may well have been too close to some large corporations, but he also retained some vestiges of the commitment of the Civil War generation in the North to the idea of human equality ... This prompted him to champion the cause of the Negro soldiers."[160] Sony VAIO VPCYB3V1E/R Battery
According to historian Percy Murray in his journal article on the relationship between Foraker and black newspaper editor Harry Smith, Foraker's "political career ended partially because of his support for and espousal of black rights ... Perhaps Smith best summed up his alliance with Foraker when he stated that it was time for Afro-Americans to . Sony VAIO VPCF23P1E Battery
.. show full support for Foraker and men like him who supported the efforts of Afro-Americans."[161] Walter Rucker and James Upton, in their Encyclopedia of American Race Riots, write favorably of Foraker:
Senator Foraker is acknowledged as the key person in Congress to keep the issue of the Brownsville soldiers alive. Sony VAIO VPCF23N1E Battery
He made speeches about it and wrote about it. His statement in defense of the soldiers was summed up appropriately when he said that the soldiers "ask[ed] no favors because they are Negroes, but only justice because they are men".Sony VAIO VPCY21S1E/L Battery,Sony VAIO VPCY21S1E/G battery,Sony VAIO VPCF24M1E battery
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