Benjamin Harrison (August 20, 1833 – March 13, 1901) was the 23rd President of the United States (1889–1893). Harrison, a grandson of President William Henry Harrison, was born in North Bend, Ohio, and moved to Indianapolis, Indiana, at age 21, eventually becoming a prominent politician there. During the American Civil War, he served the Union as a brigadier general in the XX Corps of the Army of the Cumberland. After the war, he unsuccessfully ran for the governorship of Indiana and was later elected to the U.S. Senate by the Indiana legislature.
Harrison, a Republican, was elected to the presidency in 1888, defeating the Democratic incumbent Grover Cleveland. His administration is remembered most for economic legislation, including the McKinley Tariff and the Sherman Antitrust Act, and for annual federal spending that reached one billion dollars for the first time. Democrats attacked the "Billion Dollar Congress." They used the issue, along with the growing unpopularity of the high tariff, to defeat the Republicans, in both the 1890 mid-term elections and in Harrison's bid for re-election in 1892. Harrison advocated, although unsuccessfully, for federal education funding and legislation to protect voting rights for African Americans. He also saw the admittance of six states into the Union.
Defeated by Cleveland in his bid for re-election in 1892, Harrison returned to private life in Indianapolis. He later represented the Republic of Venezuela in an international case against the United Kingdom. In 1900, he traveled to Europe as part of the case and, after a brief stay, returned to Indianapolis.
He died the following year from complications from influenza. He is to date the only U.S. president from Indiana and the only one to be the grandson of another president.
Read more about Benjamin Harrison: Marriage and Family, Post-presidency and Death, Historical Reputation and Memorials
Famous quotes by benjamin harrison:
“I remember the scenes of battle in which we stood together. I remember especially that broad and deep grave at the foot of the Resaca hill where we left those gallant comrades who fell in that desperate charge. I remember, through it all, the gallantry, devotion and steadfastness, the high-set patriotism you always exhibited.”
—Benjamin Harrison (1833–1901)
“Indeed, I believe that in the future, when we shall have seized again, as we will seize if we are true to ourselves, our own fair part of commerce upon the sea, and when we shall have again our appropriate share of South American trade, that these railroads from St. Louis, touching deep harbors on the gulf, and communicating there with lines of steamships, shall touch the ports of South America and bring their tribute to you.”
—Benjamin Harrison (1833–1901)