Most Prominent Politicians (XIX): Indiana
Indiana, the state of Vice-Presidents. I thought about ranking these guys. But why would you bother. 10 fairly important people who range from 2 meh presidents to 4 VPs to some important but not vital senators. Plus Indiana also spawned Garfield creator Jim Davis so how can I give it any credit? So here they are in alphabetical order. You try to rank these people.
Birch Bayh. Admittedly, we have to be willing to forgive him his son in order to consider him. But he was a major player behind both the 25th and 26th Amendment and was a legitimate leader of the Democratic Party in the 1970s.
Albert Beveridge–leading imperialist. Reasonably important Progressive Era Senator.
Schuyler Colfax. Grant’s first VP until he was implicated in the Credit Mobilier scandal.
Charles Fairbanks. Did nothing as Theodore Roosevelt’s Vice-President. He also was the VP candidate for Charles Evans Hughes in 1916. Pretty exciting.
Benjamin Harrison–I have a Harrison joke of sorts. It’s that I’m a professional and I can’t even think of anything Benjamin Harrison did as president. I mean, that’s not strictly true I guess. There are the forest reserves. And he signed the Sherman Antitrust Act that he really didn’t have anything to do with creating. And I suppose he wasn’t quite as atrocious on race as your typical Gilded Age politician maybe. But really, who cares.
William Henry Harrison–Note: wear a coat during a winter storm in Washington D.C. if you are going to be outside for several hours.
Richard Lugar–Overrated as a senator probably, but was an important foreign policy voice.
Thomas Marshall–A reasonably progressive governor who served as Wilson’s VP.
Dan Quayle. You say potatoe, I say potato.
Wendell Willkie–Willkie is a hard one to place. He grew up in Indiana, was an industrialist in Ohio, had a legal career in New York and never actually held a single political office, despite being the Republicans’ 1940 presidential candidate. So we’ll keep in him in home state.
Again, if you want to rank these people, go for it.
The other obvious person to consider was yet another VP–Thomas Hendricks. But Hendricks was one of the worst senators of Reconstruction on race issues and was only Cleveland’s VP for like 6 months before dropping dead. So I left him off.
Maybe Indiana should rename itself The Second Banana State.
No love for Charlie Halleck?
Indiana’s most prominent and influential politician was arguably Bobby Knight.
Yes, he did argue a lot.
William Henry Harrison was a senator and congressman from Ohio. Shouldn’t he have counted for Ohio? And Willkie, likewise, probably shouldn’t count for Indiana.
Beyond that, this seems lazy and uninspired, much like the state of Indiana. Fairbanks doesn’t deserve to be in the top ten, and Marshall probably doesn’t either. Hendricks, who was a legitimate contender for the Democratic nomination in almost every cycle between 1868 and 1884, deserves to be on ahead of them.
I’d say you’re also missing Jesse Bright, a ridiculously pro-southern Indiana senator of the antebellum period (he actually owned a bunch of slaves on a plantation in Kentucky) who ended up getting expelled from the Senate during the Civil War for treason.
Also missing is Oliver P. Morton, the Civil War era governor of Indiana, and then a prominent reconstruction era senator.
Also worth considering is Walter Gresham, who served as Secretary of State and Secretary of the Treasury (albeit briefly), ran for president against Benjamin Harrison in 1888, and was generally seen as a leading Republican statesman in the 1880s and 1890s.
Also maybe Lee Hamilton, who besides being a mainstay of useless bipartisan commissions, was a pretty significant congressman in the 80s and 90s on foreign policy issues (he chaired both the Intelligence Committee and the Foreign Affairs Committee)
John Worth Kern was Bryan’s final running mate and, more importantly, the first Senate majority leader, although mostly a cipher for Wilson.
Sherman Minton was a senator and supreme court justice; Vance Hartke helped establish Amtrak; James Watson was another Senate majority leader; Charlie Halleck was House minority leader.
I’m not sure any of them belong on the list, but they’re all at least as prominent as Fairbanks, who was put on the list for no reason that I can see.
At any rate, I’d remove Willkie, William Henry Harrison, Fairbanks, and Marshall (the former two for not being genuine Indiana politicians, the latter two for being worthless ciphers) and add Bright, Hendricks, Morton, and one of the others (not sure which one – alternately, Willkie could be left on, since he doesn’t really fit for any state).
Lazy and uninspired? Yes, well, such an important list deserves a great deal of inspiration and work.
It’s a poor workman who blames their tools. The series, the honor of this blog, demands that you come up with a deeply meaningful rank-ordering of your top 10 Hoosier Pols.
As a Hoosier, I am deeply troubled by this list, but mainly because the list is so weak.
We should get some credit for the Chief Justice of Supreme Court, although he hasn’t lived here in like a million years AND I hate him. But, still, that’s how weak the roster is.
Yeah, pretty much my feelings exactly.
I respectfully disagree on Marshall. Marshall belongs by virtue of quipping during a Senate debate, “What this country needs is a really good five-cent cigar,” among many other quips. More to the point, Marshall deserves inclusion by virtue of what he didn’t do: he refused calls to assume the presidency when Wilson was incapacitated. Because Marshall would likely have made concessions to win ratification of the treaty, this played a part in the treaty being rejected by the Senate.
Besides, as Marshall said, “Indiana is the mother of Vice Presidents; home of more second-class men than any other state.”
That’s a good point on Marshall. He arguably warrants inclusion. Fairbanks certainly doesn’t.
Why shouldn’t he have assumed the presidency? Isn’t that what the VP is all about (even before much of the relevant presidental succession law was codified). Is this some sorta American political brainbug?
Edith had things under control.
At the time, the Constitution made no provision for the president being alive but incapacitated, so it was far from clear that Marshall could legally assume power.
It had not been tested at the time, but Article II Section 1 of the Constitution says:
There was support in the cabinet and the Congress for providing for Marshall to take over. Marshall was not willing to do so without Wilson’s agreement. As Wilson’s wife and advisers severely constrained access to Wilson so that outsiders could not properly determine Wilson’s status, Marshall’s unwillingness to press the issue was an insurmountable burden.
You are right, but there wan’t a mechanism for declaring the president incapacitated until the XXV Amendment.
There wasn’t a well-defined mechanism for declaring the president incapacitated until the 25th Amendment, which certainly made everybody more reluctant to venture out into uncharted waters. But beyond question Congress had the power to define and implement such a mechanism, if Congress had chosen to do so.
Like Congress has done anything since 1876.
Similar to Marshall, Beveridge is more notable for not becoming President than for anything he actually did. He lost the 1920 nomination to Calvin Coolidge, despite being Harding’s personal choice, after the delegates rebelled over the questionable way that Hardin had won the nod. It might have been Beveridge instead of Coolidge who became President in 1923.
And to pile counterfactual upon counterfactual – if Beveridge runs and wins in 1924, as is likely, he died in 1927, paving the way for yet another unknown running mate to enter the White House.
“He lost the 1920 nomination to Calvin Coolidge…”
So you’re saying that Coolidge iced Beveridge?
(And yes, I really should be ashamed of writing that sentence.)
I resemble that remark
Morton is very interesting. He was very energetic in the Union cause – so much that he probably violated the state constitution on several occasions.
After the Democrats took control of the legislature in 1862, he had the Republicans in that body flee the state to deny a quorum, and governed the state for the rest of the war without a legislature.
Democrats in Indiana? That was the last time anyone ever saw one.
As people constantly remind me… Obama won Indiana in 2008! I don’t know why we can’t elect Democrats in this state otherwise though. Guess McCain/Palin really was that bad.
WRT Harrison, I believe Erik’s rule is to place multi-state politicians where they rank the highest. Harrison was born in Virginia, Governor of Indiana territory, and represented Ohio, so could be placed in any of these. He does probably rank highest in Indiana
Then Taft should be the most prominent American politician from the Philippines, I suppose. Harrison lived in Ohio, he was elected president from Ohio, and he served in both houses of congress from Ohio. He was commissioned as ambassador to Colombia as a citizen of Ohio. Territorial governors typically aren’t from the places they were territorial governor of.
What about William Ruckelshaus, first head of the EPA and Assistant Attorney General under Nixon? Along with Elliot Richardson, he was one of the two men fired by Nixon for refusing to fire Watergate special prosecutor Archibald Cox. (Nixon finally got the Solicitor General, a fellow named Bork, to do it.)
Admittedly, we have to be willing to forgive [Birch Bayh] his son
Is that really fair? Do we think less of George Romney because of Mitt, or…fill in the blank with Disappointing Pathetic Boomer Spawn? If it was just one or two, that would be different, but DPBS is a trend. Birch was a pretty good guy. I also think you are being too dismissive of Lugar. Who overrates him? I am no Republican, but he did accomplish some important stuff.
Do we think less of George Romney because of Mitt, or…fill in the blank with Disappointing Pathetic Boomer Spawn?
I think less of Bush the Less Awful because of his progeny, yes.
Then you were overrating him (GHWB) in the first place! I suppose there’s a reason to think somewhat less of the ‘Greatest Generation’ for having produced the Worst Generation (hippies AND Reaganauts). But I think the former’s lack of vision (the ‘vision thing’!) is a collective failing, somehow.
Lugar’s currently overrated by the Village as the latest example of the Passion of the Bipartisan Centrist.
Ah, true enough.
“The horse’s tail is long and silky,
Lift it up and you’ll find Wilkie!”
Robert Dale Owen should be on this list. Though he served two terms in the U.S. House of Representative and was Ambassador to the Two Sicilies under Franklin Pierce. But much of his most significant work was in less exalted posts. As a member of the Indiana constitutional convention and legislation, he led the effort to make his state the most female-friendly state of the mid-nineteenth century, by pioneering married women’s property rights and establishing the nation’s most liberal divorce law. As a member of the Freedman’s Bureau he pushed for a radical vision of Reconstruction and helped draft the 14th Amendment. He was also one of the most important American socialist thinkers of generation (following in the footsteps of his father, Robert Owen).
legislature*
(Preview please!)
I second Robert Dale Owen. He was very prominent (though not simply, or even primarily, for his political career),and a helluva lot more interesting than most of the schlubs on your list (Birch Bayh excluded). Plus, New Harmony is teh awesome!
+1
Love New Harmony. The Inn there is the coolest place in Indiana
I love this series, Eric. If you find the time to put together a collection of links to all of these entries that would be great.
As an aside, I find the endurance of the myth around the death of William Henry Harrison fascinating. The idea that he died of pneumonia because he spent too much time in the cold – and the related notion that cold weather can make you sick – is this odd little carryover from before the widespread acceptance of germ theory.
Obviously the literal interpretation of “catch a cold” is dead; but if you weaken yourself, for example by shivering in the cold all day, you are likely to fail to efficiently fight something off that, yes, you already had, but that under normal circumstances you’d never have known you had.
The idea that he died of pneumonia because he spent too much time in the cold – and the related notion that cold weather can make you sick – is this odd little carryover from before the widespread acceptance of germ theory.
Well, you don’t directly catch pneumonia from being cold. Nevertheless, exposure to cold weather can degrade your immune system, leaving you more susceptible to pneumonia.
That was my initial response, but he actually contracted pneumonia weeks after the inauguration.
“Maybe I should have worn a coat there.”
My personal favorite of the Drunk History series. I’m more familiar with Ohio (Mother of Forgettable Presidents)and Virginia tussling over the rights to WHH (the Drunk History video mentions his Virginia roots while showing a picture of Grouseland in Indiana.)
what about the Pocket Budget Dynamo, Mitch Daniels. He’s as responsible as any for destroying the US economy
I’m not sure prominent = notorious
Well, I think it’s hard not to be jaded towards CURRENT political figures. Have to least let him get out of office first!
Anyways, I feel like he has mostly continued the trend of previous governors more than done anything radical.
Thanks to Larry Bird, John Mellancamp, Michael Jackson and Axl Rose, Indiana had a pretty good run of cultural dominance from about 1979-1993.
Hell, someone forgets Cole Porter and Kurt Vonnegut. Indiana had quite a good run of culture int he 20th century (not that much of it was accomplished here…)
An allegedly true story: Best English teacher I ever had went to visit NYC on vacation in the 80′s. In the hotel room, he was thinking of all the culture of New York and he started thumbing through a phone book. He found Vonnegut’s number, and –on a whim– dialed it. A man answered and Mr. Gale said “Is this Kurt Vonnegut?” Vonnegut said yes. He then said “THE author Kurt Vonnegut” and a clearly irritated Vonnegut answered yes.
Satisfied, my teacher said :It’s so nice to talk to you. I’m from Indiana and–”
Vonnegut cut him off, “I guess that explains this phone call” and hung up.
In high school, after reading his novels, that story pleased me greatly.
As long as we are discussing notable Hoosiers, let’s not forget Hoagy Carmichael and Booker T. Jones.
and Wes Montgomery.
De-lurking to ask: no Eugene Debs? True he never held any office higher than State Senator, but surely he’s more prominent in history than some of the people listed.
I was surprised not to see Debs, too.
Right. Debs obviously belongs on the list ahead of do-nothings like Charles Fairbanks and non-Indianans like William Henry Harrison.
I’m not that informed on his life, but Debs moved around a bit. He grew up in Indiana, but the Pullman Strike was in Illinois, and it looks like he stuck around there for a while.
If we’re counting Willkie (and I think Erik is underestimating the importance of his internationalist stance in 1940), then we can count Debs, who actually held office in Indiana.
Terre Haute, where Debs was born, raised, worked, and is buried is less than 5 miles from Illinois. Being involved in a Central and Northern Illinois Pullman strike was no big shakes if you live in Terre Haute
He’s even buried here and didn’t run away from us. Hell, he scared the SCOTUS more than Obama ever has
Not only didn’t run away, but returned in triumph after his release from prison.
I agree with on Debs.
Ditto on Debs!
I think we have to forgive them for Jim Davis. After all, they did give us Kurt Vonnegut….
Hate to join the pile-on (no, really), and maybe you just thought that it should be obvious, but instead of making the easy joke about Dan Quayle, it might have been worth noting that he was in effect the test case for George W. Bush–the intellectually lazy scion of a powerful family who may have succeeded because of, rather than in spite of, his obvious personal deficits. For that matter, no one has seriously suggested that Jenna or Not-Jenna run for Congress, yet, anyway.
People talk about Quayle as if his only accomplishment was to be a laughingstock, but the Council On Competitiveness was run out of his office, and broke new ground in the overt selling of favors, at least in the modern era.
See my comment below about the corrupt nature of Indiana politics
How can Dan Burton be left off such a list? Why, just look at his Wikipedia “controversies” section:
No lackadaisical do-nothingness here, no sirree. A day’s work for a day’s pay and retirement benefits and lifetime gold-star health care and the occasional honorarium and douceur, that’s Danny Burton.
Presumably there will be another series for
Ah, HTML fail. Quote starts after ‘Socks’.
Not really prominent, but notorious: D.C. Stephenson, Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, whose machine basically ran the state in the early 1920s. Fell from grace not due to anything passe like bribery, but because he sexually assaulted his secretary, biting her so many times that it said she looked like “she’d been chewed by a cannibal.” The victim committed suicide shortly after.
To me, this is the most important part of being a Hoosier. Dumbasses who gain public office in Indiana are just more corrupt than other people. Our politicians are always wannabe oligarchs who spend their careers fleecing their constituents in the service of power.
Sadly, though, even when you count the corruption, we’d still finish second to Louisiana. We aren’t the best at anything (except mediocrity?)
What about sheet metal fabrication?! What kinda hoosier are you?!
Indiana is Ohio without the jeux ne se qua.
FTW
You’re saying Indiana has no game?
Jeux sans frontieres!
la guerre sans larmes?
Did you mean je ne sais quoi?
je ne sais quoi
I live in Indiana – give me a break.
We make the best popcorn. Have a little pride!
Another vote here for Debs — a really shocking omission from someone who’s steeped in labor history.
Erik couldn’t put in Owen and Debs, because, as a member in waiting of the 4th Estate, he is banned from considering any dirty, no-account socialists.
Taylor I. Record nearly managed to square the circle through legislation. He’s inspired generations of creationists, denialists, and WaPo columnists.
See 1 King 17:23 . . .
Hey Erik. I’m an Australian with a small passion for US politics and history and I love this ‘Prominent Politicians’ series. Any chance you could bundle them all together in one site or on one page for tragics like me to peruse at our leisure? Unless you’ve already done it and I just can’t see the link?