Country Vacations & Resorts

Time in Office: 1889-1893
Terms: One
Birthday: August 20, 1833
Birth Place: North Bend, Hamilton County, Ohio
Date of Death: March 13, 1901
Place of Death: At his home – Indianapolis, Indiana
Buried: Crown Hill Cemetery, Indianapolis, Indiana

Notes:
~ Grandson of William Henry Harrison
~ Liked to hunt and fish
~ Was once a “town crier”
~ Nicknamed “Little Ben” because he was only 5’6″ tall.
~ Won by electoral college, not popular votes
~ Brought electricity to the White House
~ First Presidential voice ever recorded
~ Only US President from Indiana
~ Followed and was followed in office by Grover Cleveland

Grandson of a President and Great-grandson of a signer of the Declaration of Independence, 23rd US President Benjamin Harrison was born into a politically active if not particularly wealthy family. The second of eight children, Benjamin’s early education took place in a one-room schoolhouse until he entered Farmer’s College in Ohio at the age of 14. Transferring to Miami University (Ohio) in 1850, Harrison completed his education by 1853 and married Carolina Scott.

Benjamin moved to Indianapolis to begin his law practice and in 1856 he was elected Indianapolis City Attorney. In 1862, at the start of the Civil War, Harrison entered the Army, serving first in recruitment, and later in the 70th Indian Infantry. His regiment at first mainly guarded railroads in Kentucky and Tennessee, but Harrison saw battle in Sherman’s Atlanta Campaign. By the time he left the Army in 1865, he was a Brigadier General.

Remaining politically active though not elected to a specific post, Harrison attended the 1880 Republican National Convention in Chicago, Illinois which gained him national political exposure. He was elected Senator, serving from March 1881 – 1887 and then was selected as his party’s candidate for President in 1888. Through a campaign thick with rumors of illegal voting, Harrison won the nomination not by popular vote, but by a Electoral Collage win over incumbent President Grover Cleveland.

Sworn into office in Washington, DC, March 4, 1889, Benjamin Harrison took on issues of civil service and pensions, tariffs, antitrust laws, the gold-silver controversy that would not be resolved until Cleveland’s second term, and foreign policy issues.

Harrison was interested in annexing Hawaii as a State and wanted to establish a military presence at Pearl Harbor but the Senate failed to act on Harrison’s recommended treaty during his administration. However, North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Washington (State),Idaho, and Wyoming did become States during Harrison’s term – the most ever under any US President.

Virtual Tour

In a re-election bid for the 1892 Presidential nomination, Harrison lost to Grover Cleveland. The economic downturn that began during Harrison’s presidency would soon lead to the Panic of 1893. Harrison’s wife Caroline died of tuberculosis just prior to the election in October, and Benjamin returned to his home in Indianapolis. He was on the Board of Trustees at Purdue University, spent several months in California in 1894 while giving lectures at Stanford University, remarried in 1896, and in 1899 attended the First Peace Conference at The Hague. In 1900 he went to Paris to serve as attorney for Venezuela in their border dispute with the United Kingdom. In February 1901, a cold turned into pnuemonia and on March 13, at the age of 67, Benjamin Harrison died at his home.

Technology was on the move during Benjamin Harrison’s presidency. Electric lights in the White House, international travel by steamship versus sailing vessel, ever-increasing railroad lines and access – yet many still used the horse and buggy for local travel. Bicycles were becoming more popular, and within the next decade, automobiles would become a common site in the eastern United States.

The 24th President of the United States, Grover Cleveland.
The 25th President of the United States, William McKinley.