James G. Blaine

American politician (1830–1893)

James Gillespie Blaine (January 31, 1830 – January 27, 1893) was an American Republican politician. He was a United States Representative. He was the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives. He was a U.S. Senator from Maine. He was the Secretary of State twice. He was also nominated to be President.

James G. Blaine
31st Speaker of the United States House of Representatives
In office
March 4, 1869 – March 4, 1875
PresidentUlysses S. Grant
Preceded byTheodore M. Pomeroy
Succeeded byMichael C. Kerr
31st United States Secretary of State
In office
March 7, 1889 – June 4, 1892
PresidentBenjamin Harrison
Preceded byThomas F. Bayard
Succeeded byJohn W. Foster
28th United States Secretary of State
In office
March 7, 1881 – December 19, 1881
President
Preceded byWilliam M. Evarts
Succeeded byFrederick T. Frelinghuysen
United States Senator
from Maine
In office
July 10, 1876 – March 5, 1881
Preceded byLot M. Morrill
Succeeded byWilliam P. Frye
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Maine's 3rd district
In office
March 4, 1863 – July 10, 1876
Preceded bySamuel C. Fessenden
Succeeded byEdwin Flye
Personal details
Born
James Gillespie Blaine

January 31, 1830
West Brownsville, Pennsylvania
DiedJanuary 27, 1893(1893-01-27) (aged 62)
Washington, D.C.
Political partyRepublican
Spouse(s)Harriet Stanwood Blaine
ChildrenStanwood Blaine, Walker Blaine, Emmons Blaine, Alice Blaine Coppinger, James Blaine Jr, Margaret Blaine Damrosch, Harriet Blaine Beale
Alma materWashington College
ProfessionLaw, Politics
Signature

Early life

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Blaine in 1884

Blaine was born on January 31, 1830 in West Brownsville, Pennsylvania. He was the third child of Ephraim Lyon Blaine and his wife Maria Gillespie Blaine. He was educated at Washington College and later met his wife Harriet Stanwood. They married in 1850 and they had seven children.

Career

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Blaine was a Republican. He was Speaker of the House of Representatives from 1869 until 1875. He was chosen by the 18th United States President Ulysses S. Grant.

Blaine would later served as the Senator from Maine from 1876 through 1881. Secondly he served as the Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Maine's 3rd district from 1863 until 1876. Then as the 28th and 31st United States Secretary of State from 1881 through 1881 and then again in 1889 through 1892.

On July 2, 1881, Blaine and President James A. Garfield were walking in the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad station in Washington, D.C. when Charles J. Guiteau shot Garfield in the back. Blaine resigned as Secretary of State several months later.

The Republicans nominated Blaine for President in 1884 but Grover Cleveland won the election.

Blaine died just 4 days short from his 63rd birthday on January 27, 1893 in his Washington, D.C. home from a heart attack, aged 62.[1] He was later buried at Oak Hill Cemetery in Washington, D.C. and was later re-buried in Blaine Memorial Park, Augusta, Maine, in 1920.[1] Blaine was hypochondriac.[2]

References

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  1. 1.0 1.1 Muzzey, pp. 489–491.
  2. James Gillespie Blaine at Encyclopedia.com

Other websites

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  Media related to James G. Blaine at Wikimedia Commons

  • "James G. Blaine, Presidential Contender" Archived 2015-03-07 at the Wayback Machine from C-SPAN's The Contenders
  • Bastert, Russell H. (March 1956). "Diplomatic Reversal: Frelinghuysen's Opposition to Blaine's Pan-American Policy in 1882". The Mississippi Valley Historical Review. 42 (4): 653–671. doi:10.2307/1889232. JSTOR 1889232.
  • Langley, Lester D. (1974). "James Gillespie Blaine: The Ideologue as Diplomat". In Merli, Frank J.; Wilson, Theodore A. (eds.). Makers of American Diplomacy: From Benjamin Franklin to Henry Kissinger. New York, New York: Scribner. pp. 253–278. ISBN 978-0-684-13786-5.
  • Makemson, Harlen (2004). "One Misdeed Evokes Another: How Political Cartoonists Used 'Scandal Intertextuality' Against Presidential Candidate James G. Blaine". Media History Monographs. 7 (2): 1–21.
  • Peskin, Allan (1979). "Blaine, Garfield and Latin America". Americas: A Quarterly Review of Inter-American Cultural History. 36 (1): 79–89. doi:10.2307/981139. JSTOR 981139. S2CID 147169121.
  • Tyler, Alice Felt (1927). The Foreign Policy of James G. Blaine. Minneapolis, Minnesota: University of Minnesota Press.