John J. Blaine

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John J. Blaine

John James Blaine (born May 4, 1875 in Wingville , Grant County , Wisconsin , †  April 16, 1934 in Boscobel , Wisconsin) was an American politician and from 1921 to 1927 the 24th  governor of Wisconsin. He also represented this state in the US Senate .

Early years and political advancement

John Blaine attended local schools in his home country. He then studied at Valparaiso University in Indiana law . After being admitted to the bar in 1896, he first practiced in Montfort . In 1897 he moved to Boscobel, where he continued his legal practice.

Blaine's political rise also began in Boscobel. He was mayor there between 1901 and 1907 with one interruption in 1905. Between 1901 and 1904 he was also a district councilor. John Blaine was a member of the Republican Party and represented it in the Wisconsin Senate between 1909 and 1913 . There he became known nationwide in connection with an investigation into Senator Isaac Stephenson . The investigation concerned the Senator's campaign funding. In 1914 he ran unsuccessfully as an independent candidate for governor . Between 1919 and 1921 he was Attorney General of Wisconsin. In 1920 he was elected as a Republican candidate for the new governor, with almost 53 percent of the vote, well ahead of the Democrat Robert McCoy (35.8 percent).

Governor and senator

John Blaine took office on January 3, 1921 and was able to exercise it after two safe re-election until January 3, 1927. During his tenure, he stood up for the farm workers and cut government spending. Although he was temporarily hindered by the opposition in the state parliament, he managed to carry out numerous progressive reforms. This created its own State Department of Markets . Equality for women was promoted, income tax law and inheritance tax were made fairer. The powers of the municipalities have been expanded and the options for removing elected persons from their offices for misconduct have been expanded and simplified.

After his governorship ended, Blaine served as a US Senator in Congress between March 4, 1927 and March 3, 1933 . A staunch opponent of Prohibition , Blaine was one of the Senate spokesmen for the repeal of the 18th Amendment from 1919. In 1933 this addition was actually repealed. In practice, the prohibition law could not prevail. In the Senate, Blaine was also against excessive government spending and against the United States joining the League of Nations . Despite being a Republican, he supported Democratic presidential candidate Al Smith in 1928 and Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932 .

After leaving the Congress, he was initially again a lawyer in Boscobel. Then, in 1933, President Roosevelt appointed him a director of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation , an organization that was supposed to help put the economy and finances back in order after the Great Depression. John Blaine could not hold this office much longer because he died in April 1934. He was married to Anna McSpaden, with whom he had a child.

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personal data
SURNAME Blaine, John J.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Blaine, John James
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American politician
DATE OF BIRTH May 4, 1875
PLACE OF BIRTH Wingville , Wisconsin
DATE OF DEATH April 16, 1934
Place of death Boscobel , Wisconsin