James Smith Junior

James Smith (1899)

James Smith, Jr. (born June 12, 1851 in Newark , New Jersey , † April 1, 1927 ) was an American politician . Between 1893 and 1899 he represented the state of New Jersey in the US Senate .

Career

James Smith attended private schools as well as St. Mary's College in Wilmington , Delaware . Later he worked in the haberdashery and import trade. Then he worked as a leather manufacturer in Newark. At the same time he embarked on a political career as a member of the Democratic Party . From 1883 to 1887 he was a member of the Newark City Council. In 1884 he turned down a candidate he had been offered for the office of mayor there. He also headed the city's Board of Works.

In the elections of 1892 Smith was elected to the US Senate, where he succeeded Rufus Blodgett as Class 1 Category Senator on March 4, 1893 . Since he was no longer available for re-election in 1898, he left Congress on March 3, 1899. In the meantime, he headed what was then the Committee on the Organization, Conduct and Expenditures of Executive Departments . The Spanish-American War of 1898 also fell during his time in Congress .

After his tenure in the Senate ended, James Smith resumed his previous work as a leather manufacturer. He also got into the banking and newspaper business. In 1915 he suffered a financial collapse that forced him to sell his newspaper business. Politically, he promoted the rise of the future President Woodrow Wilson in 1910 . A little later, however, he broke with Wilson, who in 1911 refused Sewell his support for his then failed candidacy for the US Senate. Smith died on April 1, 1927 in his hometown of Newark.

Web links

• James Smith Jr. in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)