Judson Harmon

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Judson Harmon signature

Judson Harmon (* 3. February 1846 in Newtown , Ohio ; †  22. February 1927 in Cincinnati , Ohio) was an American lawyer and politician , he served as Minister of Justice ( Attorney General ) under US President Grover Cleveland and as governor of Ohio .

Studies and professional career

Harmon served in the Ohio Home Guard during the Civil War . He then completed a general education course at Denison University in Granville , which he finished in 1866 with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) . He then studied law at the Cincinnati Law School and graduated in 1869 with a Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.). After several years as a lawyer, he became a judge at the Court of Common Pleas in 1876 , although he gave up this office after a few months.

In 1878 he was elected judge of the Ohio Higher Court ( Superior Court ) and remained so until 1887. He then worked again as a lawyer. In addition to serving as governor, he was also a professor at the Cincinnati Law School.

Political career

Judson Harmon (front right) as a member of the Grover Cleveland Cabinet (center).

Attorney General under President Cleveland

In 1876 Harmon ran unsuccessfully for the Ohio Senate .

On June 8, 1895, he was appointed United States Attorney General by President Cleveland after the previous Attorney General Richard Olney had been appointed Secretary of State . As Minister of Justice, he served in the cabinet until the end of Cleveland's second term on March 4, 1897. During this time he implemented the antitrust law , particularly in the form of the indictment in the United States v. Trans-Missouri Freight Association . In water law procedures United States v. Texas In 1896 he advocated a theory of absolute territorial sovereignty that later became known as the Harmon Doctrine. Under this doctrine, nations have exclusive jurisdiction and control over the use of water resources within their borders.

Governor of ohio

In 1908 he was elected governor of Ohio for the first time as a candidate for the Democratic Party . He held the office of governor from 1909 to 1913 for two terms. When he was re-elected in 1910, he prevailed against the later US President Warren G. Harding , who ran for the Republican Party . In 1913 he retired from political life. Harmon was the first politician to become governor of a state after serving as cabinet minister.

Special investigator and defeat as a presidential candidate

In 1905 President Theodore Roosevelt appointed him chairman of a commission to investigate the business practices of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway . In doing so, he discovered that a million dollar bribe had gone to the president of the railroad company, Paul Morton . The Commission's findings embarrassed President Roosevelt in particular, having recently appointed Morton as Secretary of the Navy . Harmon proposed bringing lawsuits against Morton and other directors of the railroad company, but this did not materialize after the President's intervention. However, Navy Minister Morton had to resign on July 1, 1905.

In 1912 he was defeated as a presidential candidate at the Democratic National Convention by the future President Woodrow Wilson , after the former Democratic presidential candidate and later foreign minister in Wilson's cabinet, William Jennings Bryan , had called him a reactionary because of his opposition to national initiatives and referendums .

It was in honor of Harmon County in Oklahoma named.

Web links

General biographical information

Commons : Judson Harmon  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Literature on the Harmon Doctrine

personal data
SURNAME Harmon, Judson
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American lawyer and politician
DATE OF BIRTH February 3, 1846
PLACE OF BIRTH Newtown , Ohio
DATE OF DEATH February 22, 1927
Place of death Cincinnati , Ohio