Thomas Taggart

Thomas Taggart

Thomas Taggart (born  November 17, 1856 in County Monaghan , Ireland , †  March 6, 1929 in Indianapolis , Indiana ) was an American politician ( Democratic Party ).

Life

Born in Ireland, Taggart moved with his parents to America as a young boy in 1861, where the family settled in Xenia ( Ohio ). As a teenager he worked there on the food distribution of a train depot. When he was 18 years old, his supervisor gave him the job of running the restaurant and hotel of a depot in Garrett, Indiana. There he met Eva Bryant, whom he married in 1878.

In 1877, Taggart moved to Indianapolis to manage the local depot restaurant. He later owned a hotel in Orange County with a business partner . Due to the mineral springs there, he managed to turn it into a popular holiday destination.

politics

After moving to Indianapolis, Thomas Taggart began to be politically active there. From 1886 to 1894 he served as a county auditor in Marion County . In 1895 he was elected mayor of Indianapolis to succeed Caleb S. Denny ; he remained this until 1901. During this time he campaigned for the establishment of parks in the city.

From 1904 to 1908, Taggart served as chairman of the Democratic National Committee . He played an important role in securing the nomination of Thomas Riley Marshall as the Democratic candidate for governor of Indiana in 1908 . In 1912 he supported Marshall again when the Democratic National Convention in Baltimore was looking for a vice-presidential candidate for Woodrow Wilson . After Wilson's election as US president , Marshall became his vice-president.

On March 20, 1916, Governor Samuel Ralston named him US Senator for Indiana. He took over the vacant seat of the late Benjamin F. Shively . In the election that followed in November, however, he was defeated by Republican James Eli Watson . Taggart remained active in politics. In 1924, he reinforced the Democratic favorite for the gubernatorial election, Carleton B. McCulloch, in a position against the Ku Klux Klan . However, the Republican Edward L. Jackson was elected .

Web links

Commons : Thomas Taggart  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Thomas Taggart in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)

• Thomas Taggart in the database of Find a Grave (English)