William O'Connell Bradley

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
William O'Connell Bradley signature

William O'Connell Bradley (born March 18, 1847 in Lancaster , Garrard County , Kentucky , † May 23, 1914 in Washington, DC ) was an American politician and governor of Kentucky. He was also a US Senator for that state .

Early years and political advancement

William Bradley received a private school education. As a teenager, he joined the US Army as a soldier to fight in the Civil War. Because of his youth he was sent home again. He then studied law and was after successful graduation in 1870 prosecutor in Garrard County. As a member of the Republican Party , he applied several times for a seat in the US House of Representatives and the US Senate in the 1870s . All these attempts failed, as did his candidacy for governor in 1887 when he was against Simon Bolivar Buckner . In 1889 he turned down an offer to represent the United States as ambassador to Korea. Between 1890 and 1896 he was a member of the Republican National Committee .

Kentucky governor

In 1895 Bradley was nominated by his party as a candidate for gubernatorial elections. No Republican had ever been elected governor of Kentucky until then. Bradley won the election with 48.3% of the vote against Parker W. Hardin (45.8%), becoming the state's first Republican governor. He owed his election victory above all to the internal quarrels of the Democratic Party . His term in office was determined by political controversy with the Democrats. They had a majority in parliament and also passed some laws against the will of the governor, including the country's first mandatory education law and an electoral reform, the so-called "Goebel Election Law". On the other hand, Bradley also vetoed various other proposals. This happened, for example, in connection with a statutory regulation of rail tariffs. The election of Republican William McKinley as US President in 1896 increased the opposition of the Kentucky Democrats to the governor and his party friends.

The domestic political dispute intensified under his successor William Taylor and ended in a government crisis over allegations of election fraud. The crisis culminated in a fatal assassination attempt on the new governor William Goebel . Noteworthy is Bradley's success in crushing criminal feuds in the east of the state.

US Senator

After the end of his tenure December 12, 1899 Bradley first moved to Louisville and worked there as a lawyer. In 1900 he made a futile attempt to be elected to the US Senate. In the presidential election of 1904 he supported the Republican incumbent Theodore Roosevelt . Four years later, in 1908, Bradley benefited once more from the disagreement among the Kentucky Democrats. This time they were divided on the question of prohibition , while Bradley was an opponent of it. Taking advantage of the dispute within the Democratic Party, Bradley was elected to the Senate. There he was represented in several committees. At the time of his death in May 1914, he was still a US Senator. However, he had already announced that he would not stand again.

Bradley was married to Margaret Robertson Duncan since 1867. The couple had two children, George Robertson Bradley and Christine Bradley South. The son died at the age of 24. William Bradley is said not to have got over this loss in his life. His nephew Edwin Morrow later also became governor of Kentucky.

Web links