Benjamin Harrison: Grandson

01VOA Learning English presents America's Presidents.

02Today we are talking about Benjamin Harrison.

03His family name may sound familiar.

04That is because he was the grandson of President William Henry Harrison.

05That situation is unique in U.S.

06history so far.

07Harrison played an unusually active role as President at a time when most chief executives saw themselves as simply administrators.

08As a result, American writer and intellectual Henry Adams said, Harrison was the best President since Lincoln.

09But most Americans remember little about him, except his connection to the previous President Harrison, who himself died after only a month in office.

10Benjamin Harrison grew up on a farm in the Midwestern state of Ohio as one of eight children.

11His grandfather was not the only famous political Harrison.

12His great-grandfather signed the Declaration of Independence, and his father had been a congressman.

13Young Benjamin Harrison respected these men and believed he had a role to play in history, too.

14He received a good education, and even outside of school, he read many books.

15His hard work and intelligence carried him to Miami University in Ohio, and then to a career as a lawyer.

16Along the way, he married a woman he had known since he was a teenager, Carolyn Lavinia Scott.

17The couple settled in another Midwestern city, Indianapolis, Indiana, and had a son and daughter.

18Over time, Harrison steadily built a career as a public official.

19But his political path was interrupted by the American Civil War.

20Harrison rose to the rank of general in the Union Army.

21He fought under General William T.

22Sherman and was one of the first soldiers to enter Atlanta, Georgia, after the city surrendered.

23Reports say that Harrison was an excellent soldier, but he did not enjoy fighting or find war romantic.

24After the war, he returned home to Indiana and continued his legal and political career.

25In 1881, he was elected to the U.S.

26Senate.

27But six years later, he lost his seat when Democrats came to power in his state.

28Harrison's loss of his Senate seat soon turned to a victory.

29The Republican Party nominated him as their candidate to run against Grover Cleveland in the 1888 presidential election.

30Cleveland's economic policies had become unpopular, and Republicans worked hard to support their candidate.

31They succeeded.

32Although Cleveland won the popular vote, Harrison won the Electoral College.

33In 1889, he followed his grandfather's footsteps all the way to the White House.

34Harrison's election was a major victory for his Republican Party.

35In addition to winning the White House, Republicans gained seats in the House of Representatives, held a majority in the Senate, and appointed several Republican justices to the Supreme Court.

36Harrison and other Republican lawmakers used their power to take action on issues at home and internationally.

37Harrison's administration, Harrison's administration, his administration, sought to build ties with Latin American countries.

38His government established what would, in time, become the Organization of American States.

39His administration also increased the United States' global trade, as well as the country's navy.

40But, for the most part, the most pressing issues of the day were economic.

41The federal government at that time had an unusually large surplus.

42Some argued that the surplus was hurting business.

43In answer, Harrison's government placed a high protective tariff on imported goods.

44The legislation was known as the McKinley Tariff of 1890.

45Officials also aimed to limit the power of large corporations to control important markets in the U.S.

46Finally, they agreed to require the government to buy silver to use as currency.

47These actions pleased some of his supporters.

48But they may have contributed to the severe economic depression that followed Harrison's term.

49And in general, voters disapproved of the amount of money Republican lawmakers were spending.

50Although the country was at peace, the 51st Congress appropriated $1 billion.

51At the midterm elections, many lawmakers paid for all the spending with their seats.

52Two years later, voters turned Harrison out of the White House, too.

53They returned Grover Cleveland to the presidency.

54Harrison did not express much disappointment.

55He had worked hard to become president like his grandfather.

56But he found he did not like being the chief executive.

57He said, When he left the White House, it was like being released from prison.

58Among U.S.

59presidents, Harrison does not have one of the most dramatic biographies.

60The facts of his life show an intelligent, disciplined man who tried to live by his beliefs.

61But he was not considered passionate about many things, except perhaps his enjoyment of nature.

62And he did not have an easy way with people.

63Even his staff called him the human iceberg because he could be aloof and act coldly toward people.

64Yet Harrison's family brought some warmth to his administration.

65His wife, Carolyn, was known to be a lively social person.

66She was the first to install a Christmas tree in the White House.

67Some of Harrison's grandchildren also lived in the White House.

68Harrison permitted them to play on the grounds with their pet animals.

69During Harrison's term, the family kept a goat, which the children called Old Whiskers.

70Harrison's time in the White House saw sorrow, too.

71Toward the end of her husband's term, the first lady became seriously ill with tuberculosis.

72For months, Benjamin Harrison divided his attention between his wife and his job, and yet in the end lost both.

73After his term as president ended, Harrison returned to his home in Indianapolis.

74He did some work as a teacher and lawyer, and kept a good public image in his community.

75He also remarried.

76His second wife was a widow herself, as well as his first wife's niece.

77He and Mary Scott Lord Dymock Harrison had a daughter together.

78The child was only four when Harrison died from pneumonia at age 67.

79I'm Kelly Jean Kelly.

80I'm Kelly Jean Kelly.