J. C. W. Beckham
J. C. W. Beckham | |
---|---|
United States Senator from Kentucky | |
In office March 4, 1915 – March 3, 1921 | |
Preceded by | Johnson N. Camden Jr. |
Succeeded by | Richard P. Ernst |
35th Governor of Kentucky | |
In office February 3, 1900 – December 10, 1907 | |
Lieutenant | William P. Thorne |
Preceded by | William Goebel |
Succeeded by | Augustus E. Willson |
28th Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky | |
In office January 31, 1900 – February 3, 1900 | |
Governor | William Goebel |
Preceded by | John Marshall |
Succeeded by | William P. Thorne |
Speaker of the Kentucky House of Representatives | |
In office January 4, 1898 – January 1, 1900 | |
Preceded by | Charles Blandford |
Succeeded by | South Trimble |
Member of the Kentucky House of Representatives from the 39th district | |
In office February 5, 1896 – January 1, 1900 | |
Preceded by | Isaac Wilson |
Succeeded by | Eli H. Brown |
In office January 1, 1894 – January 1, 1896 | |
Preceded by | A. L. Harned |
Succeeded by | Isaac Wilson |
Personal details | |
Born | John Crepps Wickliffe Beckham August 5, 1869 Wickland, Nelson County, Kentucky, U.S. |
Died | January 9, 1940 Louisville, Kentucky | (aged 70)
Resting place | Frankfort Cemetery |
Political party | Democratic |
Spouse | Jean Raphael Fuqua |
Children | 2 |
Relatives | Charles A. Wickliffe (grandfather) Robert C. Wickliffe (uncle) |
Alma mater | Central University University of Kentucky |
Profession |
|
John Crepps Wickliffe Beckham (August 5, 1869 – January 9, 1940) was an American attorney and politician who served as the 35th
Descended from a prominent political family, Beckham was chosen as the running mate of Democratic nominee William Goebel in the 1899 Kentucky gubernatorial election. Although Goebel lost the election to Republican nominee William S. Taylor, the Kentucky General Assembly disputed the election results. During the political wrangling that followed, an unknown assassin shot Goebel. A day later, the General Assembly invalidated enough votes to give the election to Goebel, who was sworn into office on his deathbed. Taylor claimed the election had been stolen by the Democratic majority in the General Assembly, and a legal fight occurred between him and Beckham over the governorship. Beckham ultimately prevailed and Taylor fled the state. Beckham later won a special election to fill the remainder of Goebel's term and then an election in his own right in 1903.
In 1906, during his second term as governor, Beckham made a bid to become a U.S. senator. His favorable stance of
Early life
He was born in
Beckham obtained his early education at Roseland Academy in Bardstown.
Concurrently, he studied law at the University of Kentucky, where he earned his law degree in 1889.[6] He was admitted to the bar and commenced practice in Bardstown in 1893.[1] He also served as president of the Young Democrats' Club of Nelson County.[3]
Political career
Beckham's political career began in 1894, when he was elected without opposition to the Kentucky House of Representatives.
Governor of Kentucky
Democrat William Goebel chose Beckham as his running mate in the Kentucky gubernatorial election of 1899. Goebel was hesitant about the selection because he wanted someone who could deliver the vote of his home county in the general election, and Beckham's native Nelson County was already committed to a rival candidate. However, friends of Goebel assured him that Beckham would be loyal to Goebel's reform agenda, but the two other men Goebel was considering as running mates would "stack the Senate committees against him."[4] Beckham was not yet 30, the minimum age to serve as governor, at the time of his selection.[4]
Goebel lost a close election to Republican William S. Taylor.[2] When the General Assembly's session opened on January 2, 1900, the election results were immediately challenged.[8] With Democrats in control of both houses of the Assembly, the results seemed sure to be reversed.[9] The Assembly was still deliberating on January 30, 1900, when Goebel was shot by an unknown assailant as he entered the state capitol building.[10] The following day, as Goebel was being treated for his wounds at a local hotel, the General Assembly invalidated enough votes to give him the election.[11] Goebel was sworn into office from his bed the same day.[11] Three days later, Goebel died, never having risen from the bed.[12]
Legislative chaos ensued, as Taylor refused to acknowledge the Assembly's decision and vacate the governorship. The Republicans in the legislature obeyed Taylor's orders, but the Democrats ignored Taylor and followed the orders of their leadership. Finally, on February 21, 1900, Taylor and Beckham agreed to let the courts settle the matter. The case first went before the Louisville Circuit Court, which found in favor of Beckham. Republicans appealed to the
After the Supreme Court ruling, Taylor fled to
As governor, Beckham sought to unite his party and the state by supporting changes to the blatantly-partisan Goebel Election Law, which had been authored by his late running mate while the latter was a member of the General Assembly.[15] He stressed non-controversial issues, such as improvements to roads and the state's educational system.[2] He recommended passage of a law to set uniform school textbook prices, a reform that both he and Goebel had advocated during the gubernatorial campaign.[15][16] However, his passive leadership ensured that the General Assembly did little to address his agenda.[2] The only major pieces of legislation passed during Beckham's term were a tax increase that added a half million dollars to the state's revenue and a child labor law that forbade children under fourteen to work without their parents' consent.[17]
Second term
Although the
In his message to the legislature in 1904, Beckham again raised the issue of a uniform school textbook law, which had not passed during his first term.[19] The law was one of few significant reforms that passed during the 1904 session.[19] Also during the session, funds were approved for building a new capitol building and a memorial to the late Governor Goebel.[20]
In March 1904, Beckham signed the Day Law, mandating racial segregation of all schools in Kentucky. Berea College, a private college in eastern Kentucky that had been integrated since the 1850s, immediately filed suit to challenge the law. Its substance was upheld in the circuit court and the Kentucky Court of Appeals. Berea appealed to the Supreme Court, which, in 1908, which decided, in Berea College v. Kentucky, against the college. Again, only Harlan dissented.[21]
Near the close of the 1904 session, legislators approved the creation of
During the 1906 legislative session, Beckham urged investigation and prosecution of corrupt insurance companies by following the lead of New York attorney Charles Evans Hughes. In particular, he recommended reducing the practice of deferred dividends, which allowed the insurance companies to keep large stores of cash on hand for illegal purposes. He further advocated for insurance companies doing business in the state to be required to invest a certain percentage of their earnings in Kentucky to bolstering the state's economy and to provide policyholders some protection against fraud.[23]
Beckham refused to send troops into the western part of the state to quell the ongoing Black Patch Tobacco Wars.[24] He cited constitutional reasons for his refusal, but more probably, his reasons were political. The Democrats were dominant in the region, and he wanted to avoid challenging his own party.[24]
By collecting some old
With a successful legislative session behind him, Beckham made a bold political move in June 1906. He orchestrated an effort to set the Democratic gubernatorial and senatorial primaries in November, a full year before the gubernatorial election and two years before the senatorial election. Beckham wanted the Senate seat, and if the primary was moved up two years, he could secure his party's nomination while he was still governor. He could also use his influence as governor to sway the party's choice of his potential successor as governor. State Auditor Samuel Wilber Hager was Beckham's choice for governor and easily won the early primary over challenger N.B. Hays. Former Governor James B. McCreary challenged Beckham for the senatorial nomination, but Beckham won by more than 11,000 votes.[27]
U.S. Senator
Beckham's term as governor ended on December 10, 1907.
Beckham's ardent support of
Six years later, Beckham again attempted to win a Senate seat. The passage of the Seventeenth Amendment meant that the Senate would no longer be elected by the legislature but instead by popular vote.
In the Democratic primary, Beckham defeated
Beckham served as chairman of the Senate Committee on Expenditures in the
After the United States entered World War I, Beckham continued to back Wilson and later supported the League of Nations.[31]
True to his prohibitionist stance, Beckham supported passage of the
The Democrats renominated Beckham without opposition in 1920. His opponent in the general election was Republican Richard P. Ernst. Prohibition had destroyed the distilling industry and the saloon business in the state, and in areas that those industries were prominent, Beckham received more than 5,000 fewer votes than Democratic presidential nominee James M. Cox. He was also hurt by the women's vote and by his support of Wilson, who had lost popularity since Beckham's election, in 1914. Ernst won the election by fewer than 5,000 votes, winning the race with 50.3% of the vote to Beckham's 49.7%.[32]
During his only term in the Senate, Beckham served alongside three other U.S. senators from Kentucky:
Later life
After his term in the Senate ended, Beckham resumed his legal practice in Louisville.[1] He sought another term as governor in 1927.[33] This time, he had the support of the Louisville Courier-Journal, which had been purchased by his ally, Robert W. Bingham.[33] He was opposed by a powerful political machine, known as the Jockey Club, whose main interest was securing legislation to allow parimutuel betting at the state's horse racetracks.[34]
The Jockey Club ran a candidate in both parties' primary elections. In the Democratic primary, Beckham defeated the club's relatively-obscure candidate, Robert T. Crowe.
Beckham was expected to be the Democrats' nominee for governor in 1935, but the death of his son in late 1934 had left him distraught, and his wife was opposed to another campaign.[36] The Democrats turned to A. B. "Happy" Chandler, of Henderson, who won the election.[36] Beckham supported Chandler's bid, and in return, Chandler appointed him to the Kentucky Public Service Commission in 1936.[2] Beckham also served on the Department of Business Regulations Commission and chaired the State Government Reorganization Commission.[6]
Beckham attempted to return to the Senate in 1936. The head of the Jockey Club, James B. Brown, had lost his fortune and influence when his banking empire crashed in 1930.[37]
In 1933, Beckham's ally, Bingham, had been appointed ambassador to the
Beckham died in Louisville on January 9, 1940, and was buried in Frankfort Cemetery in Frankfort, Kentucky.[1] Beckham County, Oklahoma, was named in his honor at the suggestion of a Kentuckian who was serving as a delegate to Oklahoma's constitutional convention in 1907.[41] Wickland, his birthplace, was added to the National Register of Historic Places on February 16, 1973.[42]
See also
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h "Beckham, John Crepps Wickliffe". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Archived from the original on January 16, 2014. Retrieved October 13, 2009.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Harrison, p. 65
- ^ a b c Burckel in Kentucky's Governors, p. 137
- ^ a b c Burckel in Register, p. 288
- ^ a b c d Finch, p. 38
- ^ a b c d "Kentucky Governor John Crepps Wickliffe Beckham". National Governors Association. Archived from the original on August 1, 2013. Retrieved June 23, 2009.
- ^ a b c Powell, p. 78
- ^ Klotter in William Goebel, p. 94
- ^ Klotter in William Goebel, p. 95
- ^ Klotter in William Goebel, p. 100
- ^ a b Klotter in William Goebel, p. 105
- ^ Klotter in William Goebel, p. 108
- ^ Klotter in William Goebel, pp. 111–114
- ^ Klotter in William Goebel, p. 114
- ^ a b Burckel in Register, p. 289
- ^ Klotter in William Goebel, p. 45
- ^ Klotter in Portraits in Paradox, p. 205
- ^ a b Klotter in Portraits in Paradox, p. 206
- ^ a b c d Burckel in Register, p. 290
- ^ Klotter in Portraits in Paradox, p. 207
- ^ Klotter in Portraits in Paradox, pp. 153–154
- ^ Harrison, p. 66
- ^ Burckel in Register, p. 291
- ^ a b Klotter in Portraits in Paradox, p. 60
- ^ a b Klotter in Portraits in Paradox, p. 209
- ^ Burckel in Register, p. 294
- ^ Klotter in Portraits in Paradox, pp. 210–211
- ^ a b c d e f Finch, p. 39
- ^ a b c d e Klotter in Portraits in Paradox, p. 215
- ^ Finch, pp. 39–40
- ^ a b c d Finch, p. 40
- ^ a b Finch, pp. 40–41
- ^ a b Finch, p. 41
- ^ Finch, p. 42
- ^ Finch, pp. 42–43
- ^ a b Klotter in Portraits in Paradox, p. 304
- ^ a b Finch, p. 43
- ^ Finch, pp. 43–44
- ^ a b c Finch, p. 44
- ^ a b Klotter in Portraits in Paradox, p. 310
- ^ "Origins of County Names in Oklahoma". Chronicles of Oklahoma. 2 (1). March 1924. Archived from the original on January 23, 2014. Retrieved July 7, 2009.
- ^ Trigg, p. 1
Bibliography
- Burckel, Nicholas C. (October 1978). "From Beckham to McCreary: The Progressive Record of Kentucky Governors". The Register of the Kentucky Historical Society. 76.
- Burckel, Nicholas C. (2004). ISBN 0-8131-2326-7.
- Finch, Glenn (January 1970). "The Election of United States Senators in Kentucky: The Beckham Period". Filson Club History Quarterly. 44.
- ISBN 0-8131-1772-0.
- ISBN 0-916968-24-3. Retrieved June 26, 2009.
- ISBN 0-8131-0240-5. Retrieved June 26, 2009.
- Powell, Robert A. (1976). Kentucky Governors. Danville, Kentucky: Bluegrass Printing Company. OCLC 2690774.
- Trigg, Robert S. (October 24, 1972). "Wickland NRHP Nomination Form" (PDF). Retrieved August 11, 2009.
Sources
- ISBN 0-8131-2008-X. Retrieved June 26, 2009.
- Tapp, Hambleton; ISBN 0-916968-05-7. Retrieved June 26, 2009.
External links