Richard A. Ballinger

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Richard A. Ballinger
Commissioner of the General Land Office
In office
January 28, 1907 – January 14, 1908
PresidentTheodore Roosevelt
Preceded byWilliam A. Richards
Succeeded byFred Dennett
24th Mayor of Seattle
In office
March 21, 1904 – March 19, 1906
Preceded byThomas J. Humes
Succeeded byWilliam Hickman Moore
Personal details
Born
Richard Achilles Ballinger

(1858-07-09)July 9, 1858
Boonesboro, Iowa, U.S.
DiedJune 6, 1922(1922-06-06) (aged 63)
Seattle, Washington, U.S.
Resting placeLake View Cemetery
Political partyRepublican
SpouseJulia Bradley
Children2
EducationWilliams College (BA)
Signature

Richard Achilles Ballinger (July 9, 1858 – June 6, 1922) was mayor of

Seattle, Washington, from 1904–1906, Commissioner of the United States General Land Office from 1907–1908 and U.S. Secretary of the Interior
from 1909–1911.

Early life and Seattle career

Ballinger was born in

Boonesboro, Iowa, the son of Richard Henry Ballinger and Mary Elizabeth Norton. In 1884, he graduated from Williams College, where he was a member of the Zeta Psi fraternity.[1]

Ballinger passed the

bar exam
in 1886 and began practicing law in Seattle. He married Julia Albertson Bradley later that year, on October 26. The couple ultimately had two sons, (Edward Bradley Ballinger and Richard Talcott Ballinger).

Following the scandal-prone

Snohomish County
north of the city for his father, Col. Richard Ballinger.

Federal career and scandal

Ballinger's Secretary of the Interior nomination

After serving as the mayor of Seattle, Ballinger joined the administration of President Theodore Roosevelt and served as commissioner of the United States General Land Office from 1907 until 1908. In 1909, Ballinger helped organize the Alaska–Yukon–Pacific Exposition, a World's Fair to highlight development in the Northwest.

In 1909 despite previous promises to retain ex-President Roosevelt's cabinet officers, newly elected President

Amalgamated Copper). Ballinger at first ignored the story, then accused reporters of opposing development in the West.[4]
Although that Montana waterpower story proved to be overblown, accusations of favoritism continued to dog Ballinger as Secretary of the Interior.

The most serious charges involved

Forestry Bureau and thus responsible for the Chugach, although also subordinate to the Interior Secretary), President Taft and cooperated with the press.[5]

A series of

Wesley Jones demanding a complete investigation.[6]

Although even

Louis D. Brandeis as its counsel. Pinchot went public with his differences with Ballinger's approach and his office delivered another report to the Senator Dolliver, Republican chair of the Committee on Agriculture and Forestry. This prompted Taft to fire Pinchot as well, while Roosevelt was in Africa.[7] During the special committee's hearings, both Glavis and Pinchot testified, and testimony about the backdating by a stenographer prompted Taft to take responsibility for ordering it, though that stenographer and other employees were also fired. Brandeis's questioning made Ballinger's anti-conservationism clear, but did not unearth anything so serious as to warrant criminal charges.[8]
Nonetheless, public confidence in Ballinger's leadership of the Interior Department had waned.

After the Republican party lost heavily in the midterm elections that November, Ballinger finally resigned on March 12, 1911. Taft had replaced Pinchot with

Payne–Aldrich tariff—split the Republican Party
and helped to turn the tide of the 1912 election against Taft.

Death

Richard A. Ballinger House in Seattle, Washington

Ballinger returned to the private practice of law in

Seattle, Washington, where he died on June 6, 1922, and was buried at the Lake View Cemetery.[10]

His wife Julia Albertson Ballinger (1864-1961) bore their sons Edwin B. Ballinger (1899-) and Richard Talcott Ballinger (1898-1971).

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Baird, William Raymond (1915). Baird's Manual of American College Fraternities, pp. 349–355.
  2. ISBN 0-9629889-0-1
    . p. 111.
  3. ^ Goodwin, p. 561-562.
  4. ^ Goodwin, p. 606-610.
  5. ^ Goodwin, p. 610-614.
  6. ^ Goodwin, p. 616-618.
  7. ^ Goodwin, p. 619-621.
  8. ^ Goodwin, p. 622-626.
  9. ^ Goodwin, p. 627.
  10. ^ My Edmonds News

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Richard Achilles Ballinger.
Political offices
Preceded by Mayor of Seattle
1904–1906 		Succeeded by
Preceded by U.S. Secretary of the Interior
Served under: William Howard Taft
1909–1911 		Succeeded by
Preceded by
Commissioner of the General Land Office

January 28, 1907 – January 14, 1908 		Succeeded by
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