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17th President of the United States | |
| Predecessor | Abraham Lincoln |
| Successor | Samuel J. Tilden |
| Vice President | Augustus C. Dodge |
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U.S. Senator from Ohio | |
| Predecessor | John Sherman |
| Successor | Allen G. Thurman |
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U.S. Representative from Ohio | |
| Predecessor | Timothy C. Day |
| Successor | George E. Pugh |
| Born | July 19, 1825 Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S. |
| Died | November 24, 1889 (aged 64) Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S. |
| Spouse | Alice Key |
| Political Party | Democratic |
George Hunt Pendleton (July 19, 1825 – November 24, 1889) was an American politician and lawyer who served as the 17th President of the United States. He was president during the rebuilding years after the Civil War and is known for returning the country to normalcy, along with controversies during his presidency.
Early Life[]
Political Career[]
Pendleton's calls for peace during the war won him credibility after it ended in a loss for the Union. If he had been listened to, the same result would have happened with much less loss of human life. He became a vocal ideological leader in the party, wishing to unite the Democrats around his Jacksonian vision. Pendleton lost his House seat due to running for vice president in 1864, but Democrats won control of the Ohio legislature and elected him as their senator in 1866. In the senate, he became a strong advocate for the impeachment of Abraham Lincoln and voted to convict him on all counts.
All of these factors made Pendleton the frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1868. He had some opposition, mainly from those who opposed his economic proposals, but was able to win the nomination on the 5th ballot.
Presidency[]
Pendleton won an easy election in 1868 in the wake of the failed Civil War effort and ongoing collapse of the Republican Party. He pledged to return the country to normalcy and fix the downtrodden economy that resulted from the lost war. In his early presidency he aimed mostly for unity of his party and his country, staying away from enforcing any of his more controversial personal beliefs. He simply wished to be a solid, hands off leader that the country could begin to heal under.
As president, Pendleton first worked to expand democracy to the common man. In his Jacksonian view of politics, a strong US meant strong participation by the population in the democratic process along with strong states' rights. He had been a strong supporter of slavery before and during the war. Now that the war was over, he didn't feel as strongly about maintaining slavery where it remained in the U.S., but he also didn't believe it should ever be abolished by the federal government. He didn't mention the issue publicly because he felt it would divide the public unnecessarily. Behind the scenes, he continued to be a fierce advocated against the liberation of Blacks in the United States.
Economically, he tended to advocate for inflationary monetary policies in line with the desires of the poor farmers of the Midwest. He strongly believed it was important to deliver economic victories for the common folk that he considered to be his base. One of his first acts was to put the so-called Ohio Idea into practice, repaying government war bonds in greenbacks instead of gold. This increased the money supply and made it easier for poor Midwesterners to pay their debts. He also supported the status quo of bimetallism and fought against the implementation of a strict gold standard. In 1873, the economy saw a brief downturn that he addressed with an injection of more new greenbacks. His policies resulted in the country bouncing back from the war and seemingly entering a time of economic prosperity, though critics charge that this economic growth was only a mirage powered by inflation that damaged the economy in the long run.
Pendleton was very welcoming of fleeing Southerners moving to the Union from the Confederacy, considering them to be true patriots and also an important part of his base. He generally aimed for friendly relations with the South. Early in his presidency, he established formal diplomatic relations with the Confederate States as the Lincoln Administration had failed to do, appointing Joseph Lane as the first ambassador.
Overall, Pendleton considered his main goal as president to be ridding the federal government of what he thought to be rotten, corrupt Republican influence. His vision of America was an agrarian, populist society that rejected the political cronyism of the northeastern cities. Critics charged that he was attempting to bring the character of the United States closer to the Confederacy. The Democratic Party itself also saw its fair share of corruption scandals during its time of unchallenged political dominance, though Pendleton claimed these were isolated bad actors as opposed to the pervasive corruption of the Republicans. His administration itself kept a clean reputation.
In 1870, the Confederate States invaded Mexico, beginning the Mexican-Confederate War. Officially, they had joined the Mexican Civil War on the side of the French-backed imperialists. While most Americans didn't care to worry about the South's distant war, some urged President Pendleton to enforce the Monroe Doctrine and prevent the Confederates from establishing a European puppet regime in North America. Pendleton believed there was nothing he could do. Any direct intervention would require the resumption of war with the South, an idea that had very little popular support, especially over Mexico. Any economic retaliation against the South would violate the Treaty of Alexandria. The lack of action by the Union government is considered by historians to be the death of the Monroe Doctrine. Although it was never formally repudiated by the government, it was never enforced in any practical fashion after the end of the First Civil War.
After winning another easy election with no organized opposition in 1872, President Pendleton set his sights on a grand new goal: full reconciliation with the Confederacy. He felt that the public wanted to move on from the war and that the best way to do that was make friends with the Union's Southern neighbor. He thought that forging a permanent peaceful relationship with the C.S. would cement his legacy as a great president and national healer.
In pursuance of this goal, he set up a secret correspondence with the Confederate President Stonewall Jackson. Pendleton was able to convince Jackson that reconciliation was desirable for both nations. In order to secure Jackson's cooperation, he made a deal: if President Jackson would visit the U.S. on July 4th, 1876 (the nation's centennial), then Pendleton would convince Congress to pass a new fugitive slave law that sent all escaped slaves from the South back to their masters.
The law barely passed through the Democrat-dominated Congress, and the visit was secured. To Pendleton, the new law was entirely a positive development, keeping freedmen from entering the United States and causing what he viewed as societal upheaval. The fugitive slave law and visit by Jackson outraged the majority of the country. Some began calling for Pendleton's impeachment and conviction for treason, though the Democratic majority in Congress would never let that actually happen. Pendleton was correct in thinking that the public wanted to move on from the war, but he gravely misinterpreted how they wanted to do that. He thought that they wanted a peaceful friendship with the Confederacy, when they actually wanted to ignore its existence.
Pendleton was a controversial figure when he left office. In a stunning reversal of fortunes, the Democratic Party fell away from Pendleton's influence and resolved to nominate a presidential candidate that had few ties to the incumbent president. Though he advocated against the nomination of Samuel J. Tilden in 1876, he loyally supported the Democratic ticket in the general election. He was able to pass off the presidency to a victorious Tilden in 1877.
Post-Presidency[]
Pendleton later in life
Pendleton retired to his home in Cincinnati after leaving office. He was an advocate for some of Tilden's proposed civil service reforms, though he didn't like how the new president seemed to take so many shots at his administration, which he didn't consider to be corrupt at all. Any alliance between the men broke down in 1882 when Tilden signed into law the abolition of slavery in the U.S. This event caused the final fracturing of the Democratic Party into two main factions- the Bullwhackers led by Pendleton and the Tildenites led by Tilden. Pendleton took an active role in leading the Bullwhackers, attempting to regain control of his party and steer the country back towards his vision. Although he publicly denied interest, Pendleton was a candidate for a third term as president in 1884, leading the balloting in the first round. It is believed that Pendleton was not opposed to being nominated for a third term but was merely trying to keep up appearances. The National Americans won the election, taking the Democrats out of the White House for the first time in 16 years.
The National American administration had several high profile corruption scandals, which caused Pendleton to consider an alliance with the Tildenites over their shared opposition of patronage. With the majority of Americans now firmly against further cooperation with the Confederacy, the Bullwhacker faction fell out of favor and began losing members. This sealed Pendleton's decision to work for unity once more, and the party came together on civil service reform in 1888.
Pendleton unexpectedly died in 1889, sealing the final dissolution of his faction. He remained controversial at the time of his death and after.
Legacy[]
Pendleton was initially a well-liked president, someone who seemed to have returned normalcy to his country after the war. By the end of his term, he was reviled by a large segment of the population. His legacy was historically considered complex, having seemingly rebuilt the nation from war but also fought against the advancement of civil rights and pulled his foolish stunt with Jackson. Modern historians rate his presidency much more negatively than that, however, seeing almost nothing good in his tenure. They say he failed to really rebuild any significant part of the damaged infrastructure, didn't do anything to support families affected by the war, pursued goals contrary to what the majority of the population wanted, worked to undermine social progress, and worked to tie the United States to the Confederacy long term. Any economic upturn was an illusion and the sense of normalcy had no real value to anyone. While some remain more charitable, saying that he did work to give power to the common man and lead the country into better times, today he is generally ranked as one of the worst U.S. presidents.
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