Joseph B . Foraker Joseph Benson Foraker ( July 5 , 1846 – May 10 , 1917 ) was the 37th Governor of Ohio from 1886 to 1890 and a Republican United States Senator from 1897 until 1909 . Foraker was born in rural Ohio in 1846 , and enlisted at age 16 in the Union Army during the American Civil War . He fought for almost three years , attaining the rank of captain . After the war , he was a member of Cornell University ' s first graduating class , and became a lawyer . Interesting himself in politics , he was elected a judge in 1879 and became well known as a political speaker . He was defeated in his first run for governor in 1883 , but was elected two years later . As governor , he built an alliance with Cleveland industrialist Mark Hanna , but fell out with him in 1888 . Foraker was defeated for re - election in 1889 , but was elected United States Senator by the Ohio General Assembly in 1896 , after an unsuccessful bid for that office in 1892 . In the Senate , he supported the Spanish – American War and the annexation of the Philippines and Puerto Rico ; the Foraker Act gave Puerto Rico its first civil government under American rule . He came to differ with President Theodore Roosevelt over railroad regulation and political patronage . Their largest disagreement was over the Brownsville Affair , in which black soldiers were accused of terrorizing a Texas town , and Roosevelt dismissed the entire battalion . Foraker zealously opposed Roosevelt ' s actions as unfair , and fought for the soldiers ' reinstatement . The two men ' s disagreement broke out into an angry confrontation at the 1907 Gridiron Dinner , after which Roosevelt worked to defeat Foraker ' s re - election bid . Foraker died in 1917 ; in 1972 , the Army reversed the dismissals and cleared the soldiers . Early life and career . Boyhood and Civil War . Joseph Benson Foraker was born on July 5 , 1846 , on a farm about north of Rainsboro , Ohio , in Highland County . He was the son of Henry and Margaret ( Reece ) Foraker , and one of 11 children , of whom nine reached adulthood . Henry Foraker was the first in his line ( said to descend from Devon in England , though with German and Scots - Irish influences ) to spell his name that way ; his father , named John , had spelled it " Fouracre " , or sometimes " Foreacer " . David Reece , Joseph ' s maternal grandfather , was of English descent and had come from Grayson County , Virginia , to become a miller and farmer . The house in which Joseph Foraker was born was a comfortable two - story residence ; his later campaign publications often depicted it as a log cabin . When Joseph was age 2 , David Reece died , and the Foraker family purchased the mill and adjacent farm . There , Joseph grew up as a typical farm boy . He received little formal education , attending the local school for three or four months each winter . Nevertheless , young Joseph acquired a taste for military history , and a gift for speaking . He also became interested in politics ; at age 10 , he became an adherent of the newly formed Republican Party . Four years later , he supported the Republican candidate , former Illinois representative Abraham Lincoln , in the 1860 presidential race , marching in processions of the Wide Awakes and other pro - Lincoln groups , and attending as many rallies as he could . Impressed enough by one speaker to follow him to a neighboring town , he learned not to make the same speech twice in two days — at least , not in venues close to each other . In October 1861 , Foraker left his parents ' home to go to the county seat of Hillsboro where he was to live with his uncle , James Reece , auditor of Highland County , and work as a clerk in his office . He was sent to replace his older brother , Burch , by then enlisted in the Union Army as the American Civil War was raging . Foraker noted in his memoirs that while his time as auditor ' s clerk greatly improved his penmanship , it also brought him into contact with many county officials , teaching him how a government worked . The young clerk was impressed by his brother ' s letters home , and was anxious to join the army despite his youth . Soon after his 16th birthday , Joseph Foraker learned that a family friend was organizing a volunteer company , and sought to enlist . His uncle gave reluctant consent , and on July 14 , 1862 , Foraker was mustered in Company " A " , 89th Ohio Volunteer Infantry ; in late August , after training , he became second sergeant . With Confederate forces moving through Kentucky and threatening Cincinnati , the 89th was hurried into defenses set up across the Ohio River in Newport , Kentucky . The Confederates did not reach the Ohio , having been forced back well to the south , and the 89th moved to Fort Shaler , near Newport . While Foraker was at Fort Shaler , President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation ; Foraker recounted in his memoirs that he and his comrades felt that the proclamation meant that they were fighting for the end of slavery , not just to preserve the Union . Later in September 1862 , the 89th was sent to Western Virginia ( today West Virginia ) to reinforce Union forces there , and joined in their advance for a month . The regiment settled into winter quarters , but was called out for transport to Tennessee , where it helped relieve Fort Donelson in February 1863 . Before this action , Foraker had seen little fighting , and the bloody scenes there were a shock to him ; he wrote his parents , " To know how dreadful war is you must see it yourself . " The 89th remained at Donelson only a few days before being sent to join the Army of the Cumberland under the command of Major General William Rosecrans near Carthage ; there , Foraker was promoted to second lieutenant . In June , Foraker led an advance guard that clashed with the Confederate rear in what developed into the Battle of Hoover ' s Gap , and the Union forces slowly advanced across Tennessee , reaching Chattanooga in September . From Chattanooga , Foraker and two other officers were sent home to collect new soldiers who were expected to be drafted , but the plan to draft recruits was abandoned due to political opposition . In November he returned to Chattanooga , where the 89th was now part of the Army of the Tennessee under Brigadier General William Tecumseh Sherman , in time to fight in the Battle of Missionary Ridge . In May 1864 , Sherman began his Atlanta Campaign . Foraker fought in a number of fierce battles in that campaign , including Resaca , New Hope Church , and Kennesaw Mountain . Atlanta , or at least what was left of it after devastating fires , fell on September 2 . Foraker was detailed to the Signal Corps school that had been set up by the army at Atlanta , and spent a month there . He was then assigned to Major General Henry W . Slocum ' s division , and remained with that division as it participated in Sherman ' s March to the Sea , leaving a swath of destruction behind . In late December 1864 , the army reached Savannah , and Foraker , despite a storm , was able to communicate with US Navy ships offshore to alert them to the presence of Sherman ' s army . After a month , the army marched north into South Carolina , determined to bring even more devastation to the state that had first seceded . Foraker was in charge of maintaining signals between the wings of the army , and was stationed on a gunboat as it moved up the Savannah River . He saw more active duty as a courier between Sherman ' s main army and Slocum ' s forces in March 1865 as they met Confederate forces in North Carolina in the Battle of Bentonville . On the day of the battle , March 19 , 1865 , Foraker was promoted to brevet captain , and was soon thereafter made aide - de - camp to General Slocum . In April , as Sherman ' s army moved slowly northward , word came of the surrender of Confederate General Robert E . Lee and his forces at Appomattox , Virginia , effectively ending the war . In early May , Sherman ' s Army of Georgia journeyed north towards Washington , passing in review on May 23 before the new president , Andrew Johnson , sworn in after Lincoln ' s assassination the previous month . Foraker soon thereafter returned to Ohio , and was mustered out . Education and early career . Foraker had been anxious to become a lawyer while a clerk for his uncle ; with peace restored he enrolled for a year at Salem Academy and then in 1866 Ohio Wesleyan University in Delaware , Ohio . He found the students who had not served in the army to be immature . He took the usual course , mostly of classics , with a few classes in the sciences , and registered as a clerk for a local attorney . Foraker courted Julia Bundy , daughter of Congressman Hezekiah S . Bundy and a student at nearby Ohio Wesleyan Female College ; the two would marry in 1870 . In 1868 , he learned that newly founded Cornell University in Ithaca , New York , was offering entrance by examination to students willing to transfer . Along with fellow Ohio Wesleyan students Morris Lyon Buchwalter and John Andrew Rea , Foraker enrolled at Cornell ; the three founded the first New York State chapter of Phi Kappa Psi fraternity , and in 1869 graduated as part of Cornell ' s inaugural class of eight students . Foraker , in later years , served as a trustee of Cornell , elected by his fellow alumni . After graduating from Cornell , Foraker moved to Cincinnati , where he resumed his study of law with a local firm ; he was admitted to the bar in October 1869 . Foraker ' s first job in the legal profession was as a notary public ; he wrote in his memoirs how time consuming depositions were in the days before typewriter s . Foraker wrote that he earned $ 600 in his first year as a lawyer , but by the fourth year was earning $ 2 , 700 ; " after that it was easy " . The Forakers lived in a boarding house on Elm Street in Cincinnati for two years after their wedding in 1870 . They then moved to a house in the suburb of Norwood and in 1879 built a home in upscale Mount Auburn . Joseph Foraker had initially intended to concentrate on his law practice , but in the early 1870s became a well - regarded speaker for the Republicans . In 1872 , Foraker campaigned for President Ulysses S . Grant ' s successful re - election bid . In 1875 , he was for the first time a delegate to the Republican state convention , supporting fellow Cincinnatian Alphonso Taft for governor . However , Taft was defeated for the nomination by the incumbent , Rutherford B . Hayes , who that fall broke Ohio precedent by winning a third two - year term . The following year , Foraker attended the 1876 Republican National Convention as a spectator , and listened spellbound as Robert Ingersoll dramatically nominated Maine Senator James G . Blaine for president , calling him a " plumed knight " . While Ingersoll ' s speech gained Blaine a lasting nickname , it did not procure him the nomination , which fell to Governor Hayes . Foraker supported Hayes , who was elected that fall in a close and controversial election . In 1876 , Foraker ran for judge of the Court of Common Pleas . Election fraud by Democratic political boss Eph Howard defeated Foraker and the rest of the Republican ticket . In 1878 , he ran for state ' s attorney for Hamilton County ( where Cincinnati is located ) but was defeated in another Democratic sweep . In 1879 , Foraker won his first elective office , as judge of the Superior Court of Cincinnati . He served three years of a five - year term , resigning in 1882 due to an illness , though he recovered after several months ' rest . Seeking the governorship ( 1883 – 1885 ) . In 1883 , Ohio Governor Charles Foster , a Republican who had held the office since 1880 , looked for a Republican contender to succeed him . Foster had sought increased regulation of the liquor trade , offending many German - Americans , who were deemed likely to vote Democratic in reaction , and who were especially concentrated in Cincinnati . Few expected the Republicans to retain the governorship , and prominent candidates such as Senator John Sherman and Congressman Benjamin Butterworth declined to run . Foster saw Foraker as a candidate likely to do well : he was a Civil War veteran with a good record as a lawyer and a promising public speaker — and his Cincinnati residence might win back some votes . Others agreed ; the local United States Attorney wrote to Senator Sherman that the Republicans should nominate " Foraker or some other unobjectionable man " . Foster accordingly wrote to Foraker , offering him the chance at " honorable distinction and useful service . " Foraker came to Columbus just before the 1883 state convention , and sounded out state Republican leaders such as Sherman and Congressman William McKinley . When Foraker found them willing to support him , he allowed his name to be placed in nomination , and once it was clear that Sherman would not run , the convention nominated Foraker by acclamation . The Democratic Cincinnati " Enquirer " summed up the Republican strategy : " They determined to sacrifice as little as possible , so they sacrificed Foraker . " The Democrats nominated George Hoadly , another Cincinnatian , with whom Foraker was friendly . The major issue in the campaign was alcohol — the legislature had passed a law authorizing localities to license saloons , and had authorized two referenda to allow additional regulation . Hoadly , though ill for part of the campaign with malaria , deftly maneuvered the politically inexperienced Foraker into stating that he would not vote for the referenda . This offended " dry " Republicans , splitting the party . Foraker campaigned throughout the state , reaching nearly every county and generally speaking at least twice a day . Nevertheless , he was defeated by over 12 , 000 votes , losing most counties , including Hamilton ; according to Walters , " although defeated in this campaign , Foraker gained by it ; he won political repute through the state ; no longer was he an ' unknown . One reason cited for Foraker ' s defeat was a failure to appeal to African Americans , who constituted about two percent of Ohio ' s population and who then mostly voted Republican . Foraker returned to the practice of law , initially vowing to avoid politics ; however , he received a number of letters offering him support in a gubernatorial race in 1885 . The 1884 Republican state convention elected Foraker a delegate - at - large to the national convention along with Congressman McKinley and Cleveland industrialist Mark Hanna . Sherman ' s political managers asked Foraker to play an active role in Sherman ' s presidential campaign , and to place his name in nomination at the convention , which he did , though Walters describes his speech as " weak and unimpressive " by comparison with Foraker ' s later efforts . Other candidates for the presidential nomination included President Chester A . Arthur ( who had succeeded the assassinated James A . Garfield ) and John A . Logan , but the convention was dominated by the Blaine forces . Sherman received 30 votes , mostly from Ohio , on the first ballot , but his total thereafter declined , and Blaine secured the nomination on the fourth ballot . There was talk of Foraker for vice president ; he received one vote , from New York delegate and Cornell president Andrew D . White . The nominating speech , despite its flaws , made Foraker a national figure . At the convention , Foraker worked with Hanna and with Charles G . Kurtz of Columbus : both would support Foraker in the years ahead , though in the case of Hanna , only for a time . In the fall campaign , both Foraker and Hanna supported Blaine , accompanying the New Englander when he toured Ohio in October . However , Blaine was defeated by the Democratic candidate , New York Governor Grover Cleveland . Foraker received early support for a second run for governor in 1885 , but said little publicly until the state convention in Springfield in June . He did , however , respond to allegations that he had discriminated against African Americans in his law practice and that he had withdrawn from Ohio Wesleyan because a black student had been admitted . Foraker refuted these charges without stating that he was a candidate for office . He arrived at the convention to the strains of " Marching Through Georgia " , in reference to his Civil War service , and won an easy first - ballot victory : according to Walters , " the Springfield convention of 1885 marked the arrival of Foraker , the politician . " The major issues in the fall campaign were again the liquor question , at which Foraker proved more adept than two years previously , and treatment of the African - American voter , prompted by an incident in Cincinnati in 1884 when a Democratic - minded policeman , Mike Mullen , locked up 150 African Americans the night before the general election to prevent them from voting . Foraker was again opposed by Hoadly , who had pardoned Mullen , and who had accepted a $ 150 , 000 fee from the city - owned Cincinnati Southern Railway , though the governor professed not to know how he had earned it . Foraker forged an alliance with African - American editor Harry C . Smith , who would be a supporter throughout his political career . On October 13 , 1885 , Foraker defeated Hoadly by 17 , 451 votes . Although he won much of the state , he did not carry Hamilton County due to election fraud . Governor of Ohio ( 1886 – 1890 ) . Policies as governor . Joseph Foraker was sworn in as governor on January 12 , 1886 , during an intense blizzard that prevented many of the political marching clubs hoping to honor him from reaching Columbus . In his inaugural address , he urged election reform , creation of a liquor licensing bureau , the abolition of laws that discriminated against African Americans , and the establishment of a state board of health . With a Republican majority in both houses , the legislature enacted many of his proposals , including the Poorman Law , requiring voter registration in Cleveland and Cincinnati ( and later in all large cities ) , as well as the Pugsley Law , which established nonpartisan boards to appoint election officials . The " Ohio State Journal " commented , " Not all that is needed in the way of amendments to the election laws of Ohio , but it will do for a starter . " The Dow Law imposed an annual tax on businesses in the alcohol trade ; most of the proceeds would go for poor relief and to the police fund . With Foraker ' s support , the remaining laws that allowed racial discrimination in Ohio were repealed . Foraker became popular during his governorship for " waving the bloody shirt " , that is , castigating the South for the Civil War . President Cleveland in 1887 requested northern governors to return captured Confederate battle flags . When Foraker was asked by a supporter if he would allow the banners to go South , he responded by telegraph , " No rebel flags will be returned while I am governor . " Cleveland backed down , and Foraker was hailed as a hero by many , receiving thousands of congratulatory messages . Foraker criticized the President for vetoing a bill increasing war pensions and for going fishing on Decoration Day . When the governor visited Philadelphia later that year for the centennial of the Constitution , he rode at the head of a regiment of Ohio militia past the reviewing stand on which Cleveland stood . When Foraker saluted , Cleveland removed his hat , but did not bow slightly as he had for other state governors . Later that day , Foraker led a troop of Grand Army of the Republic veterans past Cleveland ' s reviewing stand in another parade , bearing an array of captured battle flags . Until mid - 1888 , Foraker had the enthusiastic support of Hanna , who , while still boosting John Sherman for president , was a generous contributor to the governor ' s 1885 and 1887 campaigns . Hanna hoped to be able to dispense patronage in northern Ohio . According to Hanna biographer William T . Horner , however , " unfortunately for Hanna , Foraker largely refused to grant Hanna the authority that by tradition he probably had earned . " One example , later cited by Foraker as a reason his close relationship with Hanna ended , was the question of the position of state oil inspector , whose substantial fees were paid , not by the taxpayer , but by the oil companies , and who was permitted to appoint large numbers of deputies . In 1885 , soon after Foraker ' s inauguration , Hanna advocated the appointment of William M . Bayne , while Congressman McKinley pressed the name of Edwin Hartshorn . Hanna agreed to withdraw Bayne , not to accommodate McKinley , but to save Foraker from a difficulty . Hanna wrote to Foraker , " I had a call from Major McKinley and his oil inspector candidate . . . . I tell him he ' wants the earth ' … " However , Foraker instead reappointed the incumbent , Louis Smithnight . One of the men appointed deputy oil inspector was Harry Smith , the African - American editor who had supported Foraker in the 1885 election . McKinley again approached Foraker after his re - election in 1887 seeking Hartshorn ' s appointment ; however , Foraker appointed George B . Cox , Republican boss of Cincinnati , as chief though Smithnight was retained as a deputy . In later years , Foraker suggested the dispute over the oil inspectorship was a reason for Hanna breaking from him and allying with McKinley , stating after Hanna ' s death in 1904 , " I have often thought since that my appointment of Cox made McKinley president . " 1888 convention ; defeat for third term . Walters traces fissures between Foraker ' s supporters and those of Sherman from as early as 1887 . Foraker ' s meteoric rise in Ohio politics was a threat to Sherman , especially as Foraker was likely to seek another office after completing his time as governor . In 1887 , McKinley , Hanna , Sherman , and others met at the congressman ' s home in Canton and decided to push for Sherman ' s endorsement for president by the 1887 Republican state convention in Toledo , and to threaten Foraker should he refuse to get in line . Despite some anti - Sherman feeling in Ohio , the resolution to endorse Sherman was adopted unanimously by the same convention that renominated Foraker , and later that year , the governor was re - elected . Sherman was a leading candidate for the 1888 Republican presidential nomination , commanding the support of Ohio , much of Pennsylvania , and the South . Uncertainty over whether Blaine would be a candidate hung over the 1888 Republican National Convention in June in Chicago . Although Blaine had stated he was not running , his devotees hoped he might change his mind . Sherman did not fully trust Foraker , and gave over the management of his campaign to Hanna ; the presidential candidate also declined to have Foraker place his name in nomination in favor of Daniel H . Hastings of Pennsylvania . At the convention , Foraker seconded Hastings ' nomination of Sherman , but the senator , on the first ballot , received few votes outside the states known to back him . Sherman ' s southern support was discounted , as those states would not vote for the Republican nominee , and Sherman had paid the travel expenses of those delegates , who were for the most part African Americans . By the fourth ballot , on Saturday , June 23 , Sherman had about the same number of votes he had started with , but was being challenged by a surge from former Indiana senator Benjamin Harrison . The convention then adjourned until Monday , June 25 . With almost two days for intrigue , rumors swept through the convention that Blaine would be a candidate after all . Late on Saturday night , Foraker released a statement that he would support Blaine . Walters proffered several reasons for the switch : Foraker felt Sherman had no chance , resented not being thanked by Sherman for the seconding speech , and was annoyed at the trickle of votes McKinley had received , feeling that the congressman was being prepared as a backup candidate for the Sherman forces . There was also talk that Foraker might gain a place on the ticket , either for president or vice president , though he stated he would not accept a nomination without Sherman ' s consent . The switch wounded Sherman ' s candidacy by showing that his own state ' s governor did not support him , and even though Foraker switched back to Sherman when Blaine wired reiterating that he was not a candidate , the damage was done ; Harrison gained the nomination on the eighth ballot . According to Horner , Foraker ' s temporary abandonment of Sherman was " the move that seems to have shattered his relationship with Hanna permanently " . However , Foraker gave other reasons for the break , stating after Hanna ' s death that one reason for it was that Hanna bought up the extra tickets of black Southern convention delegates , a practice that the governor considered corrupt . J . B . Morrow , the newspaper publisher who took Foraker ' s statement as source material for Herbert Croly ' s 1912 biography of Hanna , disagreed : " it was understood at the time that his [ Foraker ' s ] heart was not in Sherman ' s candidacy … his outraged feelings over Hanna ' s bargaining with Southern delegates can ' t be believed by me . " According to Horner , " the split between Foraker and Hanna had a profound impact on the subsequent behavior of both men , their careers in politics , and the Republican Party in Ohio , which was fractured by the dispute . " Harrison was elected in November 1888 over President Cleveland . By 1889 , Foraker was openly opposed by a faction of Ohio Republicans , led by Hanna , Sherman and McKinley . Foraker felt relieved at the break , writing to a friend , " From Toledo to Chicago , my neck was under a yoke , but now I am free . " Despite the factional opposition , he sought a third term in 1889 , hoping that if Republicans kept their majority in the legislature , he could be elected to the Senate as Sherman ' s junior colleague in the legislative election to be held in January 1890 . He was renominated at the 1889 state convention in Columbus on the second ballot , as the opposition to him was divided . A law for the Sunday closing of saloons had been passed under Foraker ; when Cincinnati Mayor John B . Mosby proposed to enforce the law against local opposition , Foraker wired to Mosby the support of the state government . This stance alienated many anti - Prohibition Republicans . Another damaging incident was Foraker ' s claim , based on documents he procured that turned out to be forged , that Democratic gubernatorial candidate James E . Campbell had supported the adoption of a ballot box made by a company in which Campbell supposedly had a financial interest . The documents also bore the signatures of Sherman , McKinley , and other Foraker enemies ; they were later shown to have been taken from franked mail . Campbell was not in fact involved with the company , and the affair cost Foraker votes . A congressional committee conducted an investigation in 1891 and cleared all of those whose signatures had been reproduced . However , it blamed Foraker for using the documents without verifying their authenticity . By then , Foraker was no longer governor , having been defeated by Campbell by 10 , 873 votes out of some 750 , 000 cast . McKinley biographer H . Wayne Morgan noted , " Clearly Foraker acted hastily and unwisely because of his desperate fight against Campbell and his bitterness towards the Shermanites . " The defeat had consequences for Foraker ; according to another of McKinley ' s biographers , Kevin Phillips : " when Foraker lost his bid for a third statehouse term , McKinley became Ohio ' s next - in - line presidential favorite son " . Wilderness years ( 1890 – 1896 ) . Return to the law ; first run for senator . Defeated for re - election , Foraker returned to Cincinnati and the practice of law . Although initially he rejoined his old law partnership , he established his own offices in 1893 , the year his son Joseph Jr . became an assistant in his office upon graduation from Cornell . Joseph Benson Foraker Jr . was the first child of a Cornell alumnus to graduate from the university . The senior Foraker , though he accepted a broad array of cases , was a " political lawyer " , lobbying the legislature to grant franchises to his clients , and arranging for bills unfavorable to his clients ( who included the Edison Electric Company , Cincinnati Bell Telephone Company , and the Cincinnati Street Railway Company ) to be quashed . The former governor was enraged when in March 1890 , Hanna gave a speech in New York stating , " Foraker is dead as a factor in our politics and Ohio is again as reliable a Republican state as it ever was . " Foraker determined to secure election to the Senate ; although the Democratic - controlled legislature had elected Calvin S . Brice to the Senate in 1890 , Sherman ' s seat would be up for election in January 1892 . McKinley was defeated for re - election to Congress in November 1890 ; his stature in Ohio politics was not diminished by the loss , as he was seen as a victim of gerrymandering . When the former congressman ran for governor the following year , he asked Foraker to place his name in nomination , which he did . Although some saw this as a rapprochement between the Sherman and Foraker factions , the former governor ' s supporters , such as Kurtz and millionaire Springfield manufacturer Asa Bushnell , were already campaigning for Foraker for Senate . McKinley was elected governor in November 1891 , and the Republicans took a two - thirds majority in the legislature . During the campaign , supporters of both Foraker and Sherman had sought pledges from candidates , and in the aftermath of the legislative elections , both men expressed confidence . Sherman was handicapped by his age ( 68 ) , unpopularity , and a cold personality ; according to Horner , " Foraker was simply more of a man of the people than Sherman could ever hope to be . " Sherman ' s aide , Jacob C . Donaldson , later wrote , " the situation was bad , almost desperate " . Hanna had made significant campaign contributions to legislative candidates , and was outraged when legislators believed to favor Sherman instead announced that they would vote for Foraker ; according to his biographer , Herbert Croly , " The situation looked desperate ; but it was saved , so Mr . Sherman himself stated to his friends , by Mr . Hanna ' s energy , enthusiasm and ability to bend other men to his will . Three of the Cleveland representatives , who had gone into hiding , were unearthed and forced into line . " Donaldson noted , " Several of them were ruined by their perfidy . " Foraker was defeated narrowly in the Republican caucus , first on a vote to hold a secret ballot ( which would have benefited him ) , and then on the endorsement vote , which supported Sherman , who was subsequently elected by the legislature . According to Horner , " It is difficult to know which mattered more to Hanna — making sure his old friend Sherman kept his job or making sure that Foraker did not get it . " Sherman was not magnanimous in victory , telling friends that he would not rest until he " tomahawked the last of Foraker ' s crowd " . Nevertheless , at the Republican state convention , Foraker and his supporters were able to gain their goal of half the delegates - at - large to the 1892 Republican National Convention in Minneapolis , free to vote as they pleased . President Harrison was seeking renomination ; other men spoken of as possible candidates were Blaine ( who had again disclaimed any interest in running ) and McKinley . Prior to the Minneapolis convention , Hanna wrote to Foraker for the first time in four years , seeking to put aside differences in support of McKinley . Foraker agreed ; he disliked Harrison and did not feel he could be re - elected . McKinley finished third for the nomination , a fraction of a vote behind Blaine . Harrison was defeated by Cleveland in the November election , and McKinley was spoken of as the most likely Republican presidential contender for 1896 . Election to the Senate ; involvement in presidential race . Foraker had little involvement in politics in 1893 and 1894 , concentrating on the law . He still sought a Senate seat , however , and carefully planned his strategy for the 1895 state convention in Zanesville . Foraker forces gained full control , nominating Bushnell for governor to succeed McKinley , and Foraker allies for other state offices . The convention also endorsed Foraker for Senate , the first time a specific individual had been backed for Senate by an Ohio Republican convention . According to Walters , " The Zanesville convention represented the highest pinnicle of Foraker ' s power in Ohio politics . He had selected the platform , chosen the next governor and the complete ticket , and had secured for himself virtual election to the United States Senate . " Foraker took a leading role as a speaker in the campaign , and the November election resulted in victory for Bushnell and a Republican majority in the legislature . That majority , on January 15 , 1896 , elected Joseph Foraker to the Senate . Even before the senatorial election , the rival factions in the Ohio Republican Party were battling less than usual , but it was not until the day of the senatorial election that McKinley and Foraker reached a definite understanding for peace during the 1896 campaign . Foraker agreed to support McKinley ' s presidential bid , and to travel to New York to approach that state ' s Republican political boss , Senator Thomas C . Platt , hoping to gain Platt ' s support for McKinley . In March , Foraker addressed the state convention in support of McKinley in a widely publicized speech . However , he was reluctant to be a delegate to the national convention , fearing that he would be blamed if anything went wrong with McKinley ' s candidacy . It was only after considerable prodding from the presidential candidate that Foraker agreed to be a delegate , and to place McKinley ' s name in nomination . McKinley desired that Foraker nominate him to show that he had the united support of the state Republican Party . Senator - elect Foraker eventually agreed , and gave the nominating speech , part of which was heard by McKinley via telephone line to Canton . The Democrats nominated former Nebraska congressman William Jennings Bryan , who had electrified the Democratic National Convention with his Cross of Gold speech . When Bryan accepted his nomination with a lengthy address in New York , the senator - elect commented , " Mr . Bryan made himself by one speech , and now he has unmade himself by one speech " . Although Foraker went to Europe for four weeks ( his sole trip abroad ) , he gave almost 200 speeches for the Republicans once he returned . McKinley was elected president with a comfortable majority in the Electoral College . Senator ( 1897 – 1909 ) . On March 4 , 1897 , the same day William McKinley became president , Joseph Foraker was sworn in as senator from Ohio . The new legislator was escorted to the bar of the Senate by Sherman ; his swearing - in helped cement a modest Republican majority . Foraker continued his private legal work , which was not unusual at the time as many senators maintained business interests . Wealthy through his law practice , Foraker did not stand out in that regard either , as the " rich man ' s club " of the Senate of that era contained about 25 millionaires . Rivalry with Hanna . During the 1896 campaign , Hanna served as chairman of the Republican National Committee , in charge of McKinley ' s campaign , and obtained millions for his presidential candidate by soliciting donations from wealthy businessmen . After the November election , Foraker met with Hanna and was surprised to learn that President - elect McKinley and Hanna planned that Sherman would be appointed Secretary of State and that the industrialist would take Sherman ' s place in the Senate . Foraker objected to both components of this plan , feeling that Hanna was not qualified as a legislator , and that Sherman , whose faculties were starting to fail , should not become Secretary of State . Foraker met with McKinley , but failed to convince him . Bushnell ( who would get to appoint a temporary replacement ) and Foraker ( a close political ally of the governor ) did not want to appoint Hanna ; their faction had several candidates , including Bushnell himself , for the next election for Sherman ' s seat in 1898 . Bushnell and Foraker resisted for a month once the pending appointment of Sherman became known in January 1897 , during which time the governor offered the seat to Congressman Theodore E . Burton , who declined . It was not until February 21 that Bushnell finally announced Hanna ' s appointment , effective upon Sherman ' s resignation . This controversy to some extent overshadowed Foraker ' s swearing - in as senator on March 4 — Hanna adherents claimed that Bushnell had delayed the effective date of the industrialist ' s appointment until Foraker took his seat so that Hanna would be the junior senator . In his memoirs , Foraker denied this , noting that Sherman was unwilling to resign until the afternoon of March 4 , after the new president and Congress were sworn in and the new Cabinet , including Sherman , was confirmed by the Senate . Hanna was given his commission as senator by Bushnell on the morning of March 5 . Foraker had known that with McKinley in the Executive Mansion ( as the White House was still formally known ) and Sherman expected to be senior senator , he could expect only limited patronage appointments for his supporters . With McKinley ' s close friend Hanna instead in the Senate , Foraker was allowed to recommend appointees to the President , but McKinley allowed Hanna to exercise a veto over Foraker ' s candidates . Foraker was not visibly involved in the unsuccessful efforts to deny Hanna re - election in 1898 , but several of his allies , including Bushnell and Kurtz , were part of the opposition . Foraker nominated McKinley again at the 1900 convention ; his florid praise of the president pleased the delegates . As McKinley ' s original vice president , Garret Hobart , had died in 1899 , he required a new running mate for the 1900 campaign , and the convention chose the popular Spanish - American War hero , New York Governor Theodore Roosevelt . Foraker had maintained friendly relations with Roosevelt since the two men met at the 1884 convention , but Hanna bitterly opposed the choice . Foraker spoke widely during McKinley ' s successful re - election campaign . After President McKinley was assassinated in September 1901 , Foraker attended the funeral services and addressed a large memorial meeting at the Cincinnati Music Hall . When politics resumed after the mourning , Foraker spoke in defense of President Roosevelt ' s inviting Booker T . Washington , an African American , to the White House . This helped ensure support from the black community in Foraker ' s successful re - election bid in January 1902 , which was not opposed by the Hanna faction . Both Hanna and Foraker had been spoken of as possible Republican presidential candidates in 1904 ; with President Roosevelt now likely to be the nominee , both men ' s presidential ambitions were pushed back four years . Hanna in particular was reluctant to publicly put aside his presidential candidacy , believing that keeping it alive would help assure his re - election by the legislature in 1904 . In 1903 , Foraker saw an opportunity to embarrass Hanna and boost his own chances for 1908 by getting the Republican state convention to pass a resolution endorsing Roosevelt for re - election . If Hanna supported the resolution , he made it clear he would not be a candidate ; if he opposed it , he risked Roosevelt ' s wrath . Hanna sent Roosevelt a telegram that he would oppose the resolution ; Roosevelt replied that he expected his administration ' s supporters to vote for such a resolution , and Hanna gave in . In February 1904 , Hanna died of typhoid fever , and his Senate seat and factional leadership were won by Charles Dick , a four - term congressman who had received favorable publicity due to his Spanish - American War service . Dick was able to work out an accommodation with Foraker ' s faction and was thereafter considered the leader of Ohio ' s Republican " stand - patters " , who saw no immediate need for social change . War and territorial gain . In the year between his swearing - in and the 1898 Spanish - American War , Foraker was an enthusiastic supporter of Cuban independence from Spain . A special session of Congress , called at the request of President McKinley , met beginning in March 1897 to consider new tariff legislation ; hawkish senators , including Foraker ( who was made a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee ) , took the opportunity to press resolutions in support of the Cuban insurgents . Foraker was impatient with McKinley ' s policy towards Spain , decrying the President ' s State of the Union communication to Congress in December 1897 and his so - called " war message " , which some deemed insufficiently bellicose , in April 1898 . The senator stated to a reporter of the latter , " I have no patience with the message and you may say so . I have heard nothing but condemnation of the message on all hands . " Foraker had introduced a resolution calling for Spain to withdraw from Cuba , and for the recognition of the rebels as the legitimate government of an independent Cuba . The resolution that passed Congress in April called for all those things except recognition ( deleted at the request of the administration ) and authorized the President to use force to achieve those aims . McKinley ' s signature on the joint resolution caused Spain to break off diplomatic relations and war was quickly declared . Foraker followed the war closely — his elder son was fighting in it — and was an early proponent of the US keeping Spanish colonies it had captured , such as the Philippines and Puerto Rico . McKinley had attempted to annex Hawaii , but the annexation treaty failed to be ratified by the Senate . Congressional leaders decided to try again , this time using a joint resolution that would bypass the need for a two - thirds vote in the Senate . The American victory at the Battle of Manila Bay in early May revived interest in the Hawaiian matter . Foraker was a major proponent of the resolution in the Foreign Relations Committee and was the only committee member to speak in the debate . Opposition was mostly from Democrats , who objected to the revolution by which American interests had taken control of the islands in 1893 , a seizure defended by Foraker . In early July , proponents were able to get the resolution through both houses of Congress , and President McKinley signed it on July 8 . The new American possession of Puerto Rico found itself in financial woes soon after its acquisition — its principal export , coffee , was now barred by high tariffs from both Spanish and American markets . Foraker took the lead in drafting and pressing legislation establishing a civil government for the island . Although Foraker had proposed to eliminate tariffs on imports from Puerto Rico , to secure passage of the legislation he had to accept a rate of 15 % for two years as the island developed a taxation system , after which there would be no tariff , and the money would be used to develop the island . The Foraker Act was signed by President McKinley on April 12 , 1900 . It required an American - appointed governor and a legislature in which a majority of the upper house would be American - appointed , and did not grant Puerto Ricans American citizenship . Foraker had wanted to give the islanders US citizenship , but neither the administration nor much of the Congress agreed with him . In 1901 , the Foraker Act was upheld by the Supreme Court , which ruled in " Downes v . Bidwell " that the Constitution did not apply to Puerto Rico and that Congress could legislate for it ( or , in the phrase then current , the Constitution did not follow the flag ) . Opposition to Roosevelt . Foraker maintained generally friendly relations with Roosevelt in the president ' s first term : lacking an electoral mandate , Roosevelt had pledged after the assassination to carry out McKinley ' s policies . Elected in his own right in November 1904 , President Roosevelt felt more free to support progressive policies . When Roosevelt told Foraker his plans after the election , Foraker initially took no alarm , but according to Walters , " the resulting antagonism led to the political elimination of Foraker in 1908 . " Their relationship began to break down over the question of railroad regulation . The President in 1905 sought legislation to give the Interstate Commerce Commission ( ICC ) the power to set freight rates ; Foraker considered the proposed law unconstitutional , and introduced a bill by which the railroad would set the rates , and if the ICC found they were excessive , it could ask the Attorney General to bring suit . Foraker spoke repeatedly against the administration - favored bill as it moved through the Senate , and was one of only three senators ( and the only Republican ) to oppose the resulting Hepburn Act on final Senate passage . As the Ohio legislature had passed a resolution urging Foraker and Dick to vote for the bill , he faced anger at home ; one newspaper wrote that Foraker had extinguished his chances of becoming president with his vote . The following year , Foraker also broke with the administration on the question of statehood for Arizona Territory and New Mexico Territory , feeling that the two territories should not be combined into one state unless a merger was approved in referenda . Foraker ' s position prevailed in Congress ; despite his stance , Roosevelt signed the resulting bill . The two men also differed on issues of patronage , and on a series of treaties requiring Senate ratification that allowed for international agreements without the need for Senate approval . Roosevelt wrote to a friend that Foraker seemed determine to fight him on every point , good or bad . Brownsville case . On the night of August 14 , 1906 , gunshots were heard in the border town of Brownsville , Texas ; one resident was killed and a police officer wounded . Various military items , including discharged rifle shells , were presented by the local mayor as evidence that troops of the 25th Infantry Battalion , stationed outside of town and consisting of African Americans , were responsible . When questioned , all denied involvement . Nevertheless , their white officers reported to the War Department that undetermined men belonging to the 25th Infantry were responsible , and that others of the battalion were aware of who had done it , but were remaining silent . Despite an almost total lack of evidence , on November 5 , 1906 ( just after the midterm congressional elections ) , Roosevelt ordered 167 soldiers dishonorably discharged and made ineligible for federal employment , including such decorated soldiers as First Sergeant Mingo Sanders , who had fought alongside Roosevelt in Cuba . The President adhered to his decision despite appeals from both whites and African Americans . Foraker was initially convinced of the guilt of the men , but reconsidered after evidence obtained in a private investigation by progressive organizations was presented to him ( the attorney presenting it , an African American , was denied an audience with Roosevelt ) . According to Roosevelt biographer Edmund Morris , " Foraker had a passion for racial justice . " Recalling Foraker ' s desire , as a soldier , to see slavery abolished and the African American given the same civil and political rights as the white man , Morris explains , " Senator Foraker merely felt the same about the Constitution in 1906 as Private Foraker had felt in 1862 . " In addition to his desire to see justice done , Foraker also saw political advantage in opposing Roosevelt over the Brownsville issue ; he might boost his own presidential ambitions for 1908 by making both Roosevelt and his designated heir apparent , Secretary of War William Howard Taft , look bad . Foraker battled to have the Senate investigate the Brownsville case , and got the body to pass a resolution requiring Taft to turn over information . By late January 1907 , after further investigation , Roosevelt had rescinded the part of the order barring the soldiers from federal employment , and had stated that he would reconsider the case of anyone who could present proof of his innocence . Foraker had claimed that the president lacked the authority to discharge the men ; to get a resolution passed for an investigatory committee , he had to withdraw that assertion . Matters came to a head at the Gridiron Dinner on January 27 ; the program showed cartoons of the leading attendees and accompanying verses . Foraker ' s read " All coons look alike to me " , suggesting his Brownsville stance was to attract the African - American vote . According to Walters , " the jests had been pointed and the cartoons biting " ; Roosevelt was seen to be angry . Nevertheless , when the President rose to speak , all that was expected was a few minutes of humorous comments . Instead , in his speech , Roosevelt attacked Foraker and defended his own conduct in the Brownsville case . Although it was not customary to permit anyone to follow a president ' s speech , Foraker was allowed to reply . " The Washington Post " reported that Foraker " gave the President the plainest talk he has probably ever listened to . " Foraker stated that Sergeant Sanders had been dishonorably discharged even though " he was as innocent of any offense against the law of any kind whatever as the President himself " — and , he charged , Roosevelt was fully aware the soldiers had been wronged . He denied that he was after votes with his position , " I was seeking to provide for those men an opportunity to be heard in their own defense , to give them a chance to confront their accusers and cross - examine their witnesses , and establish the real facts in the case . " Roosevelt spoke in angry rebuttal , but according to his biographer Morris , " Never before , at the Gridiron or anywhere else , had a President been challenged before an audience . " 1908 race ; defeat for re - election . In the aftermath of the Gridiron Dinner , Foraker was increasingly ostracized , both politically and socially . Unwelcome at the White House , he was excluded from patronage . Nevertheless , the Committee on Military Affairs , on which Foraker sat , went ahead and held hearings into the Brownsville matter between February and June 1907 . Author John Weaver , in his 1997 book on the Brownsville case , takes note of " Foraker ' s masterful presentation of fact and law " , including his cross - examination of witnesses who sought to convince the committee of the soldiers ' guilt . In March 1908 , the committee issued its report , by a vote of 9 – 4 endorsing the President ' s action . While the official minority report found the evidence inconclusive , Foraker and Connecticut Senator Morgan Bulkeley signed a separate report stating that " the weight of the testimony shows that none of the soldiers of the Twenty - fifth U . S . Infantry participated in the shooting affray " . Although he knew he had little chance of winning , Foraker challenged Taft , his fellow Cincinnatian , for the Republican nomination for president . He hoped to secure a deal whereby he would endorse Taft in exchange for support in the senatorial election to be held in January 1909 . Roosevelt was determined to drive Foraker from politics , and Taft refused to deal . Taft won at each stage of the delegate - selection process , gaining all but two delegates from Ohio . At the 1908 Republican National Convention , Taft received 702 votes and was nominated ; Foraker received 16 , of which 11 came from African Americans . After Foraker ' s defeat for the presidential nomination , he began work to gain re - election to the Senate . His vote on the Hepburn Act and his opposition to Roosevelt had provoked opposition to him within the Ohio Republican Party ; in addition , both he and Dick were seen by some as the face of the old guard of the party , out of place in the Progressive Era . Many of those who opposed him proposed Congressman Theodore E . Burton for the Senate seat ; Foraker stated that the first thing to do was secure a Republican legislature , with the question of who should be senator left until victory was obtained . Amid speculation as to Taft ' s position on Foraker , the two men met , to all appearances cordially , on September 2 at the Grand Army of the Republic encampment at Toledo , and later that day , the two men appeared on the same platform . Taft spoke in appreciation of Foraker , who , as governor , had appointed him as a judge , giving him his start in public life . Foraker , for his part , stated that Taft would be his party leader during the campaign , and called on the presidential candidate at his headquarters in Cincinnati a week later . The Taft campaign asked Foraker to preside , and to introduce Taft , at a rally to be held at the Cincinnati Music Hall on September 22 . In a letter to a newspaper publisher , Taft pointed out that Foraker " can be useful with the colored vote and the Grand Army vote " . The seeming rapprochement was shattered when publisher William Randolph Hearst , giving a speech in Columbus , read from letters to Foraker by Standard Oil Company vice president John D . Archbold . During Foraker ' s first term in the Senate , he had done legal work for Standard Oil ; in the letters , Archbold made reference to legislation he considered objectionable , and also made references to substantial fees to Foraker . However , the publisher read them in such a way as to suggest a causal relationship between the killing of the legislation and the fees . Foraker quickly denied any impropriety , stating that the relationship was not secret and the excerpts had been read out of context . Foraker noted that when he was retained by the corporation in December 1898 , it had not yet come under federal scrutiny , and when Archbold had sought to retain him in 1906 , he had declined . Standard Oil was wildly unpopular , and the controversy put Taft in a difficult position . Foraker sent a letter to Taft , hand - delivered by Senator Dick , expressing his willingness to avoid the Music Hall meeting . Taft said only that he hoped Foraker would meet with the organizers of the event and follow their recommendation , which Foraker took to mean that Taft was giving credence to Hearst ' s charges and did not want him there . Foraker cancelled all remaining campaign speeches . Ohio helped elect Taft and elected a Democratic governor , but returned a Republican legislature , which would elect a senator in January 1909 . Through December , Foraker worked to try to retain his Senate seat . His rivals were Burton and the President - elect ' s brother , former congressman Charles Phelps Taft , though near the end of the contest , former lieutenant governor Warren G . Harding asked for his name to be considered . Both Foraker and Burton opposed Charles Taft ' s call for a caucus of the Republican legislators to determine the party ' s candidate . On December 29 , President Roosevelt weighed in on the question . Roosevelt " lost no time in putting the Republican members of the Ohio legislature on notice that to re - elect Mr . Foraker to the Senate would be regarded as nothing less than treason to the party " . Roosevelt accused Foraker of seeking to make a bargain with the Democrats to secure his re - election in exchange for a Democratic replacement for Dick in 1911 . Faced with this presidential intervention and Charles Taft ' s withdrawal from the race , Foraker saw no path to victory and conceded on December 31 . Burton was endorsed by the Republican caucus two days later and was elected by the legislature on January 12 . Foraker continued to work on Brownsville in his remaining time in office , guiding a resolution through Congress to establish a board of inquiry with the power to reinstate the soldiers . The bill , which was not opposed by the administration , was less than Foraker wanted ; he had hoped for a requirement that unless specific evidence was shown against a man , he would be allowed to re - enlist . The legislation passed both houses and was signed by Roosevelt on March 2 , 1909 . On March 6 , 1909 , shortly after he left the Senate , Joseph Foraker was the guest of honor at a mass meeting at Washington ' s Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church . Though both whites and African Americans assembled to recognize the former senator , all the speakers were African Americans , save Foraker . Presented with a silver loving cup , he addressed the crowd , Final years and death . As with his defeat for governor twenty years earlier , Foraker returned after losing re - election to Cincinnati and the full - time practice of law . He found a number of well - paying corporations willing to retain him as counsel ; he represented the American Multigraph Company before the Supreme Court , seeking to overturn a Taft - backed law imposing an excise tax on corporations . Several cases were consolidated into " Flint v . Stone Tracy Company " ( 1911 ) , in which the Supreme Court upheld the law . Although he expressed bitterness upon leaving office , wishing he had never left the farm in Highland County , he soon resumed his involvement in politics , speaking for the unsuccessful Republican candidate for governor , Harding , in 1910 . The gubernatorial candidate had long been a Foraker supporter , though he had backed Taft in 1908 . In 1912 , Foraker made speeches in support of Taft ' s re - election bid , although he felt he had been badly treated by Taft in 1908 . He refused , however , to attack the third - party candidate , former president Roosevelt , whose candidacy split the party and led to the election of Democrat Woodrow Wilson . In 1913 , ratification of the Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution changed the method of choosing senators from legislative vote to election by the people . Buoyed by positive reviews of his participation in the 1912 campaign , and wishing to avenge his defeat for re - election , Foraker entered the 1914 Republican primary against Senator Burton and former congressman Ralph D . Cole . Burton ' s withdrawal transformed Foraker into the favorite . A number of Foraker enemies , and those who believed that his " old guard " Republicanism was out of date , called on Harding to enter the primary . Harding was reluctant , but was eventually persuaded . Although Harding did not attack Foraker , his supporters , including Cleveland publisher Dan R . Hanna ( son of the late senator ) , had no such scruples . Harding was victorious in the primary with 88 , 540 votes to 76 , 817 for Foraker and 52 , 237 for Cole , and subsequently won the general election . Harding sent Foraker a letter regretting the primary result , but Foraker was more bitter towards the electorate , feeling they had taken his long public service and returned ingratitude . With his political career at an end , Foraker began work on his memoirs , " Notes of a Busy Life " , published in 1916 . The issuance of the autobiography led to a letter from Roosevelt , stating that after reading Foraker ' s memoirs , he regretted his attacks . Roosevelt concluded the letter with an invitation to visit him at his home in New York . Foraker treasured this letter , which he felt re - established his friendship with Roosevelt , although the two men did not meet in the short time remaining to Foraker . Foraker supported President Wilson as he moved the nation closer to intervention in World War I . In April 1917 , Foraker was one of a group of Cincinnatians who organized to support Wilson when the President asked Congress to declare war on Germany . The former senator ' s ill - health ( he had suffered several heart attacks during the preceding winter ) limited his participation , and on May 7 , he was stricken with another attack in downtown Cincinnati . Taken home , he lapsed in and out of consciousness for three days before dying on May 10 , 1917 . Hundreds of prominent Cincinnatians attended his interment at Spring Grove Cemetery on May 13 . Assessment . Historian Allen Nevins , in his foreword to Walters ' biography of Foraker , suggested that Foraker did not attain the presidency , as he had hoped , because of the ambitions of other Ohio politicians . While Foraker might have secured the nomination in 1888 as a compromise candidate , had not his pledges to Sherman prevented it , having " stood aside for an older man [ , ] year after year he was compelled to stand aside for younger leaders . First McKinley , with Hanna at his side , was given precedence ; then Taft , whom Foraker had given a start in public life , scaled the peak . Foraker , for all his administrative capacity , his wide popular appeal , and his unflinching courage , had the tragic lot of seeing a succession of associates go above him . " Even Foraker ' s final defeat , in 1914 , proved to be part of the political rise of another president from Ohio , Harding . Nevins noted the aggressive nature of Foraker ' s political style , and commented , " How much of his failure to reach high office was attributable to ill fortune and how much to some of his traits , readers … may judge for themselves . " Cincinnati editor Murat Halstead , a contemporary , attributed the fact that Foraker did not get nominated in 1888 to the surplus of ambitious Ohio men at the convention : in addition to Sherman , Foraker , and McKinley , even Harrison had been born in Ohio . According to Nevins , " in the era which began after McKinley ' s assassination he did not show the progressive qualities which the electorate increasingly demanded ; indeed , he seemed positively reactionary . " Walters agreed , noting that Foraker ' s 1914 defeat was caused in part by fears that his " uncompromising Republicanism of an earlier era would injure the party . The stirring principles of the New Freedom called for new leaders . " Historian Benjamin Kendrick noted that " Mr . Foraker was among the first of prominent politicians to be retired because of their too close connection with ' Big Business . Historian Louis L . Gould , who wrote a study of the McKinley administration , stated that Foraker " may well have been too close to some large corporations , but he also retained some vestiges of the commitment of the Civil War generation in the North to the idea of human equality . . . This prompted him to champion the cause of the Negro soldiers . " According to historian Percy Murray in his journal article on the relationship between Foraker and black newspaper editor Harry Smith , Foraker ' s " political career ended partially because of his support for and espousal of black rights . . . Perhaps Smith best summed up his alliance with Foraker when he stated that it was time for Afro - Americans to . . . show full support for Foraker and men like him who supported the efforts of Afro - Americans . " Walter Rucker and James Upton , in their " Encyclopedia of American Race Riots " , write favorably of Foraker :