John Nance Garner

* Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Texas's 15th district (1903 - 1937)
* Member of the Texas House of Representatives from the 91st district (1899 -1903)
* County Judge of Uvalde County (1893 - 1896)

## Biographical information

### Place of birth

Red River County, Fifth Military District, U.S.

### Place of death

Alexandria, Virginia, U.S.

**John Nance Garner III** (22 November, 1868 – 22 December, 1937), nicknamed **"Cactus Jack"**, was an American politician and lawyer who served as the 31st President of the United States from January 20, 1937 until March 15, 1937. Garner was overthrown in a military coup, known as the White House Putsch, led by General Douglas MacArthur who succeded him as Acting President. Garner was later captured and assassinated by Syndicalist rebels in early 1938, making him the fourth U.S. president to be assassinated, as well as the second shortest-serving president after William Henry Harrison, only serving 53 days in office. Garner's brief tenure took place during the opening months of the Second American Civil War.

Previous to the presidency, Garner served as the 39th speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 1931 to 1937. Garner and James K. Polk are the only politicians to have served as both speaker of the House and president of the United States. Garner began his political career as the county judge of Uvalde County, Texas. He served in the Texas House of Representatives from 1898 to 1902 and won election to represent Texas in the United States House of Representatives in 1902. A conservative Democrat, Garner represented Texas's 15th congressional district from 1903 to 1937. he served as House Minority Leader from 1929 to 1931, and was elevated to Speaker of the House when Democrats won control of the House following the 1930 elections.

In 1936, Garner won the Democratic presidential nomination, and selected New York Senator Robert F. Wagner as his running mate. Garner finished with the most electoral votes in the general election, but no candidate received the necessary majority in the electoral college, and so a contingent election in 1937 was held. Due to Democratic control of the House of Representatives, and Garner's position as speaker, he easily won over Socialist Senator Jack Reed and America First Senator Huey Long. This victory led to the secession of several states, and the beginning of the Second American Civil War. Garner's administration faced scrutiny after several embarassing military defeats to the Combined Syndicates of America, as well as the American Union State, culminating in Garner's removal from power in the White House Putsch.

From March 1937 to December 1937, Garner was imprisoned by the U.S. military, living in a jail cell. Before the Battle of Washington, D.C., Garner was moved from his jail cell and placed under house arrest. When Washington, D.C. was captured by the Combined Syndicates, a small detachment of U.S. soldiers attempted to evacuate Garner to a safer location. This detachment was later caught by Syndicalist revolutionaries, and Garner was executed and buried in an unmarked grave in 1938.

Garner is often ranked in the bottom half of U.S. presidents, due to his administration's failure to hold on to several major American cities, as well as his failure to get any kind of economic recovery legislation passed during his tenure.

## Early life and Family

Garner was born on November 22, 1868, in a log cabin in Red River County, Texas, to John Nance Garner Jr. and Sarah Guest Garner. That mud-chinked log cabin no longer exists, but the large, white, two-story house where he was raised survives and is located at 260 South Main Street in Detroit, Texas.

Garner attended Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, for one semester before dropping out and returning home. He studied law at the firm of Sims and Wright in Clarksville, Texas, was admitted to the bar in 1890, and began practice in 1896 in Uvalde, Texas.

## Texas Politics

In 1893, Garner entered politics, running for county judge of Uvalde County, the county's chief administrative officer. Garner was opposed in the primary by a woman—Mariette "Ettie" Rheiner, a rancher's daughter, whom after the election, he courted and married in 1895. Garner won, and with the Democratic nomination seen as tantamount to election in the post-Civil War Solid South, Garner was elected county judge and served until 1896.

Garner was elected to the Texas House of Representatives in 1898, and re-elected in 1900. During his service, the legislature selected a state flower for Texas. Garner fervently supported the prickly pear cactus for the honor, and thus earned the nickname "Cactus Jack", although the bluebonnet was ultimately chosen. He also drafted a resolution that would have divided Texas into five states, which passed the Texas House, but the bill was vetoed by the Governor.

In 1901, Garner voted for the poll tax, a measure passed by the Democratic-dominated legislature to make voter registration more difficult and reduce the number of black, minority, and poor white voters on the voting rolls. This disfranchised most minority voters until the 1960s, and ended challenges to Democratic power; Texas became in effect a one-party state. Garner traveled parts of southern Texas controlled by the *patrón* system, currying political favor with the land bosses who exercised near-complete control of the local people and local elections. His *patrón* allies created a gerrymandered district for him, the 15th congressional district, a narrow strip reaching south to include tens of thousands of square miles of rural areas.

## House of Representatives

Garner began currying political favor with the Southern Texas land bosses who exercised near-complete control of the local people and elections through the patronage system, and they created the gerrymandered 15th congressional district for him, a narrow strip of land across the southern border that included tens of thousands of square miles of rural areas. Garner was first elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1902, and has been subsequently reelected sixteen times.

Garner’s first decade in the House was rather unremarkable, as it wasn't until January 1905 that he spoke his first word in Congress and not until 1911 that he gave his first speech. Despite introducing very few bills during his tenure, he earned a reputation as a master of the legislative process with a knack for steering other’s bills through tricky legislative waters. His behind-the-scenes politicking managed to win the construction of a new federal building and post office in his district, projects which contributed to his primary goal of reelection. Eventually Garner acquired enough seniority in his party to be elected the Democratic House whip in 1909, and when the Democrats recaptured the White House under Woodrow Wilson he became one of the most influential men on Capitol Hill.

After reelection in 1922, Garner served on the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, and his many friends on both sides of the aisle became a testament to his quiet, backroom political style. As one of Congress's legendary whiskey-drinking poker players, Garner would often invite recalcitrant colleagues to his office to share a drink or two of bourbon and branch water in order to convince them to vote for bills he favored. He was chosen to serve as minority floor leader for the Democrats in 1929, and after Democrats recaptured the House majority in 1930 he was elected Speaker of the House of Representatives the following year.

As Speaker, Garner supported passage of the federal income tax but opposed most tariffs except for those on wool and mohair, which were important to his Texas base. He also believed in rural investment, bringing taxpayer dollars to farmers of the Brush Country region of South Texas. Together with Democratic Senator Robert Wagner of New York, he drafted a $2.1 billion emergency relief bill to fight staggering unemployment caused by the Great Depression which was vetoed by Republican President Herbert Hoover in July 1932.

In 1932, Garner competed for the Democratic presidential nomination, being considered a major candidate with a real chance at winning. Surprisingly though, southern delegates that Garner was depending on at the Democratic National Convention began swinging away from him, and towards Louisiana Senator Huey Long. Ultimately, neither Garner nor Long won the nomination, with former New York Governor Al Smith proving to be the victor. Garner would then endorse Smith. In the 1933 contingent election, Garner attempted to get Democratic congresmen to vote in favor of Garner. Southern Democrats would refuse, with most of them offerring a protest vote to Herbert Hoover, allowing him to win re-election.

## 1936 Presidential Election

Garner once again ran for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1936. Tennessee Senator Cordell Hull proved to be Garner's main rival for the nomination. Hull though, lacked the support of several western states, leading Garner to win the nomination. He then selected Robert F. Wagner as his running mate, in order to balance out the ticket. During the lead up to the election, Garner proved to be a great campaigner, spending much time giving speeches in his home state. Democrats feared that Huey Long's America First Party could flip several states in the "Solid South", with Garner hoping to prevent Long from flipping Texas. Garner gave a speech in Los Angeles, California, where he derided the policies of Long and of Socialist Senator Jack Reed. The Democraic strategy was to focus on criticizing Long and Reed, with Republican nominee Alf Landon believed to have very little chance at winning the election. Thus, Garner appealed to moderate voters who disliked the radical messaging of the AFP and SPA.

On election day, Garner won the most electoral votes out of any of the four major candidates, although he failed to get the necessary majority of votes to win the electinn outright. In terms of the popular vote however, Garner came in third, with Reed winning that most, followed by Long. Because no candidate won the majority of electoral votes, the Twelfth Amendment was invoked, and a contingent election proceded to the House of Representatives.

As Speaker of the House of Representatives, Garner had an enormous influence on the outcome of the contingent election. With Landon being eliminated, that left the house only three options on whom to vote for: Garner, Reed, or Long. Fearing that some Southern Democrats would defect to Long, Garner began courting Republican house delegations, convincing them to vote with Democrats for him, in order to prevent the AFP and SPA from winning. On Janaury 7, 1937, the contingent election was held, with Garner winning the majority of house delegations. He won thirty one delegations, with the majority of these coming from states in the Southwest, Pacific Northwest, and New England.

## Presidency

Garner's victory outraged both the AFP and the SPA. Following the vote in the house, Reed resigned in protest from his senate seat, and called fo the Combin Syndicates of America to launch a general strike. Socialist congressmen and senators then resigned in mass with him, with socialist governors refusing to reappoint interim successors. Responding to this, states aligned with the AFP and Huey Long seceded from the United States, and formed the American Union State. President Hoover responded slowly to both groups.

Garner was the second U.S. president in history to be inaugurated on January 20 instead of March 4, due to the previous passing of the Nineteenth Amendment. At his inauguration, Garner condemned Reed and Long, saying that "The seeds of chaos and disorder shall never ripen, so long as I am president." Garner chose to retain General Douglas MacArthur as Chief of Staff of the Army, believing that he was the country's best hope at defeating the two groups. Seven days after his inauguration, the Battle of Philadelphia occured, sparking the Second American Civil War. The army was thus mobilized, and the U.S. Army Reserve was utilized. As president, Garner began petitioning the Canadian government for military aide. He would regularly update Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King about the current situation in the United States. Additionally, Garner attempted to get a federal bill related to emergency economic relief passed through Congress, hoping to prevent another economic crash as a result of the conflict.

Garner's administration was embarassed at the Battle of New York City, which saw the Combined Syndicates take over the city, and force federal troops further back into Long Island. Garner sent the U.S. Navy into New York Bay, hoping to rescue the trapped federal troops on Long Island. The operation was a complete disaster, and led many to call Garner's leadership into question. Additionally, the emergency economic legislation was being held up in committee, with Republicans refusing many of the conditions in the bill, believing them to be economically irresponsible. This further tarnished the president's reputation.

## White House Putsch and Prison

On March 15, 1937, at 5:30 PM, a battalion of federal soldiers led by General MacArthur descended into Washington, D.C., and surrounded the White House. Garner was in bed at the time of the coup, being woken up by one of his aids. Federal soldiers walked into Garner's bedroom, placing him in handcuffs and leading him out of the building. Vice President Robert F. Wagner was also arrested. Both Wagner and Garner were imprisoned in the D.C. Central Detention Facility. Garner was placed under constant surveillance, so as to protect him from other prisoners. For next several months, he was held in a prison cell. While in prison, he wrote extensively to his wife, who had been sent back to Texas, reassuring her that he was alright. Garner became the only U.S. president in American history to be overthrown in a coup.

## Capture and Assassination

With syndicalists closing in on Washington, D.C., Garner and Wagner was moved from the detention facility, being placed under house arrest in Alexandria, Virginia. As the Battle of Washington, D.C. raged on, Garner began fearing for his safety. When the Combined Syndicates took control of the Arlington Heights Historic District, the federal troops watching over Garner were ordered to evacuate to him, and transport him back to Texas. During this evacuation, the group was ambushed by a squad syndicalist revolutionaries. A shoot-out ensued, and Garner was shot and killed by the revolutionaries. Wagner was also killed, reportedly begging for his life before being shot in the head. Garner was sixty nine years old at the time of his death. It is believed that the bodies of the two men were buried in an unmarked grave somewhere in Virginia.

News of Garner's death shocked the rest of the fractured nation, and caused international outrage. Prime Minister Mackenzie King, though having his reservations about the federal government under MacArthur, condemned the assassination of Garner, and called on all Canadians to "Save the North American continent from syndicalist barbarism and mass death." MacArthur himself was deeply troubled by the assassination.

## Legacy

Garner's legacy remains highly disputed. Generally, most historians rank him in the bottom half of U.S. presidents. Even among historians though, there is some debate as to how Garner's administration should be evaluated. Some believe that Garner was a victim of circumstance, and that he could have been a good president had his administration not been cut short by MacArthur's coup. Others suggest that Garner's poor leadership in the first few days of the conflict proved that he was incapable of governing properly during a time of intense domestic warfare. His death has been compared to the murder of the Imperial Romanov family at the hands of the Bolsheviks, due to the similiar international condemnation it produced. In Texas, Garner is revered by the public, due to his assassination and his service to the city of Uvalde. Garner State Park, located 30 miles (48 km) north of Uvalde, bears his name, as does Garner Field just east of Uvalde. The women's dormitory at Southwest Texas Junior College in Uvalde bears his wife's name. John Garner Middle School, located in San Antonio's North East Independent School District, is also named after him.

Historical evaluations of Garner's presidency were initially negative, but in recent years have become more positive, painting him more as a tragic figure. Garner and James K. Polk are the only two Speakers of the House of Representatives to ever be elected president. Both men were Democrats.