Talk:Benjamin Harrison

Proposed edit trade and tour

Here is a proposed edit of Harrison that mentions his tour and foreign policy. Cmguy777 (talk) 18:41, 14 November 2011 (UTC)

President Harrison's central foreign policy goal was to expand reciprocal trade to other countries. In San Francisco, on tour of the western states in 1891, Harrison stated that the U.S. Navy would protect American oceanic shipping and that trading partners around the world would increase American influence and prestige. Harrison believed that the United States was in a "new epoch" of trade.

How about:

In San Francisco, while on tour of the United States in 1891, Harrison proclaimed that the United States was in a "new epoch" of trade and that the expanding navy would protect oceanic shipping and increase American influence and prestige abroad.

It could go in the first paragraph of "Foreign policy". --Coemgenus (talk) 20:20, 15 November 2011 (UTC)

Yes. That is good. That would emphasize Harrison's trade policy and that he went on tour to promote his foreign policy. Cmguy777 (talk) 16:28, 16 November 2011 (UTC)

I added it. Done deal! --Coemgenus (talk) 16:52, 16 November 2011 (UTC)

Thanks Coemgenus. Cmguy777 (talk) 02:21, 17 November 2011 (UTC)

Cherokee commission

I'm not sure this belongs in this biographical article. Was Harrison closely involved with this group? I don't recall his biographers mentioning it at all, but I'll have another look when I get home. It might help to create the article about the commission first, so people could see what it was all about. --Coemgenus (talk) 20:19, 15 November 2011 (UTC)

I found a source Taking Indian Lands Hagan (2003), pp. 34-41. Harrison was indirectly involved with the commission. I believe their may have been resistance to dividing up Indian lands by severalty. Harrison appointed Warren G. Sayer who gave information to Harrison on the Cherokee Commission. Did Harrison influence the outcome of this commission by appointing Sayer? Did the Commission resolve the pressured sale of Indian Lands? Apparently Chief Mayes wanted the sale of Indian lands to be done by the Cherokees. I would have to do more research on Cherokee Confernence. Cmguy777 (talk) 17:22, 16 November 2011 (UTC)

In reading Hagan's book Taking Indian Lands Harrison appointed 3 commissioners in 1889 to buy up the Outlet, land owned by the Cherokees, to the United States Government. Chief Mayes rejected their attempts. Under pressure from Sec. Noble, President Harrison ordered that cattle leases and cattle off the Outlet. The Cherokees were making money off this land by leasing to Cattle ranchers. The initial attempt to get the Cherokees to sell the Outlet by the Commissioners failed. It would take a few more years for the Government to get the Outlet. Cmguy777 (talk) 19:11, 16 November 2011 (UTC)

Proposed photo addition

Here is a photo to be put in the article. Any objections? Cmguy777 (talk) 20:12, 17 November 2011 (UTC)

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There's room for it in "Indian policy" or "civil rights" without crowding. The quality is pretty bad on that thing, though. I guess outdoor shots weren't ever great in those days. Is there no better version? --Coemgenus (talk) 20:23, 17 November 2011 (UTC)

I made improvement edits such as focus and lighting on the original. I also "cloned" in some of the sky background. I am guessing this was from a glass plate original camera and I am not sure who the original photographer was. Calhoun stated that President Benjamin Harrison visited Sec. Blaine in Maine in 1889. Yes. It would be nice if the the photo was in better condition. I have yet to find a better photo then this one. I believe the photo captures the style of later 19TH Century Victorian world, particularly the women's clothing. This is one of the first photographs I know of a President being photographed with women. Cmguy777 (talk) 00:43, 18 November 2011 (UTC)

Thanks Coemgenus. The photo fits in the Civil Rights section since Representative Henry Cabot Lodge is in the photo. Cmguy777 (talk) 23:40, 18 November 2011 (UTC)

Looks good. Nice addition to the article. --Coemgenus (talk) 23:45, 18 November 2011 (UTC)

Sec. Blaine

Here is a proposed edit on the rift "unfriendliness" between Sec. Blaine and President Benjamin Harrison. Cmguy777 (talk) 21:14, 23 November 2011 (UTC)

Although President Harrison and Sec. Blaine agreed in principle on an active foreign policy and reciprocal trade, the two did not always get along with each other. Privately, Harrison resented Sec. Blaine for being often absent from the U.S. State Department and for having to shoulder the burden of foreign policy programs while Blaine took the credit. Sec. Blaine during Washington's hot summers staid in Bar Harbor, Maine. Sec. Blaine was upset for Harrison not appointing his son, Walker Blaine, to first assistant to the Secretary of State. As a cultured and sophisticated Easterner, Sec. Blaine considered Harrison and his wife Caroline, inferior socially. Harrison and his wife, Caroline, believed that Sec. Blaine and his wife Harriet were a "strange family" who could not be completely trusted. Before Harrison visited Sec. Blaine in Maine in 1889, Blaine had privately referred to Harrison as the great "White Elephant" to Henry Cabot Lodge.

I think the rift is a bit exaggerated. Blaine didn't get along with anybody. I feel like I'm repeating myself here, but I'll say it again: we can't put everything in the sources into the article. The article is a brief summary of the collected wisdom of the scholarly sources. More specifically: lets leave out the Walker Blaine bit (too picayune) and the "social inferiors" (which Calhoun indeed writes but which is unsupported in other sources and, frankly, makes no sense -- the Harrison family was far more prestigious than the Blaines). The bigger issue here, which I'm beginning to understand as I'm reading a Blaine biography: Blaine was a prickly, over-sensitive, grudge-holding man who thought he, not Harrison (or Garfield, or Arthur) deserved to be president. But that's more of an issue for a Blaine article. I suggest adding this sentence to "Foreign policy":

Harrison and Secretary of State Blaine were at times personally unfriendly, but were in perfect agreement on an active foreign policy and reciprocal trade.

I think that covers it well enough. --Coemgenus (talk) 13:07, 24 November 2011 (UTC)

Yes. One sentence is good. I was attempting to tie in the photo that Harrison visited Blaine in Bar Harbor, Maine. During the hot summer months Blaine refused to work in Washington. Blaine seemed to have some pull on the people he was around. Cmguy777 (talk) 20:59, 24 November 2011 (UTC)

Yeah, Blaine pretty much did whatever he wanted. I'll add the sentence and clean up the paragraph to fit it. --Coemgenus (talk) 00:42, 25 November 2011 (UTC)

Yes. I believe knowing what was going on between Sec. Blaine and President Benjamin Harrison adds interest to the photo on the ship. Thanks. Cmguy777 (talk) 03:19, 25 November 2011 (UTC)