'Mother of Presidents': Ohio shaped early years of US

In the shaping of the United States throughout its early years, the state of Ohio played a formidable role.

Nowhere was that more obvious than with the presidency. From 1868 through the 1920s, seven Ohioans were elected president of the U.S. In all, eight presidents have had Ohio ties.

The Washington Forum, a civic initiative presented by the city of Mount Vernon in partnership with the Center for the Study of American Democracy at Kenyon College, explored the influence of Ohio, which helped shape America during the 1800s and early 1900s.

“Thank you all for coming out here. It’s really a pleasure to see people coming to this wonderful opportunity for us to celebrate our 250th birthday,” said Mount Vernon Mayor Matt Starr to kick off the program Tuesday at the Woodward Opera House. “The Washington forum is a yearlong initiative dedicated to exploring the character, prudence and public virtue that sustain our republic. Each month we gather to examine our history, institutions and civic responsibility; that shaped public life in America. Tonight’s forum highlights a remarkable truth about our state – Ohio’s outsized role in shaping the American presidency.”

Five college professors — Dr. Joseph Klesner and Dr. Wendy Singer of Kenyon College; Dr. Christopher Devine of the University of Dayton; and Dr. Margaret Sumner and Dr. Margaret Newell of The Ohio State University — discussed the eight men from Ohio who went on to the highest office in the nation.

The first president from Ohio also served the shortest amount of time in office. William Henry Harrison was elected in 1840 after leading U.S. forces in fighting against the Indians in the Northwest Territory and against the British in the War of 1812. Harrison was born in Virginia, but served as governor of the Indiana Territory and then as state representative and then U.S. Senate representative from Ohio.

“Old Tippecanoe” gave the nation’s longest inauguration speech, detailing his agenda as a member of the Whig Party. He didn’t have time to put much of that into action as he contracted pneumonia soon after taking office and died just 30 days into his term.

Shortly following the Civil War, Ohioans became influential in the national scene, especially in the White House. Three straight Ohioans were elected president, all of which were Civil War heroes.

Ulysses S Grant, the General-In-Chief of the Union Army during the Civil War who accepted the surrender of the Confederate Army in 1865, was elected in 1868 as the 18th president of the U.S.

Singer shared several stories on Grant, including his use of a campaign badge that was produced by a tin-type process that was co-invented by Kenyon College alum Peter Neff and Kenyon chemistry professor Hamilton Smith.

Grant was followed immediately by Rutherford B. Hayes, who was born in Delaware, Ohio, and educated at Kenyon College. Another Civil War officer, Hayes was elected governor of Ohio in 1867, then elected president in a disputed election in 1876. Neither Hayes nor opponent Samuel Tilden received enough electoral votes to win, so a congressional commission awarded him the presidency in what became known as the Compromise of 1877. Part of the compromise was the end of federal support of the reconstruction of the former Confederacy.

The next president was also an Ohioan — James A. Garfield.

Garfield was elected in 1880, but his term lasted less than a year as he was shot in July of 1881 and died a short time later. Garfield, who grew up in northeast Ohio, served nine terms in the U.S. House of Representatives and is the only sitting member of the House to be elected president.

Devine discussed the debate that’s been going on for many years – what makes someone a great president. He explained that Garfield, because of the short amount of time he was president, was not considered a great president even though he did accomplish a good deal.

“He didn’t have a lot of time to lead in international relations and some other things we might associate with other presidents. He only had three months to do anything substantial, but he actually did a lot with that time in terms of civil service reform and patronage. And what he did, took a lot of courage,” Devine said.

It took just eight years for another Ohioan to be elected — Benjamin Harrison.

Harrison, the grandson of President William Henry Harrison, was educated at Miami (Ohio) University and also fought in the Civil War. He fought against monopolies during his time as the 23rd president, signing the Sherman Antitrust Act into law in 1890.

William McKinley, also from northeast Ohio, was elected to two terms as president, beginning in 1896. He barely served any time in the second term as he was also assassinated. McKinley was the final Ohio Civil War veteran elected president and led the nation during the Spanish-American War. That war allowed the U.S. to annex several Spanish territories, including Hawaii.

William Howard Taft was best known as the only man to serve the United States in two of the highest offices in the nation. The Cincinnati born man was a federal judge, serving in the U.S. Court of Appeals in 1892, before being elected president in 1908. After serving as president, he returned to law and was named chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court in 1921.

Warren G. Harding was the final Ohioan elected president. He was born in Morrow County and owned and published the Marion Star for nearly 40 years. After serving in both the Ohio Senate and U.S. Senate, he was elected president in 1920. While best known for some of the scandals within his administration, including the famed Teapot Dome Scandal, he was a modern and progressive president, urging equal political rights for blacks and women.

“Harding is the first president to hold an actual meeting with the members of the NAACP. They met in his living room in his house. This is very innovative for the time and rather shocking,” Sumner said.

While several served very short terms because of illness or assassinations, Ohioans were very influential in the growth of the U.S. during the Gilded Age.

The next Washington Forum event will be Tuesday, March 31, at 6 p.m. at The Gathering Place, 425 S. Edgewood Road, Mount Vernon. The topic will be “The Room Where it Happens,” a discussion of how government really works from City Hall to Capitol Hill.