Richard Achilles Ballinger
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Richard Achilles Ballinger
(born July 9, 1858, Boonesboro, Iowa, U.S.died June 6, 1922, Seattle, Wash.) U.S. secretary of the interior (190911). As the reform mayor of Seattle, Wash. (190406), he attracted national attention. In 1907 he was appointed commissioner of the General Land Office, and in 1909 he became secretary of the interior. During his two years in that post he sought to make public resources more available for private exploitation. Implicated in a fraudulent Alaskan land-claims scheme, he was cleared after a congressional investigation but resigned in 1911. The episode split the Republicans between conservatives led by Pres. William H. Taft and progressives loyal to Theodore Roosevelt.
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Ballinger, Richard Achilles (băl'ĭnjər), 1858-1922, U.S. Secretary of the Interior (1909-11), b. Boonesboro (now in Boone), Iowa. He was mayor of Seattle (1904-6) and commissioner of the General Land Office (1907-9); in 1909, Taft appointed him Secretary of the Interior. While Secretary, he was accused by L. R. Glavis of the Land Office of having halted investigation into the legality of certain private coal-land claims in Alaska. With Taft's approval, Glavis was dismissed from service. Glavis took his case to the public in a series of articles in Collier's Weekly that roused the conservationists. Led by Gifford Pinchot, they demanded an investigation. A congressional committee exonerated Ballinger, but the questioning of committee counsel Louis D. Brandeis made the Secretary's anticonservationism clear; he resigned in Mar., 1911. The incident split the Republican party and helped turn the election of 1912 against Taft.
Bibliography
See A. T. Mason, Bureaucracy Convicts Itself (1941); J. L. Penick, The Ballinger-Pinchot Affair (1968).
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Richard Achilles Ballinger
| Richard Achilles Ballinger | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| 24th United States Secretary of the Interior | |
| In office March 6, 1909 – March 12, 1911 |
|
| President | William Howard Taft |
| Preceded by | James R. Garfield |
| Succeeded by | Walter L. Fisher |
| Personal details | |
| Born | July 9, 1858 Boonesboro, Iowa, U.S. |
| Died | June 6, 1922 (aged 63) Seattle, Washington, U.S. |
| Political party | Republican |
| Alma mater | Williams College |
| Profession | Politician |
Richard Achilles Ballinger (July 9, 1858 – June 6, 1922) was mayor of Seattle, Washington, from 1904–1906 and U.S. Secretary of the Interior from 1909–1911.
Ballinger was born in Boonesboro, Iowa. He graduated in 1884 from Williams College, where he was admitted to the Zeta Psi fraternity,[1] and passed the bar exam in 1886.
He served 1904–1906 as mayor of Seattle, following the scandal-prone Yukon Gold Rush era administration of Thomas D. Humes. Elected with the support of the downtown business elite, he cracked down somewhat (but not heavily) on vice, opposed labor unions, and was a roadblock to the city's strong municipal ownership movement.[2]
After serving as mayor of Seattle, Ballinger was commissioner of the General Land Office from 1907–1908. In 1909, President William Howard Taft appointed him Secretary of the Interior. While Secretary, he was accused of having interfered with investigation into the legality of certain private coal-land claims in Alaska. After a series of articles in Collier's Weekly that roused the conservationists an investigation was demanded. A congressional committee exonerated Ballinger, but the questioning of committee counsel Louis D. Brandeis made Ballinger's anti-conservationism clear. He resigned in March, 1911. The incident split the Republican Party and helped turn the election of 1912 against Taft.
Ballinger died on June 6, 1922, in Seattle, Washington.
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Notes
- ^ Baird, William Raymond (1915). Baird's Manual of American College Fraternities, pp. 349–355.
- ^ Berner, Richard C. (1991), Seattle 1900–1920: From Boomtown, Urban Turbulence, to Restoration, Seattle: Charles Press, ISBN 0-9629889-0-1. p. 111.
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Thomas D. Humes |
Mayor of Seattle 1904–1906 |
Succeeded by William Hickman Moore |
| Preceded by James Rudolph Garfield |
United States Secretary of the Interior Served under: William Howard Taft 1909–1911 |
Succeeded by Walter Lowrie Fisher |
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