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Thomas W. Hardwick | |
---|---|
63rd Governor of Georgia | |
In office June 25, 1921 –June 30, 1923 | |
Preceded by | Hugh Dorsey |
Succeeded by | Clifford Walker |
United States Senator from Georgia | |
In office November 4,1914 – March 3,1919 | |
Preceded by | William Stanley West |
Succeeded by | William J. Harris |
Member of the U.S.HouseofRepresentatives from Georgia's 10th district | |
In office March 4,1903 –November 2,1914 | |
Preceded by | Emory Speer |
Succeeded by | Carl Vinson |
Member of the Georgia House of Representatives | |
In office 1898–1902 | |
Personal details | |
Born | Thomas William Hardwick December 9,1872 Thomasville,Georgia,U.S. |
Died | January 31,1944 71) Sandersville,Georgia,U.S. | (aged
Resting place | Old City Cemetery Sandersville,Georgia |
Political party | Democratic |
Spouses | Maude Elizabeth Perkins (m. 1894)Sallie Warren West (m. 1938) |
Alma mater | Mercer University (B.A.) University of Georgia School of Law (J.D.) |
Occupation | Lawyer |
Thomas William Hardwick (December 9, 1872 – January 31, 1944) was an American politician from the U.S. state of Georgia who served as governor of Georgia, a United States Senator from Georgia, a member of the United States House of Representatives from Georgia, and a member of the Georgia House of Representatives.
Hardwick was born on December 9, 1872, in Thomasville, Georgia. [1] He graduated from Mercer University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1892 and received a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Georgia School of Law in 1893. He was an active member of Phi Delta Theta at Mercer, and while at UGA, he was a member of the Phi Kappa Literary Society.
Hardwick married Maude Elizabeth Perkins in 1894. [2] He married Sallie Warren West in 1938. [1] He had one daughter and two stepdaughters. [1]
Hardwick practiced law in Savannah [1] and then entered politics with the support of Thomas E. Watson. [3] Hardwick was the prosecutor of Washington County, Georgia, from 1895 to 1897.
Hardwick served as a member of the Georgia House of Representatives from 1898 to 1902; and a member of the United States House of Representatives representing Georgia's 10th district from 1903 to 1914. [4] In 1914 he ran for a seat in the United States Senate in a special election for the unexpired term of Augustus O. Bacon who had died in office. Hardwick won, and served in the Senate from 1915 to 1919. Senator Hardwick was defeated in the Democratic primary for reelection in 1918 by William J. Harris.
As a senator, Hardwick co-sponsored the Immigration Act of 1918, which was enacted in October of that year. Aimed at radical anarchists who had immigrated to the U.S., the new law enabled deportation of any non-citizen who belonged to an anarchist organization or who was found in possession of anarchist literature for the purpose of propaganda.
On April 29, 1919, as a direct result of his sponsorship of the Immigration Act, Senator Hardwick was targeted for assassination by adherents of the radical anarchist Luigi Galleani, who mailed a booby trap bomb to his residence in Georgia. The bomb exploded when Ethel Williams, a house servant of the Hardwicks, attempted to open the package, blowing off her hands and severely injuring Hardwick's wife, Maude. [5] [6]
Hardwick then served as Governor of Georgia from 1921 to 1923, and due to his opposition to the Ku Klux Klan, lost to Clifford Walker in the subsequent election. [7] [8] He ran unsuccessfully for election to the Senate in 1922 and 1924, and then retired from politics. He spent the rest of his life practicing law, with offices in Washington, D.C., Atlanta, Georgia, and Sandersville, Georgia.
One of Hardwick's most notable actions as governor of Georgia was his appointment of Rebecca Latimer Felton to the United States Senate as a temporary replacement for Tom Watson, who had died. Though Felton only served for one day, she was the first woman to serve in the Senate.
Hardwick died of a heart attack on January 31, 1944, in Sandersville. [1] Hardwick was interred in Old City Cemetery in Sandersville. [9]
Rebecca Ann Felton was an American writer, politician, white supremacist, and slave owner who was the first woman to serve in the United States Senate, serving for only one day. She was a prominent member of the Georgia upper class who advocated for prison reform, women's suffrage and education reform. Her husband, William Harrell Felton, served in both the United States House of Representatives and the Georgia House of Representatives, and she helped organize his political campaigns. Historian Numan Bartley wrote that by 1915 Felton "was championing a lengthy feminist program that ranged from prohibition to equal pay for equal work yet never accomplished any feat because she held her role because of her husband."
Thomas Edward Watson was an American politician, attorney, newspaper editor, and writer from Georgia. In the 1890s Watson championed poor farmers as a leader of the Populist Party, articulating an agrarian political viewpoint while attacking business, bankers, railroads, Democratic President Grover Cleveland, and the Democratic Party. He was the nominee for vice president with Democrat William Jennings Bryan in 1896 on the Populist ticket.
John Hardy Isakson was an American businessman and politician who served as a United States senator from Georgia from 2005 to 2019. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served in the Georgia legislature and the United States House of Representatives.
Carl Vinson was an American politician who served in the U.S. House of Representatives for over 50 years and was influential in the 20th century expansion of the U.S. Navy. He was a member of the Democratic Party and represented Georgia in the House from 1914 to 1965. He was known as "The Father of the Two-Ocean Navy". He is the longest-serving member of the United States House of Representatives from the state of Georgia. From 1961 to 1965, he served as the Dean of the US House of Representatives as the longest serving member of the body.
James Eli Watson was a U.S. Representative and U.S. Senator from Indiana. He was the Senate's second official majority leader. While an article published by the Senate gives his year of birth as 1862, this is most probably incorrect.
Augustus Octavius Bacon was a Confederate soldier, segregationist, and U.S. politician. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as a U.S. senator from Georgia, becoming the first senator to be directly elected after the ratification of the 17th Amendment, and rose to the position of president pro tempore of the United States Senate. Controversy arose during the American Civil Rights Movement over a provision in his will that created a racially segregated park in his hometown of Macon, which led to two U.S. Supreme Court decisions. He was a slave owner.
The Phi Kappa Literary Society is a college literary society, located at the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia, and is one of the few active literary societies left in America. Originally founded in 1820, the society has disbanded several times and was and most recently refounded in 1991, remaining active since. It continues to hold regular meetings at Phi Kappa Hall on the University of Georgia's North Campus. The Phi Kappa Literary Society holds formal debates and a forum for creative writings and orations as well as poetry.
William Stanley West was a United States Senator from the state of Georgia. He was a Democrat. He is notable for being the first person appointed to the Senate after ratification of the Seventeenth Amendment made that possible.
Homer Virgil Milton Miller was an American physician and politician from the U.S. state of Georgia, who practiced medicine for the Confederacy in the American Civil War and served as a U.S. Senator from Georgia for seven days in 1871.
Middleton Pope Barrow was a United States senator from Georgia. Born near Antioch, Georgia, in Oglethorpe County, he attended a private academy and graduated from the University of Georgia (UGA) in Athens, Georgia, with a Bachelor of Arts in 1859 and from the School of Law in 1860. He was admitted to the bar that year and commenced practice in Athens.
Alexander Stephens Clay was a United States senator from Georgia.
William Harrell Felton was an American politician, army surgeon, and Methodist minister. Felton was elected to three terms of office to the United States House of Representatives as an Independent Democrat, where he served as a sharp critic of commercial and financial interests and the return to the gold standard.
Charles Lafayette Bartlett was an American politician. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as a United States Representative from Georgia from 1895 to 1915.
A series of bombings were carried out or attempted by Galleanist anarchists from April through June 1919. The targets included anti-immigration politicians, anti-anarchist officials, and prominent businessmen, as well as a journalist and a church. Almost all of the bombs were sent by mail. The bombings were one of the major factors contributing to the First Red Scare. Two people were killed, including one of the bombers, and two injured.
The United States Immigration Act of 1918 was enacted on October 16, 1918. It is also known as the Dillingham-Hardwick Act. It was intended to correct what President Woodrow Wilson's administration considered to be deficiencies in previous laws, in order to enable the government to deport undesirable aliens, specifically anarchists, communists, labor organizers, and similar activists.
The statue of Thomas E. Watson is a public monument located near the Georgia State Capitol in Atlanta, Georgia. Dedicated in 1932, the statue honors Georgian politician Thomas E. Watson, who served terms in the United States Congress as both a Representative and Senator in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Originally located on the steps of the capitol building, the statue was removed from this location in 2013 and relocated to a nearby plaza.
The 1920 Georgia gubernatorial election was held on 2 November 1920 in order to elect the Governor of Georgia. Democratic nominee and former United States Senator from Georgia Thomas W. Hardwick ran unopposed and subsequently won the election.