Benjamin Harrison

The grandson of America's shortest-serving president, William Henry Harrison, Benjamin Harrison is one of America's most obscure presidents. In fact, I've observed that upon going onto Google and looking up "America's most obscure president," the Wikipedia page for Harrison's presidency is in the first 5 results. This, I believe, is a tragedy. While he was no Thomas Jefferson or Abraham Lincoln, Harrison was a good president and did a lot of wonderful things for the US. He was a solid leader who deserves far more praise than he gets in modern historical circles.

In 1884, four years before the election in which Harrison became president took place, Grover Cleveland secured the White House in that year's race for the presidency. Among other things, Cleveland reduced tariffs to such an extent that millions of American workers saw their jobs shipped overseas. This created a severe employment crisis that decimated Cleveland's approval ratings. As a result, much of the US' working-class hastily and excitedly voted for Harrison in the 1888 election, desperate to expel Cleveland from Washington DC. So, as one of his first actions in the Oval Office, Harrison raised tariffs, ending the unemployment crisis.

During his tenure, Harrison admitted 6 different states into the Union: North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Washington, Idaho, and Wyoming. As president, Harrison also demonstrated a dedication to the environment unmatched by almost any of his predecessors. Harrison, for example, created the very first forest reservation in American history. Interestingly, Harrison also became embroiled in an international dispute with Britain revolving around their destructive overfishing of seals off the coast of Canada. By the end of the controversy, Harrison got the country to stop engaging in this dangerous practice, saving Canada's seal population.

Aside from reducing unemployment through his escalation of tariffs, Harrison also implemented numerous important economic reforms. Most importantly, in July of 1890, he signed the Sherman Antitrust Act. This law prohibited monopolies, hence ensuring additional competition within the American economy. Had it not been for Harrison and his support of the Sherman Antitrust Act, the trustbusting of Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and Woodrow Wilson wouldn't have been possible. Another economic reform Harrison instituted was a series of pensions for civil war veterans, which is also good.

Ghost Dance was a short-lived Native American faith teaching that if the US' indigenous population observed the religion's customs, North America would be restored to its pre-colonization state in the year 1891. It became extremely popular amongst indigenous people in the late 1880s. In mid-December 1890, Sitting Bull, a prominent Native American figure, was arrested on charges of observing this faith. During the arrest, he was accidentally killed. This outraged Native Americans in modern-day South Dakota, who soon began arming themselves in retaliation. On December 29, 1890, the newly-armed indigenous population was surrounded by the American military. After being encircled, they were ordered to forfeit their weapons. When they refused, they were shot at, marking the Wounded Knee Massacre.

Harrison, contrary to popular belief, never greenlighted the Wounded Knee Massacre. In fact, as a US Senator from 1880 to 1886, Harrison famously advocated for the rights of Native Americans. But, while he didn't cause the Wounded Knee Massacre, he absolutely deserves criticism for his response to it. Following the incident, Harrison gave out Medals of Honor to soldiers who participated in the attack, which is untenable. In summary, while Harrison wasn't responsible for the Wounded Knee Massacre and it's inaccurate to say he was, he still deserves criticism for glorifying it.

In all honesty, the awful response to the Wounded Knee Massacre wasn't Harrison's only flaw in terms of civil rights. In 1882, the US government passed the Chinese Exclusion Act, which Harrison actually used his seat in the Senate to vote against. This law famously prohibited Chinese from moving to the US. While it didn't deport Chinese already living in America, it did prevent those who didn't already have US citizenship from obtaining it. Lastly, it said that if a Chinese immigrant to the US left America for any reason, they would need a "certificate of reentry" to come back. Initially, these terms were supposed to expire on May 6, 1892, the 10-year anniversary of the statute's passage. On May 5, 1892, however, Harrison signed the Geary Act, which extended the bill's life for another 10 years. This decision also warrants criticism.

But Harrison also had some significant accolades in terms of civil rights. In 1891, he called on Congress to draft what would become the Lodge Bill. This bill would have authorized the US military to enforce the 15th Amendment - the Constitutional amendment that allowed all American men the right to vote, regardless of race - in the southern states. The bill nearly passed but ended up being the subject of a tie in the Senate. Under the Constitution, this means that the vice president had the role of breaking the tie. Harrison's vice president, Levi Morton, unfortunately, voted against it. In fact, Harrison was so angry at Morton for this action that he chose a new running mate when seeking reelection in 1892.

Outside of his botched response to the Wounded Knee Massacre and support of the Geary Act, Harrison also deserves criticism for his imperialism. What is now American Samoa was incorporated into the US by the Harrison Administration. Harrison also tried to annex Hawaii but failed in this endeavor. Overall, though, Harrison was a good president. He was an environmentalist who instituted numerous great economic reforms, tried to ensure black voting rights in the southern US, and honored civil war veterans with pensions.