Charles_Curtis

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Charles Curtis Charles Curtis Charles Curtis Leader None (1915-1920) Henry Cabot Lodge (1920-1924) J. Hamilton Lewis Wesley Livsey Jones Preceded by Succeeded by United States Senator from Kansas In office January 29, 1907 – March 4, 1913 Preceded by Succeeded by Alfred W. Benson William H. Thompson In office March 4, 1915 – March 4, 1929 Preceded by Succeeded by 31st Vice President of the United States In office March 4, 1929 – March 4, 1933 President Preceded by Succeeded by Herbert Hoover Charles G. Dawes John Nance Garner Joseph L. Bristow Henry J. Allen Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Kansas’s 4th district In office March 4, 1893 – March 4, 1899 Preceded by Succeeded by John Grant Otis James Monroe Miller 2nd United States Senate Majority Leader In office March 9, 1925 – March 4, 1929 Deputy Preceded by Succeeded by Wesley Livsey Jones (Whip) Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Kansas’s 1st district In office March 4, 1899 – January 28, 1907 Preceded by Succeeded by Born Died Political party Spouse Children Case Broderick Daniel R. Anthony, Jr. January 25, 1860(1860-01-25) Topeka, Kansas February 8, 1936 (aged 76) Washington, D.C. Republican Annie Elizabeth Baird Curtis (died on June 20, 1924) Permelia Jeannette Curtis, Henry "Harry" King Curtis, Leona Virginia Curtis Henry Cabot Lodge (Unofficial) James Eli Watson President pro tempore of the United States Senate In office December 4 – December 12, 1911 President Preceded by Succeeded by James S. Sherman (U.S. Vice President) Augustus O. Bacon Augustus O. Bacon 2nd United States Senate Majority Whip In office 1915 – 1924 Charles Curtis (January 25, 1860 – February 8, 1936) was a United States Representative, a longtime Senator from Kansas elected to Senate Majority Leader, as well as the 31st 1 From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Vice President of the United States. He was the first person with acknowledged non-European ancestry to reach either of the two highest offices in the United States government’s executive branch (and the last until Barack Obama’s election as president in 2008). Most of Curtis’ maternal ancestry was Native American, and he spent years of childhood living with his maternal grandparents on their Kaw reservation. An attorney, Curtis entered political life early, winning multiple terms starting in 1892 as a Republican to the US House of Representatives from his district in Topeka, Kansas. He was elected to the Senate first by the Kansas legislature, and then by popular vote in 1920 and thereafter. Curtis served in the Senate from 1915 to 1929. His long popularity and connections in Kansas and national politics helped make Curtis a strong leader in the Senate; he marshaled support to be elected as Senate Minority Whip from 1915–1924 and then as Senate Majority Leader from 1925–1929. In these positions he was instrumental in managing legislation and accomplishing Republican national goals. After the landslide victory of the Republican ticket in 1928, Curtis resigned from the Senate to serve as Vice-president to Herbert Hoover as President. Charles Curtis taken care of by his paternal Curtis grandparents during several of these unstable years, especially during high school. They helped him gain inheritance of his mother’s land in North Topeka, over his father’s attempt.[1] Curtis was strongly influenced by both sets of grandparents. After living with his maternal grandparents on the reservation, Curtis returned to Topeka to live with his paternal grandparents and to attend Topeka High School. Both his grandmothers encouraged him to get an education. Afterward he studied law and worked part-time. Curtis was admitted to the bar in 1881.[1] He commenced practice in Topeka and served as prosecuting attorney of Shawnee County, Kansas from 1885 to 1889. Marriage and family Curtis married Anna Baird, with whom he had three children: Permelia Jeannette, Henry "aka Harry" King and Leona Virginia Curtis. They also made a home for his halfsister Dolly Curtis after her mother died.[1] Political career The zest Curtis showed in horse racing was expressed in his political career. First elected as a Republican to the House of Representatives of the 53rd Congress, Curtis was re-elected for the following six terms. He made the effort to learn about his many constituents and treated them as personal friends. While serving as a Congressman, Curtis originated and helped pass the Curtis Act of 1898, with provisions that included bringing the Five Civilized Tribes of Oklahoma under land allotment and restructuring provisions. It limited their tribal courts and government. By his own experience, Curtis believed that the Indians could benefit by getting educated, assimilating and joining the main society. The government tried to encourage Indians to accept individual citizenship and lands, and to take up European-American culture. In application of these goals, some administrators went too far in terms of threats and breaking down families. (see Indian Boarding Schools) With his ties in Congress, Curtis was always abreast of changes in Indian law and programs. He re-enrolled with the Kaw tribe, which had been removed to Oklahoma when he was in his teens. In 1902 the Kaw Biography Early life and education Born in January 1860 in the Kansas Territory prior to the arrival of statehood in January 1861, Vice President Curtis is notable as an Executive Branch officer not born in a state admitted to the union. Curtis was nearly half American Indian in ancestry. His mother, Ellen Pappan, was one-fourth Kaw, one-fourth Osage, one-fourth Pottawatomie and onefourth French. His father Orren Curtis was of English and northern European ancestry. Curtis was born in Topeka, Kansas Territory, where his first languages were French and Kansa taught by his mother. As a boy living with his mother and her family on the reservation, he started racing horses. Curtis often won prairie horse races as a jockey.[1] Curtis’ mother died in 1863 when the boy was three. His father remarried and divorced, then married again. The elder Curtis was in military prison because of an incident during the American Civil War. Charles was 2 From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Allotment Act disbanded the Kaw nation as a legal entity. This was the tribe of Curtis and his mother. The act transferred 160 acres (0.6 km²) of former tribal land to the federal government. Other land held in common was allocated to individual tribal members. Under the terms of the act, Curtis (and his three children) as enrolled tribal members received about 1,625 acres (6.6 km²) of Kaw land in Oklahoma. Curtis served in the House from March 4, 1893 until January 28, 1907, when he resigned for the unexpired term of a Senate seat. He had been chosen by the Kansas Legislature to fill the short unexpired term of Senator Joseph R. Burton in the United States Senate. On that same day of January 28, Curtis was also tapped by Kansas’ state lawmakers for the full Senatorial term commencing March 4 of that year and ending March 4, 1913. In 1912 he was unsuccessful in trying to be redesignated by the legislature as senator, but his absence from the Senate was brief. In 1914 the Kansas Legislature selected Curtis for the six-year Senate term commencing March 4, 1915. After passage of the 17th Amendment which provided for direct election of senators, in 1920 Curtis was elected as senator by popular vote of Kansas voters. He was elected to the Senate again in 1926, thus serving without interruption from March 4, 1915 until his resignation on March 3, 1929, after being elected as VicePresident. During his tenure in the Senate, Curtis was President pro tempore of the Senate as well as Chairman of the Committee on Expenditures in the Department of the Interior, of the Committee on Indian Depredations, and of the Committee on Coast Defenses, as well as of the Republican Conference. He was also United States Senate Republican Whip from 1915 to 1924 and Majority Leader from 1925 to 1929. He was responsible for much collaboration to move legislation forward. Idaho Senator William Borah acclaimed Curtis "a great reconciler, a walking political encyclopedia and one of the best political poker players in America."[1] It was in 1923 during his Senate years that Curtis, together with fellow Kansan, Representative Daniel Read Anthony, Jr. proposed the first version of the proposed Equal Rights Amendment to the United States Charles Curtis Constitution to each of their Houses. The amendment did not go forward. President of the United States Calvin Coolidge, First Lady of the United States Grace Goodhue Coolidge, and Senator Curtis on their way to the Capitol building on Inauguration Day, March 4, 1925. Curtis resigned from the Senate on March 3, 1929 to assume the office of Vice President, following the landslide 58% – 41% victory achieved by Presidential candidate Herbert Hoover in 1928. The pair were inaugurated on March 4, 1929. Curtis endorsed the five-day work week, with no reduction in wages, as a work-sharing solution to unemployment soon after the Great Depression began. (See John Ryan’s book Questions of the Day.) The overwhelming problems of the Great Depression led to Republican defeat in the next election. Following the 57% – 40% landslide defeat of the Hoover-Curtis ticket in 1932, Curtis’ term as Vice President ended on March 4, 1933. After politics After so many years of service in Congress, Curtis decided to stay in Washington, D.C. to resume his legal career. There he had a wide network of professional contacts. He died there a few years later in 1936 from a heart attack. By his wishes, his body was returned to his beloved Kansas and buried at the Topeka Cemetery. Curtis was the last U.S. Vice President or President to wear a beard or mustache — in his case, a mustache — while in office. 3 From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Charles Curtis Portrayal in film • In Whispers like Thunder, a projected film about the three Conley sisters’ battle to preserve the Wyandot National Burying Ground in Kansas City, Kansas, the British actor Sir Ben Kingsley, whose company is producing the film, will portray Senator Curtis. He introduced the bill which kept the land from being sold and converted it to a national monument. [2] The film is being produced by Kingsley’s SBK Pictures in association with Luis Moro Productions. It was written by Trip Brooks and Luis Moro. • In Jim Thorpe -- All-American (1951), a biopic about Native-American Olympian Jim Thorpe, newsreel footage from the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics includes Charles Curtis. In the film, Jim Thorpe is on the skids after losing his Olympic medals for a violation of the Olympic amateur code. A friend takes him to the Olympic stadium and bucks him up by pointing out "Charles Curtis -- Vice President of the US -- American Indian." See also • Curtis Act of 1898 • List of Chairpersons of the College Republicans References [1] ^ Charles Curtis, U.S. Senate: Art & History, US Senate.gov, reprinted from Vice Presidents of the United States, 1789–1993, Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, 1997, accessed 10 Aug 2008 [2] Tatiana Siegel, "Ben Kingsley’s SBK announces slate", Variety, November 17, 2008, retrieved on November 19, 2008 External links • Charles Curtis at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress • Charles Curtis; Native-American Indian Vice-President; a biography 4 From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia United States House of Representatives Preceded by John Grant Otis Preceded by Case Broderick Charles Curtis Member of the U.S. House of Representatives Succeeded by James Monroe from Kansas’s 4th congressional district 1893 - 1899 Miller Member of the U.S. House of Representatives Succeeded by Daniel R. Anthony, from Kansas’s 1st congressional district 1899 - 1907 Jr. United States Senator (Class 2) from Kansas 1907 – 1913 Served alongside: Chester I. Long, Joseph L. Bristow United States Senate Preceded by Alfred W. Benson Preceded by Joseph L. Bristow Political offices Preceded by William P. Frye Maine Succeeded by William H. Thompson Succeeded by Henry J. Allen United States Senator (Class 3) from Kansas 1915 – 1929 Served alongside: William H. Thompson, Arthur Capper President pro tempore of the United States Senate Rotating pro tems Vice President of the United States March 4, 1929 – March 4, 1933 Succeeded by James P. Clarke Arkansas Preceded by Charles G. Dawes Succeeded by John Nance Garner Succeeded by Wesley L. Jones Washington Party political offices Preceded by Senate Republican Whip James Wadsworth, 1915 – 1924 Jr. New York Preceded by Henry Cabot Lodge Massachusetts (unofficially) Senate Republican Leader November 9, 1924 – March 3, 1929 Succeeded by James E. Watson Indiana Preceded by Charles G. Dawes Republican Party Vice Presidential candidate Succeeded by 1928, 1932 Frank Knox Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Curtis" Categories: Hoover administration cabinet members, 1860 births, 1936 deaths, Members of the United States House of Representatives from Kansas, Native American politicians, People from Topeka, Kansas, Prosecutors, Republican Party (United States) vice presidential nominees, United States presidential candidates, 1928, United States Senators from Kansas, Vice Presidents of the United States, College Republican National Committee chairs, Deaths from myocardial infarction This page was last modified on 22 May 2009, at 00:52 (UTC). All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. (See Copyrights for details.) Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a U.S. registered 501(c)(3) taxdeductible nonprofit charity. Privacy policy About Wikipedia Disclaimers 5