Harry Guyer Leslie (April 6, 1878December 10, 1937) was an American politician and

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

Republican Party Republican Party is a name used by many political parties around the world, though the term most commonly refers to the United States' Republican Party. Republican Party may also refer to: Africa *Republican Party (Liberia) * Republican Part ...

member, speaker of the state house and the 33rd governor of the state. His term as governor was marked by the start of the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

Early life

Family and education

Harry G. Leslie was born in

West Lafayette, Indiana West Lafayette () is a city in Wabash Township, Tippecanoe County, Indiana, United States, about northwest of the state capital of Indianapolis and southeast of Chicago. West Lafayette is directly across the Wabash River from its sister city, ...

, on April 6, 1878, to Daniel and Mary Burkhart Leslie. His father was a local politician and served a chief of police for the town. While still a boy, his family moved into the country outside of the town. He attended public schools and worked delivering groceries as a teenager. In 1898 he was elected town clerk, a year after he graduated. He soon enrolled in the recently constructed

Purdue University Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and money ...

where he was a member of the

Sigma Pi Sigma Pi () is a collegiate fraternity with 233 chapters at American universities. As of 2021, the fraternity had more than 5,000 undergraduate members and over 110,000 alumni. Sigma Pi headquarters are in Nashville, Tennessee. The fraternity ...

fraternity and

Acacia fraternity Acacia Fraternity, Inc. is a Fraternities and sororities in North America, social fraternity founded in 1904 at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan. The fraternity has 27 active chapters and 3 Colony ( ...

. While at Purdue, Leslie was captain of both the school's

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

and

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

teams and became one of the school's "immortal" players. As one of the school's star players, his team was on course to win the state championship in 1903. On October 31 he and his teammates took a train from Lafayette to Indianapolis to a match against Indiana University. As the train neared the 18th Street crossing in Indianapolis, it collided with another train, and Leslie's coach was shattered. One member of the team miraculously landed on his feet and was unharmed after being thrown out a window. The other eighteen boys, including Leslie, were pronounced dead at the scene and taken to the morgue. A few hours later at the morgue, as the morticians prepared to embalm his body, they discovered he still had a pulse and immediately rushed him to the hospital. Barely alive, he needed several operations and edged on death for several weeks. His recovery was slow, but he eventually regained his health, although he walked with the aid of a cane for the remainder of his life. He returned to school at the end of 1904 and after another year he graduated. His survival of the "Purdue Wreck" received significant attention across the state and he became a famous folk hero.Gugin, p. 282 In 1904, Leslie founded the Purdue College Republicans. For a number of years in the 1990s and early 2000s, the Purdue chapter held a "Leslie Day" celebration and fundraiser in his honor. Leslie graduated from the Indiana Law School in 1907. He opened a law office in Lafayette the year he graduated and took a position at a local high school coaching football. There he met Martha Morgan, whom he married on August 16, 1910, and by whom he had three sons, Jack, Richard, and Robert. Leslie became involved in local politics and was elected as a Republican Tippecanoe County treasurer in 1912. He purchased a farm in 1914, but disliking the labor, he sold the farm and bought stock in a local bank at which he served as president until 1924.

Political career

Speaker of the House

In 1923 Leslie, aided by his popularity, was elected to represent Tippecanoe and Warren County in the

Indiana House of Representatives The Indiana House of Representatives is the lower house of the Indiana General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Indiana. The House is composed of 100 members representing an equal number of constituent districts. House memb ...

. He became known for his down-to-earth style of speaking, and quickly made many allies in the body. He was reelected twice, and served through 1929. In 1925 he was elected Speaker of the House, and remained in that position until he left the body. His term as Speaker was dominated by the

Indiana Ku Klux Klan The Indiana Klan was a branch of the Ku Klux Klan, a secret society in the United States that organized in 1915 to promote ideas of racial superiority and affect public affairs on issues of Prohibition, education, political corruption, and morali ...

. Their leader was arrested and convicted of rape and murder in 1925, and over the next two years many other Klansman were exposed and forced out of office on a host of charges—including nearly half the members of the General Assembly. The Klan had supported him in his bid for the speakership primarily because they opposed his rival candidate. Leslie fought the Klan block on several issues, including committee assignments, legislation aimed at eliminating Catholic schools, and other issues.Gugin, p. 286 Leslie was pleased with the Grand Dragon's conviction and the collapse in Klan power. He personally believed he was innocent of the charges but thought he deserved prison because of his many unknown crimes. Among the causes Leslie championed was the creation of the Riley Children's Hospital in

Indianapolis Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion ...

.Gugin. p. 284

Governor

Leslie ran for the governor's nomination in the 1928 Republican primary. Among the five candidates, no one took a majority and the nomination went to the state convention. Leslie won on the fifth ballot and defeated the Democratic major of Indianapolis, Frank C. Dailey, and was elected with 51.3% if the vote. He was the state's fifth consecutive Republican governor. One of his first acts as governor was to support legislation to repeal the state's 1915 primary election laws, and return candidate selections to state conventions. The measure was approved in 1929, and much to the disappointment of the Klan. The first part of Leslie's term was a period of economic growth and he hosted several high-profile events, including the National Governors Association, a visit by President

Herbert Hoover Herbert Clark Hoover (August 10, 1874 – October 20, 1964) was an American politician who served as the 31st president of the United States from 1929 to 1933 and a member of the Republican Party, holding office during the onset of the Gr ...

Charles Lindbergh Charles Augustus Lindbergh (February 4, 1902 – August 26, 1974) was an American aviator, military officer, author, inventor, and activist. On May 20–21, 1927, Lindbergh made the first nonstop flight from New York City to Paris, a distance o ...

, and other famous guests. The Great Depression began in 1929, and was complicated by a drought in the state. He instituted some relief measures, but largely did nothing significant believing that the Depression would soon end. In 1932 he called a special session of the General Assembly to lower taxes. Among the relief legislation passed by the General Assembly was Indiana's first old-age pension act, but Leslie vetoed it. As the Depression continued, Leslie decided more needed to be done. He began hiring unemployed workers to work on state road projects. He also advocated that his program be duplicated by the federal government, and his plan was soon implemented as the

WPA WPA may refer to: Computing *Wi-Fi Protected Access, a wireless encryption standard *Windows Product Activation, in Microsoft software licensing * Wireless Public Alerting (Alert Ready), emergency alerts over LTE in Canada * Windows Performance An ...

. Among Leslie's other projects was continuing to grow the state park system.

Later years

Following his governorship Leslie became a founder, and eventually the president, of Standard Life Insurance Company in

. Leslie enjoyed humor and among his close friends were

George Ade George Ade (February 9, 1866 – May 16, 1944) was an American writer, syndicated newspaper columnist, and playwright who gained national notoriety at the turn of the 20th century with his "Stories of the Streets and of the Town", a column that ...

and

Will Rogers William Penn Adair Rogers (November 4, 1879 – August 15, 1935) was an American vaudeville performer, actor, and humorous social commentator. He was born as a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, in the Indian Territory (now part of Oklahoma ...

. While visiting Ade in Miami, Leslie died unexpectedly from

heart disease Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a class of diseases that involve the heart or blood vessels. CVD includes coronary artery diseases (CAD) such as angina and myocardial infarction (commonly known as a heart attack). Other CVDs include stroke, hea ...

on December 10, 1937. His remains were returned to Indianapolis where he lay in state before being moved to Lafayette for a funeral and burial.Gugin, p. 287

References

Notes Bibliography *

External links

Indiana Historical Bureau: Biography and portraitNational Governors Association"The 'Immortal' Boilermaker: Exploring the Forgotten History of Harry Guyer Leslie"Harry Leslie at FindaGrave
{{DEFAULTSORT:Leslie, Harry G. 1878 births 1937 deaths Republican Party governors of Indiana People from West Lafayette, Indiana Purdue University alumni Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law alumni Methodists from Indiana 20th-century American politicians