Thomas E. Watson
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Thomas Edward Watson (September 5, 1856 – September 26, 1922) 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 Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...
. He was the nominee for vice president with Democrat William Jennings Bryan in
1896 Events January–March * January 2 – The Jameson Raid comes to an end, as Jameson surrenders to the Boers. * January 4 – Utah is admitted as the 45th U.S. state. * January 5 – An Austrian newspaper reports that Wil ...
on the Populist ticket. Elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1890, Watson pushed through legislation mandating Rural Free Delivery, called the "biggest and most expensive endeavor" ever instituted by the
U.S. Postal Service The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or Postal Service, is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for providing postal service in the U. ...
. Politically, he was a leader on the left in the 1890s, calling on poor whites and poor blacks to unite against the elites. After 1900, however, he shifted to nativist attacks on blacks and Catholics (and after 1914 on Jews). He was elected to the United States Senate two years before his death, dying in office.


Biography


Early career

Thomas E. Watson was born September 5, 1856, in
Thomson Thomson may refer to: Names * Thomson (surname), a list of people with this name and a description of its origin * Thomson baronets, four baronetcies created for persons with the surname Thomson Businesses and organizations * SGS-Thomson Mic ...
, the county seat of McDuffie County, Georgia. He was of entirely English descent. After attending Mercer University (he did not graduate; family finances forced withdrawal after two years), he became a school teacher. At Mercer University, Watson was part of the Georgia Psi chapter of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity. Watson later studied law and was admitted to the Georgia
bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar * Chocolate bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud * Bar (u ...
in 1875. He joined the
Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...
and in 1882 was elected to the Georgia Legislature. As a state legislator, Watson struggled unsuccessfully to curb the abuses of the powerful railroad corporations. A bill subjecting railroads to county property taxes was voted down after U.S. Senator
Joseph E. Brown Joseph Emerson Brown (April 15, 1821 – November 30, 1894), often referred to as Joe Brown, was an American attorney and politician, serving as the 42nd Governor of Georgia from 1857 to 1865, the only governor to serve four terms. He also se ...
offered to provide the legislators with round-trip train fares to the Louisville Exposition of 1883. In disgust, Watson resigned his seat and returned to the practice of law before his term expired. He was a presidential elector for the Democratic ticket of Grover Cleveland and
Allen G. Thurman Allen Granberry Thurman (November 13, 1813 – December 12, 1895), sometimes erroneously spelled Allan Granberry Thurman, was a United States Democratic Party, Democratic United States House of Representatives, U.S. representative, Supre ...
in the 1888 election.


US Representative

Watson began to support the Farmers' Alliance platform and was elected to the United States House of Representatives as an Alliance Democrat in 1890. He served in the House from 1891 until March 1893. In Congress, Watson was the only
Southern Southern may refer to: Businesses * China Southern Airlines, airline based in Guangzhou, China * Southern Airways, defunct US airline * Southern Air, air cargo transportation company based in Norwalk, Connecticut, US * Southern Airways Express, M ...
Alliance Democrat to abandon the Democratic caucus, instead attending the first People's Party congressional caucus. At that meeting, he was nominated for
Speaker of the House The speaker of a deliberative assembly, especially a legislative body, is its presiding officer, or the chair. The title was first used in 1377 in England. Usage The title was first recorded in 1377 to describe the role of Thomas de Hungerf ...
by the eight Western Populist Representatives. Watson was instrumental in the founding of the Georgia Populist Party in early 1892. The People's Party advocated the public ownership of the railroads, steamship lines, and telephone and telegraph systems. It also supported the free and unlimited coinage of silver, the abolition of national banks, a system of graduated income tax and the direct election of
United States Senators The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and power ...
. As a Populist, Watson tried to unite the agrarians across class lines, overcoming racial divides. He also supported the right of black men to vote. The failures of the Populists' attempt to make political progress through fusion tickets with the Democrats in 1896 and 1898 deeply affected Watson.


Rural Free Delivery

Watson, though a member of a minority faction in Congress, was nonetheless effective in passing landmark legislation. The most significant was a law to require the Post Office to deliver mail to remote farm families. Rural Free Delivery (RFD), legislation that Watson pushed through Congress in 1893, eliminated the need for individuals living in more remote homesteads to pick up mail, sometimes at distant post offices, or to pay private carriers for delivery. The legislation was opposed by private carriers, and by many small-town merchants who worried the service would reduce farm families' weekly visits to town to obtain goods and merchandise, or that mail order merchants selling through catalogs, such as Sears, Roebuck and Company might present significant competition. RFD became an official service in 1896. That year, 82 rural routes were put into operation. A massive undertaking, nationwide RFD service took several years to implement, and remains the "biggest and most expensive endeavor" ever instituted by the U.S. Postal Service.


Political defeat, law, and publishing

Watson campaigned for re-election but was defeated, leaving office in March 1893. In this period, regular Democrats worked to reduce the voting power of blacks and poor whites to prevent such coalitions as the Populists, or alliances with Republicans. Democrats controlled the state legislature: they passed laws to disfranchise blacks and were successful in pushing them off the voter rolls by such requirements as cumulative poll taxes (1877), literacy tests, and residency requirements. In 1908, Georgia also instituted
white primaries White primaries were primary elections held in the Southern United States in which only white voters were permitted to participate. Statewide white primaries were established by the state Democratic Party units or by state legislatures in South Ca ...
, another way of excluding blacks in what had become a one-party state, where in 1900 African Americans made up 46.7% of the population.Historical Census Browser, 1900 Federal Census, University of Virginia
, accessed 15 Mar 2008
After being defeated, Watson returned to work as a lawyer in Thomson, Georgia. He also served as editor and business manager of the ''People's Party Paper,'' published in Atlanta. The masthead of Watson's newspaper in 1894 declared that it "is now and will ever be a fearless advocate of the Jeffersonian Theory of Popular Government, and will oppose to the bitter end the Hamiltonian Doctrines of Class Rule, Moneyed Aristocracy, National Banks, High Tariffs, Standing Armies and formidable Navies — all of which go together as a system of oppressing the people."


Vice Presidential candidacy

In the 1896 presidential election the leaders of the Populist Party entered into talks with William Jennings Bryan, the proposed Democratic Party candidate. They were led to believe that Watson would become Bryan's running mate. After the Populist 1896 convention nominated Bryan, the latter announced that
Arthur Sewall Arthur Sewall (November 25, 1835 – September 5, 1900) was an American shipbuilder from Maine, best known as the Democratic nominee for Vice President of the United States in 1896, running mate to William Jennings Bryan. From 1888 to 1896 he se ...
, a more conservative banker from Maine, would be his vice presidential choice on the Democratic ticket. This created a split in the Populist Party. Some refused to support Bryan, whereas others, such as Mary Lease, reluctantly campaigned for him. Watson's name remained on the ballot as Bryan's vice presidential nominee on the Populist Party ticket, while Sewall was listed as Bryan's Democratic Party vice presidential nominee. Watson received 217,000 votes for vice president, less than a quarter of the number of votes received by the
1892 Events January–March * January 1 – Ellis Island begins accommodating immigrants to the United States. * February 1 - The historic Enterprise Bar and Grill was established in Rico, Colorado. * February 27 – Rudolf Diesel applies for ...
Populist ticket. However, Watson received more votes than any national Populist candidate from this time on. Bryan's defeat damaged the Populist Party. While Populists held some offices in Western states for several years, the party ceased to be a factor in Georgia politics.


Shifting racial views

Watson had long supported black enfranchisement in Georgia and throughout the South, as a basic tenet of his populist philosophy. He condemned
lynching Lynching is an extrajudicial killing by a group. It is most often used to characterize informal public executions by a mob in order to punish an alleged transgressor, punish a convicted transgressor, or intimidate people. It can also be an ex ...
and tried to protect black voters from lynch mobs. However, after 1900 his interpretation of populism shifted. He no longer viewed the populist movement as being racially inclusive. By 1908, Watson identified as a white supremacist and ran as such during his presidential bid. He used his highly influential magazine and newspaper to launch vehement diatribes against blacks.


Presidential candidacies

Watson was nominated as the Populist Party's candidate in
1904 Events January * January 7 – The distress signal ''CQD'' is established, only to be replaced 2 years later by ''SOS''. * January 8 – The Blackstone Library is dedicated, marking the beginning of the Chicago Public Library system. * ...
and received 117,183 votes. This was double the Populist's showing in 1900, but less than one-eighth of the party's support from just 12 years earlier. The Populist Party's fortunes declined in the
1908 Events January * January 1 – The British ''Nimrod'' Expedition led by Ernest Shackleton sets sail from New Zealand on the ''Nimrod'' for Antarctica. * January 3 – A total solar eclipse is visible in the Pacific Ocean, and is the 46 ...
presidential campaign, and Watson as the party's standard bearer, with judge Samuel W. Williams as his running mate, attracted just 29,100 votes. While Watson never received more than 1% of the nationwide vote, he had respectable showings in selected Western and Southern states. In the 1904 and 1908 campaigns, Watson received 18% and 12% respectively in his home state of Georgia. After the 1908 campaign, the Populist Party was dissolved. Watson denounced socialism, which had drawn many converts from the ashes of Populism. Retaining his rural Populist and nativist ideology, and responding to the view that eastern urban America was dominated by Catholics, Watson also became a vigorous anti-Catholic crusader.


Later years

Through his publications ''Watson's Magazine'' and ''The Jeffersonian'', Watson continued to have great influence on public opinion, especially in his native Georgia. In 1913 Watson played a prominent role through his newspaper in inflaming public opinion in the case of Leo Frank, a
Jewish American American Jews or Jewish Americans are American citizens who are Jewish, whether by religion, ethnicity, culture, or nationality. Today the Jewish community in the United States consists primarily of Ashkenazi Jews, who descend from diaspora Je ...
factory manager who was accused of the murder of
Mary Phagan Leo Max Frank (April 17, 1884August 17, 1915) was an American factory superintendent who was convicted in 1913 of the murder of a 13-year-old employee, Mary Phagan, in Atlanta, Georgia. His trial, conviction, and appeals attracted national at ...
, a 13-year-old factory worker.Albert S. Lindemann. "The Jew Accused" New York: Cambridge University Press, 1991, p.260-264


Anti-Semitic views

When Frank was arrested in 1913, his wealthy family asked Watson to take on his legal defense, offering a substantial fee. Watson, who opposed the death penalty, "enjoyed a formidable reputation" as a defense attorney in capital cases. But he declined the offer. Historian Albert Lindemann wrote that "Frank's friends and family would not have approached Watson to defend Frank if Watson had been known to be anti-Semitic." At that point in Watson's life, "he had repeatedly expressed friendly words for Jews in his various publications, and Jewish merchants, even if hostile to atson's Populist political views had regularly bought advertising space in those publications". Watson's taste for sensationalism was fully expressed in his publications' coverage of Frank's trial. Yet it "rarely and only in inconsequential ways touched upon Jews". After Frank's conviction, and for the next year, during the appeals process, Watson "scrupulously refrained from comment about the case". Then in March 1914, an editorial in the '' Atlanta Journal'' demanded a new trial for Frank. The ''Journal'' was widely regarded as the organ of Watson's bitter political rival U.S. Senator
Hoke Smith Michael Hoke Smith (September 2, 1855November 27, 1931) was an American attorney, politician, and newspaper owner who served as United States secretary of the interior (1893–1896), 58th governor of Georgia (1907–1909, 1911), and a United S ...
, who was up for re-election. Watson's hatred of Smith was "a blinding obsession".Woodward, C. Vann. ''Tom Watson, Agrarian Rebel'' (1938) pp 358, 450 He thought that the ''Journal'' editorial showed that Smith was receiving "Jewish money" to champion Frank's cause, so Watson determined to disgrace Smith. For many years he had attacked the Catholic Church; now he began a campaign against rich Jews and Northerners who were, in his view, trying to free a murderer. In this effort he pulled out all the stops, spewing "graphically vicious remarks about Jews". Lindemann suggests two reasons for Watson's attacks: the feud with Senator Smith, and Watson's long-held Populist views about the power of the rich and their ability to escape penalty for things which brought harsh punishment for the poor. In keeping with this view, Watson wrote "Frank belongs to the Jewish aristocracy, and it was determined by the rich Jews that no aristocrat of their race should die for the death of a working-class Gentile." In response to the condemnation of Georgia in the national press after the Leo Frank lynching, Watson responded in ''The Jeffersonian'' intimating that "another Ku Klux Klan may be organized to restore home rule." However, Watson's biographer found no evidence that Watson had any connection to the
second KKK The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to the KKK or the Klan, is an American white supremacist, right-wing terrorist, and hate group whose primary targets are African Americans, Jews, Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and ...
that was later formed.


World War I

With the outbreak of World War I in 1914, Watson was sympathetic to the insurgent
Socialist Party of America The Socialist Party of America (SPA) was a socialist political party in the United States formed in 1901 by a merger between the three-year-old Social Democratic Party of America and disaffected elements of the Socialist Labor Party of Ameri ...
, and he opposed American entry into the war. By opposing the war, Watson made himself vulnerable to his political opponents, most of whom supported the war. Watson mustered political resistance with headlines asking, "Do You Want Your Son Killed in Europe in A Quarrel You Have Nothing to Do With?". As a result of his Socialist association, his continued criticism of the war after the American entry in 1917, and his class-based arguments against the Selective Service Act of 1917, the U.S. Post Office refused to deliver his publications, bringing them to an end.


Election to U.S. Senate and death

In 1918, Watson made a late bid for Congress but lost to Carl Vinson, who had been a strong supporter of American involvement in World War I. Watson rejoined the Democratic Party, and in 1920 was elected to the U.S. Senate, defeating his bitter rival
Hoke Smith Michael Hoke Smith (September 2, 1855November 27, 1931) was an American attorney, politician, and newspaper owner who served as United States secretary of the interior (1893–1896), 58th governor of Georgia (1907–1909, 1911), and a United S ...
. Watson died of a
cerebral hemorrhage Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), also known as cerebral bleed, intraparenchymal bleed, and hemorrhagic stroke, or haemorrhagic stroke, is a sudden bleeding into the tissues of the brain, into its ventricles, or into both. It is one kind of bleed ...
in 1922 at age 66.
Rebecca L. Felton Rebecca Ann Felton (née Latimer; June 10, 1835 – January 24, 1930) was an American writer, lecturer, feminist, suffragist, reformer, slave owner, and politician who was the first woman to serve in the United States Senate, although she ser ...
was appointed to succeed him and served (for 24 hours) as the first female U.S. Senator.


Legacy

Named for Watson is the "Thomas E. Watson Highway", a portion of
U.S. Route 23 } U.S. Route 23 or U.S. Highway 23 (US 23) is a major north–south U.S. Highway between Jacksonville, Florida, and Mackinaw City, Michigan. It is an original 1926 route which originally reached only as far south as Portsmouth, Ohio, and has since ...
in Habersham County, Georgia. Watson was honored with a bronze
statue A statue is a free-standing sculpture in which the realistic, full-length figures of persons or animals are carved or cast in a durable material such as wood, metal or stone. Typical statues are life-sized or close to life-size; a sculpture t ...
on the lawn of the
Georgia State Capitol The Georgia State Capitol is an architecturally and historically significant building in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. The building has been named a National Historic Landmark which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. As t ...
in Atlanta over the legend "A champion of right who never faltered in the cause." In October 2013, Governor Nathan Deal signed an order for the relocation of the statue to Park Plaza, which is across the street from the Capitol. He said that the relocation was part of a renovation. On November 29, 2013, Watson's statue was removed from the steps of the state Capitol, and relocated across the street at Park Plaza.Kristina Torres, "Tom Watson's statue removed from Georgia's Capitol steps." ''Atlanta Journal-Constitution'', November 29, 2013, https://www.ajc.com/news/tom-watson-statue-removed-from-georgia-capitol-steps/lXsGyKnHtKqWHvabgEzNVP/


Footnotes


Works

*
''The Story of France Vol. I''''The Story of France Vol. II''
By Thomas E. Watson (1899)
''The Life and Times of Thomas Jefferson''
By Thomas E. Watson (1900) * * * ''The Life and Speeches of Thos. E. Watson'' (1908)
''Socialists and Socialism''
By Thomas Edward Watson (1910) *
''The Life and Times of Andrew Jackson''
By Thomas E. Watson (1912)
''Political and Economic Handbook''
By Thomas Edward Watson (1916)


Further reading

* *Cashin, E.L. ''Thomas E. Watson and the Catholic Laymen's Association of Georgia.'' PhD dissertation. Fordham University; 1962. * Albert S. Lindemann. "The Jew Accused" New York: Cambridge University Press, 1991 * Fred D. Ragan, "Obscenity or Politics? Tom Watson, Anti-Catholicism, and the Department of Justice," ''Georgia Historical Quarterly,'' vol. 70, no. 1 (Spring 1986), pp. 17–46
In JSTOR
*
C. Vann Woodward Comer Vann Woodward (November 13, 1908 – December 17, 1999) was an American historian who focused primarily on the American South and race relations. He was long a supporter of the approach of Charles A. Beard, stressing the influence of un ...

''Tom Watson: Agrarian Rebel.''
New York: Macmillan, 1938. —Reissued 1973. *


See also

*
List of United States Congress members who died in office (1900–49) There are several lists of United States Congress members who died in office. These include: * List of United States Congress members who died in office (1790–1899) *List of United States Congress members who died in office (1900–1949) *List o ...


External links


Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library
Emory University
Thomas E. Watson collection, 1906-1923
*
The Thomas E. Watson Papers Digital Collection
from the Southern Historical Collection at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Inventory of the Thomas E. Watson Papers, 1863-1996
in the Southern Historical Collection at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. *
Tom Watson Biography at Vassar




*
''Watson's Magazine''
full issues at Internet Archive
Thomas E. Watson, late a representative from Georgia, Memorial addresses delivered in the House of Representatives frontispiece 1924
, - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Watson, Thomas E. 1856 births 1922 deaths 19th-century American newspaper publishers (people) 20th-century American politicians 1888 United States presidential electors 1896 United States vice-presidential candidates American people of English descent Candidates in the 1904 United States presidential election Candidates in the 1908 United States presidential election American newspaper editors American newspaper publishers (people) American anti–World War I activists Left-wing populism in the United States Democratic Party United States senators from Georgia (U.S. state) Georgia (U.S. state) lawyers Georgia (U.S. state) Populists Lynching in the United States Democratic Party members of the Georgia House of Representatives Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Georgia (U.S. state) People from Thomson, Georgia People's Party members of the United States House of Representatives Progressive Era in the United States American white supremacists 19th-century American lawyers