Claude Kitchin (March 24, 1869 – May 31, 1923) was an American politician who served as a member of the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

from the

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from 1901 until his death in 1923. A lifelong member of the Democratic Party, he was elected

House majority leader Party leaders of the United States House of Representatives, also known as floor leaders, are congresspeople who coordinate legislative initiatives and serve as the chief spokespersons for their parties on the House floor. These leaders are ele ...

for the 64th and 65th congresses (1915–1919), and minority leader during the 67th Congress (1921–1923). As

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shifted the federal government's focus to foreign policy, Kitchin became increasingly alarmed by the prospect of U.S. becoming a combatant. In April 1917, when

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asked Congress to

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, Kitchin delivered an impassioned speech on the House floor and then voted no.

Early life

He was born in 1869, near Scotland Neck, in

Halifax County, North Carolina Halifax County is a county located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2020 census, the population was 48,622. Its county seat is Halifax. Halifax County is part of the Roanoke Rapids, NC Micropolitan Statistical Area, which is a ...

in 1869, the third of 11 children born to William H. and Maria Arrington Kitchin. Kitchen attended

Wake Forest College Wake Forest University is a private research university in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Founded in 1834, the university received its name from its original location in Wake Forest, north of Raleigh, North Carolina. The Reynolda Campus, the u ...

, graduating in 1888. Afterward, he read law and served as assistant registrar of deeds in the county. He was admitted to the bar in September 1890. During the 1890s, Kitchin helped mobilize the Red Shirts, armed groups of militant white supremacists who rode through rural communities dissuading blacks from voting. These groups functioned as an arm of state's Democratic Party, and it was his effectiveness during the run-up to the 1896 and 1898 elections that gave rise to his congressional career. In 1898, Kitchin helped lead the Wilmington insurrection of 1898, a violent coup d'état by a group of white supremacists. At a November 1 rally in

Laurinburg Laurinburg is a city in and the county seat of Scotland County, North Carolina, Scotland County, North Carolina, United States. Located in southern North Carolina near the South Carolina border, Laurinburg is southwest of Fayetteville, North Car ...

, Kitchin was cheered by a crowd of several thousand whites when he proclaimed, "We cannot outnumber the negroes...And so we must either outcheat, outcount or outshoot them." He announced that any black constable attempting to arrest a white man would be lynched. On the day after the election, white citizens of Wilmington expelled opposition black and white political leaders from the city, destroyed the property and businesses of black citizens built up since the Civil War, including the only black newspaper in the city, and killed an estimated 60 to more than 300 people.

Congressional career

Kitchin was first elected to Congress from in

1900 As of March 1 ( O.S. February 17), when the Julian calendar acknowledged a leap day and the Gregorian calendar did not, the Julian calendar fell one day further behind, bringing the difference to 13 days until February 28 ( O.S. February 15), 2 ...

. He was re-elected 11 times, serving until his death. In Congress, he served on the

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, chairing the Committee from 1915 to 1919. From 1915 to 1919 he was House

majority leader In U.S. politics (as well as in some other countries utilizing the presidential system), the majority floor leader is a partisan position in a legislative body.

; from this position he opposed the Wilson administration's "Preparedness" crusade, seeking unsuccessfully to hold down the growth in size of the army and navy. He was among the few members of Congress who voted against the U.S. declaration of war on

in April 1917 (approved 373–50 by the House and 82–6 by the Senate). Afterward, he fully supported the war effort, though he remained a critic of some of the administration's war policies, especially regarding taxation policies. He championed an "excess profits" tax that was steeply progressive over a policy of selling

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that shifted the financial burden of the war onto future generations.

Family and death

He married Kate Mills in 1890; they had ten children. His brother

William Walton Kitchin William Walton Kitchin (October 9, 1866 – November 9, 1924) was an American attorney and the 52nd governor of the U.S. state of North Carolina from 1909 to 1913. Early life and family W.W. Kitchin was the son of William H. Kitchin and Maria ...

was governor of North Carolina from 1909 to 1913. After giving an impassioned speech in March 1920 he suffered a severe stroke, from which he never fully recovered. During the winter of 1922–23 he contracted influenza and pneumonia, and, died from complications on May 31, 1923. He is buried in Scotland Neck, North Carolina at the Trinity Episcopal Cemetery.

References

Sources

* Arnett, Alex Mathews. ''Claude Kitchin Versus the Patrioteers''. ''North Carolina Historical Review'' 14.1 (1937): 20-30
online
* Arnett. Alex M. ''Claude Kitchin and the Wilson War Policies'' (1937). xii + 341 pp. * Herring, George C. ''James Hay and the Preparedness Controversy, 1915-1916''. ''Journal of Southern History'' 30.4 (1964): 383-404. * Watson, Richard L. Jr. (1988).
Kitchin, Claude 24 Mar. 1869–31 May 1923
'. ''Dictionary of North Carolina Biography''. Chapel Hill, North Carolina: University of North Carolina Press. Via ''ncpedia.org''. *

External links