John J. Blaine
John James Blaine ( born May 4, 1875 in Wingville, Grant County, Wisconsin, † April 16, 1934 in Boscobel, Wisconsin ) was an American politician and from 1921 to 1927 the 24th Governor of Wisconsin. This state he represented in the U.S. Senate.
Early years and political rise
John Blaine attended the local schools of his home. He then studied at Valparaiso University in Indiana law. After his made in 1896 admitted to the bar he practiced first in Montfort. In 1897 he moved to Boscobel, where he continued his law practice.
Blaine's political rise also began in Boscobel. He was 1901-1907 with a break in 1905, mayor. Between 1901 and 1904 he was also County Council. John Blaine was a member of the Republican Party and was their representative 1909-1913 in the Senate of Wisconsin. There he became known in connection with an investigation against Senator Isaac Stephenson all across the state. The investigation covered the campaign financing of the senator. In 1914, he ran unsuccessfully as an independent candidate for the office of governor. Between 1919 and 1921 he was Attorney General of Wisconsin. In 1920 he was elected as a Republican candidate for the new governor, taking just under 53 percent of the vote well ahead of the Democrats Robert McCoy prevailed ( 35.8 percent).
Governor and Senator
John Blaine, took office on January 3, 1921 and could exercise after two ungefährdeter re-election until January 3, 1927. During his tenure, he advocated for the farm workers and cut government spending. Although he was temporarily disabled by the opposition in the state legislature, he was able to perform many progressive reforms. This created a separate Ministry of Commerce ( State Department of Markets ). The equality of women was encouraged, the income tax law and inheritance taxes have been fairer. The powers of the municipalities were expanded and the ways to remove elected persons from office for misconduct have been extended and simplified.
After the end of his governorship Blaine sat between March 4, 1927 March 3, 1933 as U.S. Senator in Congress. As a staunch opponent of Prohibition Blaine was one of the leaders who ran the repeal of the 18th Amendment to the Constitution of 1919 in the Senate. In 1933 this addition was actually canceled. In practice, the Prohibition Act had not been successful. In the Senate, Blaine was also against excessive government spending and against the U.S. accession to the League of Nations. Although he was a Republican, he supported 1928 Democratic presidential candidate Al Smith and Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932.
After leaving Congress, he was first a lawyer again in Boscobel. Then he was appointed in 1933 by President Roosevelt as one of the head of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, an organization which should help after the global economic crisis, to bring the economy and finances back in order. But John Blaine could no longer work long this office, since he died in April 1934. He was married to Anna McSpaden, with whom he had a child.