M. Hoke Smith

Michael Hoke Smith ( born September 2, 1855 in Newton, Catawba County, North Carolina, † November 27, 1931 ) was an American politician, Minister of the Interior of the United States from 1893 to 1896 and twice governor of Georgia.

Youth and political rise

The young Hoke (his nickname) was mainly brought up by his father, a university professor at the University of North Carolina. Smith was 1873, the entrance examination of the Bar and was admitted to the bar. In the same year he opened in Atlanta, Georgia, a law firm. He specialized in actions for damages for injured railroad workers and passengers. Soon, his law firm earned a good reputation all over Georgia. In 1882 he took his brother Burton at the firm. The following ten years, the two brothers worked together successfully. Since the 1880s, Hoke was on the school board of Atlanta, whose president he should be 1896-1907. In 1887 he acquired the Atlanta Journal and thus was also a newspaper publisher. During the presidential campaign, 1892 Smith used his newspaper to support the Democratic candidate Grover Cleveland. After his election victory, Smith was rewarded with the post of U.S. Minister of the Interior.

Minister of the Interior under President Cleveland

Between March 6, 1893 and September 1, 1896, Smith was a Minister of the Interior in the cabinet of President Cleveland. The focus of his work was the review of the land grants to the railroads, a reform of the Bureau of Indian Affairs and improving economic development in the south of the country. In September 1896, he resigned from his post because he had fallen into a dilemma with regard to the next election: While he was behind the Democratic candidate William Jennings Bryan, but not endorsed the electoral program of the party.

From the Home Secretary to the Governor of Georgia

In the presidential election, Smith sat for Bryan and Thomas E. Watson, who was the candidate for the vice-presidency in Georgia, a. The general mood in the country was a majority against the duo Bryan / Watson. Consequently, these lost the elections and the Republican William McKinley was elected president. Smith returned to his law firm in Atlanta. Politically, he was still allied with Thomas Watson, in 1907 decisively supported him in the election for governor of Georgia. However, he had to buy this support at the expense of the black population by to Watson to be complacent, the voting rights of blacks diskredidierte. As Governor, he advocated a reform of the railways and fell out while with the former railway officer Joseph M. Brown, whom he dismissed from his office. In the meantime, Smith had the support of Watson lost, which led to his defeat against its competitors Brown at the next election.

The feud with Joseph Brown

In the following years, Brown and Smith conducted a feud. From 1909 to 1911 Brown was governor. In 1910, Smith was able to prevail in the internal party primaries and replace Brown. Shortly after taking office in 1911, however, Smith was elected to succeed the late Alexander S. Clay is a U.S. Senator. The feud with Brown but he continued on. Brown was elected again as governor in 1912-13. In 1914 he ran against Smith at his seat in the Senate. After his defeat Brown then gave up and never competed again for public office.

End of life and death

Smith remained until 1921 as a Senator in the U.S. Congress. After being voted out again he practiced as a lawyer in both Washington and Atlanta. He died in 1931 as the last member of Cleveland's Cabinet.

Smith was in 1883 with Marion Cobb, the daughter of a Confederate General's married. The couple had five children. After the death of his wife in 1919 he married in 1924 Mazie Crawford.