Lot 94
Harrison, (President) Benjamin 1833 - 1901 President Harrison writes of the personal travesties that plagued his campaign and cost him the re-election
Single page letter/card with Executive Mansion letterhead, 4.25" x 7", on cream toned mourning stationery paper outlined with a black edge. Signed "Benj Harrison", and dated "Jany 17, 1893". Expected center fold. Verso with slight handling marks and slight adhesion remnants and scuffing. Else near fine.
President Harrison, writes a highly revealing letter to his brother John, during the most difficult period of his life. While campaigning for his second term, just two weeks before the election, on October 25, 1892, President Harrison's wife Carolina died of tuberculosis, an illness she had been critically battling since earlier in 1892. Her death threw him into a state of grief and chaos, he was unable to continue campaigning and lost the election. Then shortly after, while a lame duck president, his granddaughter Marthena contracted the measles, a deadly disease of the time and one without a vaccine, thus forcing the White House into quarantine. President Harrison and his brother were quite close and the warm concerning letter reflects the nature of their relationship. The letter as stated in full:
"Dear John
Some letters arriving here for you had led me to expect you but I was greatly surprised to hear that you were sick in Phila. Mary's account of you makes me a little uneasy let you may be seriously sick. I hope you will keep me advised and I will go there if you need me. We are a good deal brokern up in our housekeeping - one part of our house is shut off from the rest - but very thankful that Marthena is well again & that the other children have thus far escaped We will be glad to see you. / Your affectionate brother / Benj Harrison"
President Harrison referred to "Mary" in his letter, who was his daughter and at the time the acting First Lady since the death of his wife. A highly personal and very emotionally revealing letter from President Harrison describing the wrath that illness took on his family. Although the demise of his wife was considered to have had a large impact on his campaign, he also was looking at an overall shift in the nations atmosphere. The hallmarks of his administration included unprecedented economic legislation, including the McKinley Tariff which imposed unprecedented trade rates. Due in large part to surplus revenues from the tariffs, federal spending reached one billion dollars for the first time during his term. The Democrats renominated former President Cleveland, making the 1892 election a rematch of the one four years earlier. The tariff revisions, of the past four years (essentially a tax on the consumer), had made imported goods so expensive that now many voters shifted to the reform position-- a position which elicits an interesting correlation between the 'then' policies of the Harrison administration, and the incumbent policies of the new future administration of today.
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