Joseph B. Foraker

Joseph B. Foraker
Foraker c. 1903
United States Senator from Ohio
In office March 4, 1897 – March 3, 1909
Preceded by	Calvin S. Brice
Succeeded by	Theodore E. Burton
37th Governor of Ohio
In office January 11, 1886 – January 13, 1890
Lieutenant	Robert P. Kennedy (1886–1887) Silas A. Conrad (1887–1888) William C. Lyon (1888–1890)
Preceded by	George Hoadly
Succeeded by	James E. Campbell
Personal details
Born	Joseph Benson Foraker (1846-07-05)July 5, 1846 Highland County, Ohio, U.S.
Died	May 10, 1917(1917-05-10) (aged 70) Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.
Resting place	Spring Grove Cemetery
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Julia A. P. Bundy ​ (m. 1870)​
Children	5[1]
Alma mater	Ohio Wesleyan University Cornell University (BA)
Profession	Politician lawyer
Signature
Nickname	Fire Alarm Joe[2]
Military service
Allegiance	United States
Branch/service	U.S. Army (Union Army)
Years of service	July 14, 1862 – June 13, 1865[3]
Rank	Captain
Unit	89th Ohio Infantry

Joseph Benson Foraker (July 5, 1846 – May 10, 1917) was an American politician of the Republican Party who served as the 37th governor of Ohio from 1886 to 1890 and as a United States senator from Ohio from 1897 until 1909.

Foraker was born in rural Ohio; he enlisted at the age of 16 in the Union Army during the American Civil War. He fought for almost three years, attaining the rank of captain. After the war, he was a member of Cornell University's first graduating class, and became a lawyer. He was elected a judge in 1879 and became well known as a political speaker. He was defeated in his first run for the governorship in 1883, but was elected two years later. As Ohio governor, he built an alliance with the Republican Party "boss" Mark Hanna, but fell out with him in 1888. Foraker was defeated for reelection in 1889, but was elected U.S. senator by the Ohio General Assembly in 1896, after an unsuccessful bid for that office in 1892.

In the Senate, he supported the Spanish–American War and the annexation of the Philippines and Puerto Rico; the Foraker Act gave Puerto Rico its first civil government under American rule. He came to differ with President Theodore Roosevelt over railroad regulation and political patronage. Their largest disagreement was over the Brownsville Affair, in which black soldiers were accused of terrorizing a Texas town, and Roosevelt dismissed the entire battalion. Foraker zealously opposed Roosevelt's actions as unfair, and fought for the soldiers' reinstatement. The two men's disagreement broke out into an angry confrontation at the 1907 Gridiron Dinner, after which Roosevelt worked to defeat Foraker's re-election bid. Foraker died in 1917; in 1972, the Army reversed the dismissals and cleared the soldiers. Mount Foraker, the second highest peak in the Alaska Range, and the third highest peak in the United States, was named for him in 1899.