biography
| name: |
Pendleton, George Hunt
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known as Gentleman George
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| sex:
| male
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| lived:
| (1825–89)
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| biography:
| US representative and senator, born in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA. He travelled abroad in Europe and the Middle East (1844) before returning to the USA, where he married Alice Key, the daughter of Francis Scott Key. A Democrat, he served in the Ohio state senate (1853–6) before going to Congress (1857–65). With Stephen Douglas he led the peace wing of the Democratic Party, favouring compromise and states' rights. Although he supported the war, he opposed Lincoln's wartime powers, such as suspension of habeas corpus. He espoused greenback payment instead of coins for government bonds, causing Eastern Democrats to block his presidential nomination in 1868. President of Kentucky Central Railroad (1869–89), he served Ohio again in the US Senate (1879–85) where he supported a bill that created the civil service commission and competitive examinations, despite the protest of the victorious Democratic congressman. He was President Grover Cleveland's ambassador to Germany (1885–9). |
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