biography
| name: |
Tillman, Benjamin Ryan
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known as Pitchfork Ben
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| sex:
| male
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| lived:
| (1847–1918)
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| biography:
| Farmer, US senator, and governor, born in Ropers, South Carolina, USA. Himself a farmer, he led a Farmers Association that promoted reforms in agricultural and industrial education. Once elected governor of South Carolina (Democrat, 1890–4), he took over South Carolina politics and government. Although a populist-progressive in some matters, such as taxation and education, he also framed an article in a new state constitution that practically denied African-Americans the right to vote. Campaigning for the US Senate in 1894, he shouted, ‘Send me to Washington and I'll stick my pitchfork into [President Cleveland's] old ribs!’ and gained the inimitable nickname by which he would thereafter be known. In the Senate (Democrat, South Carolina, 1895–1918), he became an even more outrageous figure, opposing liberal Republicans such as President Theodore Roosevelt, yet advocating increased naval spending and the Hepburn Rate Bill. He continued to resist extending any civil rights to African-Americans - even justifying lynching and calling for repeal of the 15th amendment. Meanwhile, he continued to control affairs in South Carolina, and got his nephew acquitted (1903) of assassination of a political foe. After 1902 he became more irascible and quarrelsome than ever, but a paralytic stroke in 1909 limited his ability to harangue people. He stayed in the Senate to the end. |
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