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Senate Years of Service: 1897-1909 Party: Republican
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FORAKER, Joseph Benson, a Senator from Ohio; born near Rainsboro, Highland County, Ohio, on July 5,
1846; pursued preparatory studies; during the Civil War served in the Eighty-ninth Regiment, Ohio
Volunteer Infantry, attaining the rank of brevet captain; graduated from Cornell University, Ithaca,
N.Y., in 1869; studied law; admitted to the bar in 1869 and commenced practice in Cincinnati, Ohio;
judge of the superior court of Cincinnati 1879-1882; unsuccessful Republican candidate for Governor
of Ohio in 1883; Governor of Ohio 1885-1889; unsuccessful candidate for Governor in 1889;
elected in 1896 as a Republican to the United States Senate; reelected in 1902 and served from
March 4, 1897, to March 3, 1909; unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1908; chairman,
Committee to Examine Branches of the Civil Service (Fifty-fifth Congress), Committee on Pacific
Islands and Puerto Rico (Fifty-sixth through Sixtieth Congresses); resumed the practice of law in
Cincinnati, Ohio, where he died May 10, 1917; interment in Spring Grove Cemetery.
BibliographyAmerican National Biography; Dictionary of American Biography; Foraker, Joseph B. Notes of a Busy Life. 2 vols. Cincinnati: Stewart and Kidd Co., 1916; Walters, Everett. Joseph Benson
Foraker: An Uncompromising Republican. Columbus: Ohio History Press, 1948.
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