Hughes, Charles Evans (1862 – 1948).
1906 – 1910 Governor of New York
1910 – 1916 Associate Justice of the Supreme Court
1916 – 1920 President of the United States
Elected by a slim margin in 1916, defeating the incumbent President (Thomas) Woodrow Wilson, President Charles Evans Hughes presided over a nation torn between its isolationist past and internationalist future. The last minute endorsement from Governor Hiram Johnson of California provided the Republican nominee, Charles Evans Hughes, with the 3,800 votes needed to swing the entire election. Charles Evans Hughes became the 29th President of the United States, winning just 46.2% of the popular vote.
During the “lame duck” period of the winter of 1916-1917, the United States continued to slide towards intervention in the Great War raging throughout Europe. In December of 1916, outgoing-President Wilson made a last ditch effort towards bringing peace to Europe, asking each side to announce their terms. On January 22, 1917, in an address to the Senate, Wilson appealed for a “peace without victory.” However, since he believed that Germany had wrongfully invaded neutral Belgium and unjustly used submarines, his dream of an “equality of nations upon which peace must be founded if it is to last” excluded Germany.
On January 31, 1917, Germany announced that its submarines would freely attack shipping opposed to its interests; no American ship would be safe. Germany gambled that a full-scale assault on the western front combined with unrestricted submarine warfare would defeat the Allies before the United States could build a war machine to support them. Wilson severed relations with Germany but expressed the hope that U.S. ships would not be attacked. He also asked Congress to approve a bill to arm American merchant vessels. Alarmed senators, speaking for those who thought the war was not a U.S. affair and fearful of any step that might start war with Germany, fought to stop the bill.
On March 4, 1917, Charles Evans Hughes was inaugurated to find himself at the helm of a ship irreversibly headed for war. Hughes and a vast segment of the American people, however, still hoped to stay out of the war. Their hopes vanished when the British presented Wilson with the Zimmermann note, a secret message, which British agents had intercepted and decoded, that advised the German minister to Mexico to seek a German-Mexican alliance against the United States. The publication of this note infuriated the American public and convinced them that war with Germany was necessary. On April 2, 1917, only a month into his term, President Hughes asked Congress for a declaration of war against the German Empire.
Hughes spent the summer of 1917 rallying the entire nation to war, attempting to gain the support of the populace. It was, however, slow going with a large section of the American public. On the other hand, industrial and military mobilization toward war production went rapidly, guided by such executives as Bernard Baruch and Herbert Hoover. Hughes gave them authority to act, supported them against their critics, and recognized their achievements. The first American troops reach the tired Allied lines in June of 1917.
In October of 1917, a Communist Party uprising and a new regime headed by Vladimir Lenin and Leon Trotsky began the Russian Revolution. The new regime was opposed to all warring nations and was eager to undermine them. Hughes was shocked and dismayed by the Revolution and did as much as possible, short of sending troops, to support the foundering Tsar. Hughes was disillusioned to learn that the Allies had been plotting the dissolution of the German Empire. Relatively new to international politics, he was unaware of the extent that Allied leaders were primarily concerned with national self-interest.
In June of 1918, the Vice President of the United States, Charles Fairbanks, died of a heart attack at the age of 66. The Secretary of State, George Harvey, a former supporter of President Wilson who had jumped ships with the election of 1916, succeeded Fairbanks as the Vice President of the United States. Harvey was replaced as Secretary of State by Nicholas Butler.
In July, American-supplied, White Russian forces approach Yekaterinburg in the Ural Mountains. Due to quick movements and the overwhelming firepower supplied by the American weapons, the White Russians arrive in time to save Alexis Romanov, the heir to the throne of the Russian Empire. The fourteen year old is found living, among the bodies of his slain family. One sister, Anastasia Nicholaevna, is never found and is presumed to be dead.
Through the course of 1918, American troops helped to hold the Allied lines against the attacking Germans. Finally, in September of 1918, the new German chancellor, Prince Max of Baden, decided that Hughes’ Eleven Intentions gave his government a way to surrender without admitting defeat. On October 10, an armistice was signed by Wilson and his discontented Allies, who would have preferred total military victory. In November, Hughes finally received the gift he had been waiting for, when the American public replaced the Democratic Congress of Wilson’s Presidency with a new, Republican Congress.
Meanwhile, Secretary of State Butler, accompanied by Vice President Harvey, sailed for Europe to attend the peace conferences. The two Americans, however, were not successful in lessening the extremely harsh reparations and punishments placed upon the new German Republic. When they return to the United States in 1919, they are greeted by the American public as relative failures.
In order to distract the public from his negotiating failures, President Hughes boldly stood against the both the Treaty of Versailles and admission into the new League of Nations. Congress sided with the President and the Americans neither sign the Treaty of Versailles nor enter the League of Nations. Also, President Hughes boosts the aid sent to the White Russian forces.
With actual American troops (albeit in rather small numbers) and American munitions flowing into the White Russian ports of Arkhangelsk and Murmansk, the Whites manage to drive the Reds south of a line running from Lake Peipus, to Lake Ilmen, to Lake Rybinskoye, and then east along the Sukhona River. At this point, the two forces come to a stalemate. The White Region to the north will become the Russian Empire, headed by Tsar Alexis.
Come November of 1920, Charles Evans Hughes was up for reelection. His opponents, Democrats “Colonel” Edward House and Franklin D. Roosevelt, announced that the nation needed “not nostrums but normalcy.” The slogan “return to normalcy” expressed the yearning of some Americans for the unrestrained free enterprise, the untaxed incomes, and the high import tariffs of the past. It also meant a nation isolated from troublesome world affairs or, as House put it, “not submergence in internationality but sustainment in triumphant nationality.” Hughes and Harvey were defeated and “Colonel” Edward House became the 30th President of the United States.
COMING NEXT: President Edward Mandell House
1910 – 1916 Associate Justice of the Supreme Court
1916 – 1920 President of the United States
Elected by a slim margin in 1916, defeating the incumbent President (Thomas) Woodrow Wilson, President Charles Evans Hughes presided over a nation torn between its isolationist past and internationalist future. The last minute endorsement from Governor Hiram Johnson of California provided the Republican nominee, Charles Evans Hughes, with the 3,800 votes needed to swing the entire election. Charles Evans Hughes became the 29th President of the United States, winning just 46.2% of the popular vote.
During the “lame duck” period of the winter of 1916-1917, the United States continued to slide towards intervention in the Great War raging throughout Europe. In December of 1916, outgoing-President Wilson made a last ditch effort towards bringing peace to Europe, asking each side to announce their terms. On January 22, 1917, in an address to the Senate, Wilson appealed for a “peace without victory.” However, since he believed that Germany had wrongfully invaded neutral Belgium and unjustly used submarines, his dream of an “equality of nations upon which peace must be founded if it is to last” excluded Germany.
On January 31, 1917, Germany announced that its submarines would freely attack shipping opposed to its interests; no American ship would be safe. Germany gambled that a full-scale assault on the western front combined with unrestricted submarine warfare would defeat the Allies before the United States could build a war machine to support them. Wilson severed relations with Germany but expressed the hope that U.S. ships would not be attacked. He also asked Congress to approve a bill to arm American merchant vessels. Alarmed senators, speaking for those who thought the war was not a U.S. affair and fearful of any step that might start war with Germany, fought to stop the bill.
On March 4, 1917, Charles Evans Hughes was inaugurated to find himself at the helm of a ship irreversibly headed for war. Hughes and a vast segment of the American people, however, still hoped to stay out of the war. Their hopes vanished when the British presented Wilson with the Zimmermann note, a secret message, which British agents had intercepted and decoded, that advised the German minister to Mexico to seek a German-Mexican alliance against the United States. The publication of this note infuriated the American public and convinced them that war with Germany was necessary. On April 2, 1917, only a month into his term, President Hughes asked Congress for a declaration of war against the German Empire.
Hughes spent the summer of 1917 rallying the entire nation to war, attempting to gain the support of the populace. It was, however, slow going with a large section of the American public. On the other hand, industrial and military mobilization toward war production went rapidly, guided by such executives as Bernard Baruch and Herbert Hoover. Hughes gave them authority to act, supported them against their critics, and recognized their achievements. The first American troops reach the tired Allied lines in June of 1917.
In October of 1917, a Communist Party uprising and a new regime headed by Vladimir Lenin and Leon Trotsky began the Russian Revolution. The new regime was opposed to all warring nations and was eager to undermine them. Hughes was shocked and dismayed by the Revolution and did as much as possible, short of sending troops, to support the foundering Tsar. Hughes was disillusioned to learn that the Allies had been plotting the dissolution of the German Empire. Relatively new to international politics, he was unaware of the extent that Allied leaders were primarily concerned with national self-interest.
In June of 1918, the Vice President of the United States, Charles Fairbanks, died of a heart attack at the age of 66. The Secretary of State, George Harvey, a former supporter of President Wilson who had jumped ships with the election of 1916, succeeded Fairbanks as the Vice President of the United States. Harvey was replaced as Secretary of State by Nicholas Butler.
In July, American-supplied, White Russian forces approach Yekaterinburg in the Ural Mountains. Due to quick movements and the overwhelming firepower supplied by the American weapons, the White Russians arrive in time to save Alexis Romanov, the heir to the throne of the Russian Empire. The fourteen year old is found living, among the bodies of his slain family. One sister, Anastasia Nicholaevna, is never found and is presumed to be dead.
Through the course of 1918, American troops helped to hold the Allied lines against the attacking Germans. Finally, in September of 1918, the new German chancellor, Prince Max of Baden, decided that Hughes’ Eleven Intentions gave his government a way to surrender without admitting defeat. On October 10, an armistice was signed by Wilson and his discontented Allies, who would have preferred total military victory. In November, Hughes finally received the gift he had been waiting for, when the American public replaced the Democratic Congress of Wilson’s Presidency with a new, Republican Congress.
Meanwhile, Secretary of State Butler, accompanied by Vice President Harvey, sailed for Europe to attend the peace conferences. The two Americans, however, were not successful in lessening the extremely harsh reparations and punishments placed upon the new German Republic. When they return to the United States in 1919, they are greeted by the American public as relative failures.
In order to distract the public from his negotiating failures, President Hughes boldly stood against the both the Treaty of Versailles and admission into the new League of Nations. Congress sided with the President and the Americans neither sign the Treaty of Versailles nor enter the League of Nations. Also, President Hughes boosts the aid sent to the White Russian forces.
With actual American troops (albeit in rather small numbers) and American munitions flowing into the White Russian ports of Arkhangelsk and Murmansk, the Whites manage to drive the Reds south of a line running from Lake Peipus, to Lake Ilmen, to Lake Rybinskoye, and then east along the Sukhona River. At this point, the two forces come to a stalemate. The White Region to the north will become the Russian Empire, headed by Tsar Alexis.
Come November of 1920, Charles Evans Hughes was up for reelection. His opponents, Democrats “Colonel” Edward House and Franklin D. Roosevelt, announced that the nation needed “not nostrums but normalcy.” The slogan “return to normalcy” expressed the yearning of some Americans for the unrestrained free enterprise, the untaxed incomes, and the high import tariffs of the past. It also meant a nation isolated from troublesome world affairs or, as House put it, “not submergence in internationality but sustainment in triumphant nationality.” Hughes and Harvey were defeated and “Colonel” Edward House became the 30th President of the United States.
COMING NEXT: President Edward Mandell House
