Augustus O. Stanley

Augustus Owsley Stanley (May 21, 1867 - August 12, 1958) was Governor of Kentucky and a member of the United States Senate.

Early life

Augustus Owsley Stanley was born in Shelbyville, Kentucky on May 21, 1867, the son of William and Amanda (Owsley) Stanley. His father was a minister of the Disciples of Christ and served as a judge advocate in the Confederate Army. His mother was the niece of former Kentucky governor William Owsley. He attended Gordon Academy in Nicholasville, Kentucky and the Kentucky Agricultural and Mechanical College (later the University of Kentucky) before graduating with an A.B. from Centre College in 1889. While he studied law under Gilbert Cassiday, Stanley simultaneously taught at Christian College and served as principal of Mackville Academy from 1891 to 1893. He was admitted to the bar in 1894, and opened his practice in Flemingsburg, Kentucky.

Stanley married Sue Soaper on April 29 1903. The couple had three sons.

Political career

Stanley's first venture into the political arena was in 1897, running for county attorney of Fleming County, an election he lost. He served as a Democratic presidential elector on the ticket of William Jennings Bryan in 1900. Struggling financially, he moved to Henderson the next year. In 1902, he was elected as a U.S. Representative from Kentucky's 2nd congressional district. His defense of tobacco farmers made him virtually unbeatable in his district, where he served five consecutive terms. While in the House, Stanley was also an opponent of corporate trusts, and gained national notoriety for his committee's investigation of U.S. Steel. Many of the committee's recommendations were included in the Clayton Antitrust Act.

In 1914, Stanley ran for a seat in the Senate. In an election that centered around the issue of prohibition, Stanley's defense of the liquor industry cost him the election to former governor J.C.W. Beckham. He did, however, out-poll incumbent James B. McCreary by more than a three-to-one margin. The next year, he lost his seat in the House.

Stanley was a candidate for Governor of Kentucky in 1915, campaigning on a platform that included promises of better roads, ending convict labor, and enforcement of the local option law instead of statewide prohibition. His opponent in the general election was his close friend, Republican Edwin P. Morrow. The two provided an interesting campaign that saw issues debated such as a dollar tax for every dog a person owned. Stanley favored the tax, while Morrow contended that everyone should be allowed one dog tax-free. Stanley ridiculed the idea as "Free Old Dog Ring," and sometimes howled like a dog in speeches deriding the proposal. Stanley would win the contest by the narrow margin of 471 votes.

As in his run for Senate, the liquor question was central to Stanley's tenure as governor. In 1916, a prohibition amendment failed in both houses of the General Assembly, but passed both houses two years later. In 1919, Kentucky was the first "wet" state to ratify the Eighteenth Amendment. Other accomplishments of Stanley's tenure included initiating the state's first budget program, improving the corrupt practices act, enacting the state's first workman's compensation law, authorizing anti-trust measures, and instituting a convict labor law. During World War I, he vetoed a bill that would have banned the teaching of German in public schools.

Governor Stanley called the General Assembly into special session in February 1917. At issue was reformation of the state's tax code, which Stanley felt unjustly burdened agricultural interests. The session lasted sixty days, and saw the passage of many of the bills advocated by Governor Stanley. The most significant of these was the creation of a three-member state tax commission, chaired by M. M. Logan.

Upon the death of Senator Ollie M. James in August 1918, Stanley announced his candidacy for the open seat. Continuing to serve as governor throughout the campaign, Stanley defeated challenger Dr. Ben L. Bruner by more than 5,000 votes. He resigned as governor to assume the Senate seat in May 1919. As a Democrat in a mostly Republican Senate, he wielded little influence. In 1924, he fell victim to the Republican surge that elected Calvin Coolidge, losing his re-election bid to Frederic M. Sackett.

Later life and death

Following his defeat in the Senate, Stanley returned to his legal practice. In 1930, President Herbert Hoover appointed Stanley to the International Joint Commission, a body charged with settling boundary disputes between the United States and Canada. Stanley became chair of the body in 1933. He was very proud of his service on the Commission, and once noted that nowhere on earth have two great powers lived so long as neighbors with so few disputes. Stanley served until 1954 when he resigned under pressure from his own party.

Stanley died in Washington, D.C., on August 12 1958 and was buried Frankfort Cemetery in Frankfort, Kentucky. His grandson was Owsley Stanley.

References

• Appleton, Jr., Thomas H. (2004). Kentucky's Governors. Lexington, Kentucky: The University Press of Kentucky.
• Find-A-Grave profile for Augustus O. Stanley
• Harrison, Lowell H. (1992). The Kentucky Encyclopedia. Lexington, Kentucky: The University Press of Kentucky.
• Kentucky Governor Augustus Owsley Stanley. National Governors Association. Retrieved on 2007-08-23..
• Powell, Robert A. (1976). Kentucky Governors. Danville, Kentucky: Bluegrass Printing Company.

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