Benjamin Harrison the President As Conservationist
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Benjamin Harrison The president as conservationist EPISODE TRANSCRIPT Listen to Presidential at http://wapo.st/presidential This transcript was run through an automated transcription service and then lightly edited for clarity. There may be typos or small discrepancies from the podcast audio. LILLIAN CUNNINGHAM: It's that time in the American presidency when we have reached the age of recordings, and our subject this week, Benjamin Harrison, is the first president whose voice we can hear. It sounds like this: VOICE OF BENJAMIN HARRISON LILLIAN CUNNINGHAM: So, not very clear at all, but it's a start. This was recorded on an Edison wax cylinder sometime around Harrison's first year in office in 1889. Also in this year, the Coca-Cola Company was created, and the first jukebox went into use in San Francisco. It's the end of the 19th century and technology and industrialization are reshaping America. And amid all this excitement and the many benefits of innovation, there are also new fears and questions emerging among citizens that presidents have to address about who might be left behind in this process and what in our country might be getting destroyed. I'm Lillian Cunningham with The Washington Post, and this is the 23rd episode of “Presidential.” PRESIDENTIAL THEME MUSIC LILLIAN CUNNINGHAM: Benjamin Harrison was born in Indiana in 1833. He was one of 13 children, and he served as president from 1889 until 1893 -- so right smack in the middle of Grover Cleveland's two terms. The history books today barely even mention Benjamin Harrison, though, and when they do, the write-ups are usually not too praising. There was one historian I came across who wrote that Harrison would probably have been better liked and better remembered today if he'd at least died a month into office like his grandfather -- the 9th president, William Henry Harrison -- did. So, the challenge I set for myself for this episode was to find at least a couple of the overlooked ways that Benjamin Harrison did leave an imprint on our country and on the presidency. And personally, I ended up most fascinated by the role that he played in land and wildlife conservation. Presidential podcast wapo.st/presidential 1 We'll get to that a bit later in the episode, but first, I decided that the best way to neutralize the assumption that Harrison was just a bore would be to invite a huge Harrison enthusiast to come along with me when I talked with the historian Michelle Krowl at the Library of Congress. And that enthusiast who came along with me is Washington Post opinion columnist Alexandra Petri, whom you may remember from our episode about William Henry Harrison and his campaign song. WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON SONG LILLIAN CUNNINGHAM: That William Henry Harrison episode was just kind of a teaser for Alex, because her real love is Benjamin Harrison. ALEXANDRA PETRI: Basically, this is the highlight of my wee. I called my grandparents and I'm like, "By the way, guess what I'm getting to see on Friday? Benjamin Harrison's papers," and they're like, “You're kidding me. We got to tell your aunt.” We had this family discussion. This is so exciting. They're all rooting for this. LILLIAN CUNNINGHAM: Do you want to tell the little bit of backstory of how you and your family are such Benjamin Harrison fans? ALEXANDRA PETRI: Well, basically, I think every state has their one president -- except, like, if you're state that's totally president-less, like Wisconsin. But Indiana has Benjamin Harrison, or as he liked to be called, General Harrison, because he wasn't all about being the president. And so, in Indianapolis, one of the many sites is the Benjamin Harrison house, which is full of such delights as his electrical wiring and you can see his cane and you can see his grandfather clock. He's sort of a local hero. And since half my family on my mom's side are all proud Hoosiers, Benjamin Harrison is also something that they're proud of. So, I've heard a lot more than I think you expect to at your average family Thanksgiving about Benjamin Harrison's presidential accomplishments. It turns out, he did a lot -- national parks and anti-trust acts. LILLIAN CUNNINGHAM: So, I've asked Michelle basically this question for all of the presidents, and so maybe I'll just ask you both in the same room -- what you think it would be like to go on a blind date with Benjamin Harrison? MICHELLE KROWL: I'll let Alexandra start. ALEXANDRA PETRI: Oh, gosh. Well, shaking his hand was described as holding a dead fish wrapped in brown paper. And so, I'm not expecting much out of this date, I'm going to be honest. As a young man, his only vices were cigars and cucumbers, which -- when you list them together -- implies something that I don't think it was meant to imply at the time. MICHELLE KROWL: A really bad combo. ALEXANDRA PETRI: His father wrote to him being like, 'I hope you're not eating more of those cucumbers,' because this was back before they had burpless cucumbers, and they assumed that your body was basically going to explode if you consume cucumbers incorrectly. So, given that Presidential podcast wapo.st/presidential 2 those are his two hobbies, I'm just not sure the date is going anywhere too exciting. LILLIAN CUNNINGHAM: Anything to add, Michelle? MICHELLE KROWL: I actually have been thinking about this, and Harrison strikes me as someone who would be that stereotype of the kind of person you'd want to bring home to your parents. He was industrious. He's hardworking. He comes from a distinguished family. He's a lawyer. He doesn't have many vices. He doesn't drink, and when he's young man, he doesn't he doesn't dance. He's very religious. He’s all about duty and public service and helping his family out. And, to some degree, you know, if those are qualities that make him a good, sturdy blind date, then he would be great to go out on a date with. Personally, he wouldn't be my first choice. ALEXANDRA PETRI: He's perfect on paper. He's very impressive for your parents. You bring them home, you're like, 'This man served in the Civil War. He quit his job in the government to serve in the Civil War.’ MICHELLE KROWL: And his grandfather was a president and a war hero. LILLIAN CUNNINGHAM: I mean, in a lot of the descriptions I've read, he really comes off as a stiff, right? That seems like the description people give of him. MICHELLE KROWL: That is the description that comes out quite frequently, and it is used as a political tool, too. A political rival writes to another one of the political rivals, and he says, ‘He is narrow, unresponsive, and oh so cold. The town is full of grumblers. Nobody appears to like H., though, of course, many tolerate him for what he can give out.’ And, then somebody else refers to him and says, 'It's like talking to a hitching post.’ Again, these are political rivals, so you have to take that with a slight grain of salt. But that's his reputation -- that he's cold, that he's unresponsive, that he's sort of on the boring side. But other people will point out that, with his family, he's incredibly loving, and that he does have dear friends, that he can be a different person. So politically and socially, he's not one of these hail-fellow, well-met. You know, he's not a backslapper. He's not that kind of a politician. But when you get him within a family circle or with people he's comfortable with, he does generate a lot of respect and friendship and love from those people. A recollection about Harrison later on was that apparently he loved kids and dogs -- that dogs would follow him home because they just got a sense that he was a dog lover. And so, there were a couple of stories where, back in Indianapolis, he'd be going to the law office and he would be kind to some stray dog or give it a nice look or something, and the dog would try to follow him into the office. ALEXANDRA PETRI: The dog must have thought he was a hitching post. I guess that's like the fire hydrant of the 19th century. MICHELLE KROWL: But apparently, you know, he got along very well with children and animals. LILLIAN CUNNINGHAM: Maybe just to back up for one second. Do you want to give a bit of a Presidential podcast wapo.st/presidential 3 portrait of his early life and how privileged he grows up, especially compared to some of these other presidents we've had born in log cabins teaching themselves to read and write. MICHELLE KROWL: Well, Harrison -- he did come from that distinguished family. But actually his own circumstances -- he was portrayed later as a 'Kid Glove Aristocrat,' which makes you think that he grew up in a mansion and was surrounded by luxuries, which actually he wasn't. His father was a farmer, the son of William Henry Harrison. He was a farmer. So, he grew up in not luxurious circumstances, but enough that he was educated as a boy. He went off to college.