Charles W. Fairbanks
Charles Warren Fairbanks (May 11, 1852 – June 4, 1918) was an American politician who served as a senator from Indiana from 1897 to 1905 and the 26th vice president of the United States from 1905 to 1909. He was also the Republican vice presidential nominee in the 1916 presidential election. Had the Republican ticket been elected, Fairbanks would have become the third (and only non-consecutive) vice president to multiple presidents, after George Clinton and John C. Calhoun.
"Charles Fairbanks" and "Senator Fairbanks" redirect here. For other uses, see Charles Fairbanks (disambiguation) and Senator Fairbanks (disambiguation).
Charles W. Fairbanks
Born in Unionville Center, Ohio, Fairbanks moved to Indianapolis after graduating from Ohio Wesleyan University. He became an attorney and railroad financier, working under railroad magnate Jay Gould. Fairbanks delivered the keynote address at the 1896 Republican National Convention and won election to the Senate the following year.[1] In the Senate, he became an advisor to President William McKinley and served on a commission that helped settle the Alaska boundary dispute.
The 1904 Republican National Convention selected Fairbanks as the running mate for President Theodore Roosevelt. As vice president, Fairbanks worked against Roosevelt's progressive policies. Fairbanks unsuccessfully sought the Republican nomination at the 1908 Republican National Convention and backed William Howard Taft in 1912 against Roosevelt. Fairbanks sought the presidential nomination at the 1916 Republican National Convention, but was instead selected as the vice presidential nominee, with former Associate Justice and Governor Charles Evans Hughes, and would have been the third vice president to serve under different presidents (after George Clinton and John C. Calhoun), and the only one non-consecutively. The Hughes-Fairbanks ticket, however, narrowly lost to the Democratic ticket of President Woodrow Wilson and Vice President Thomas R. Marshall.
Early life[edit]
Fairbanks was born in a log cabin near Unionville Center, Ohio, the son of Mary Adelaide (Smith) and Loriston Monroe Fairbanks, a wagon-maker.[2] Fairbanks in his youth saw his family's home used as a hiding place for runaway slaves. After attending country schools and working on a farm, Fairbanks attended Ohio Wesleyan University, where he graduated in 1872. While there, Fairbanks was co-editor of the school newspaper with Cornelia Cole, whom he married after both graduated from the school.[3]
Post-vice presidency (1909–1918)[edit]
Hughes's running mate[edit]
In 1916, Fairbanks was in charge of establishing the platform for the Republican party. He sought that year's Republican presidential nomination at the party's June convention. When Charles Evans Hughes was nominated, Fairbanks was selected by the convention as the vice presidential nominee, which would have returned him to office under a different president, a feat previously accomplished only by George Clinton and John C. Calhoun. In November, Hughes and Fairbanks lost a close election to the Democratic incumbents Woodrow Wilson and Thomas Marshall. Fairbanks and 23rd Vice President Adlai Stevenson share the distinction of seeking reelection to non-consecutive terms as vice president. Vice president Stevenson ran for a second non-consecutive term with William Jennings Bryan in the 1900 Election but he and Bryan lost to the Republican ticket of William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt. After the election, Fairbanks resumed the practice of law in Indianapolis, but his health soon started to fail.