Jacob S. Coxey Sr.: Difference between revisions

| party = [[Greenback Party|Greenback]] {{small|(1874–89)}}<br>[[People's Party (United States)|People's]] {{small|(1891–1908)}}<br>[[Socialist Party of America|Socialist]] {{small|(1910–1912)}}<br>[[Independent politician|Independent]] {{small|(1908–26)}}<br>[[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] {{small|(1926–32)}}<br>[[Farmer–Labor Party|Farmer–Labor]] {{small|(1932–36)}}<br>[[Union Party (United States)|Union]] {{small|(1936)}}<br />[[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] {{small|(1936–42)}}

| birth_name=Jacob Sechler Coxey

| birth_place = [[Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania]], [[United States|U.S.]]

| death_place = [[Massillon, Ohio]], [[United States|U.S.]]

'''Jacob Sechler Coxey Sr.''' (April 16, 1854 – May 18, 1951), sometimes known as '''General Coxey''', of [[Massillon, Ohio]], was an [[United States of America|American]] politician who ran for elective office several times in [[Ohio]]. Twice, in 1894 and 1914, he led "[[Coxey's Army]]", a group of unemployed men who marched to [[Washington, D.C.]], to present a "Petition in Boots" demanding that the [[United States Congress]] allocate funds to create jobs for the unemployed. Although the marches failed, Coxey's Army was an early attempt to arouse political interest in an issue that grew in importance until the [[Social Security Act]] of 1935 encouraged the establishment of state unemployment insurance programs.

Jacob Sechler Coxey was born on April 16, 1854, in [[Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania]], the son of the former Mary Ann Sechler and Thomas Coxey.<ref>[http://www.ancestry.com.au/genealogy/records/jacob-sechler-coxey_26998765 "Jacob Sechler Coxey,"], www.ancestry.com</ref> His father worked in a sawmill at the time Jacob was born, but the family pulled up stakes to move to industrially thriving [[Danville, Pennsylvania]], in 1860, with Jacob's father taking a job working in an iron mill.<ref name=Alexander5>Benjamin F. Alexander, ''Coxey's Army: Popular Protest in the Gilded Age.'' Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2015; pgp. 5.</ref>

Coxey spent eight years at the iron mill, advancing through the ranks from water boy to machine oiler, boiler tender, and finally to stationary engineer.<ref name=Alexander5 /> Coxey left the mill in 1878 to establish a business partnership with an uncle in a [[Harrisburg, Pennsylvania|Harrisburg]] scrap-iron business.<ref name=Alexander5 /> In this capacity, Coxey went on a scrap iron buying trip to the town of [[Massillon, Ohio|Massillon]], located 325 miles to the eastwest, in 1881.<ref name=Alexander8>Alexander, ''Coxey's Army,'', pgp. 8.</ref> Coxey liked the town so much that he decided to stay, cashing out of the scrap iron business and using the proceeds to purchase a large farm and establish a quarry producing [[silica]] sand for the manufacture of glass and iron.<ref name=Alexander8 />

Coxey was a passionate equestrian, who bred blooded horses and raced or sold them across the nation.<ref name=Study>Donald L. McMurry, ''Coxey's Army: A Study of the Industrial Army Movement of 1894.'' Seattle, WA: University of Washington Press, 1968; pgp. ???</ref> Horse racing was among the most popular spectator sports in the United States and Coxey's horse-breeding enterprise was prosperous, but he fell into gambling on racing, which contributed to the end of his first marriage in 1888, after 14 years and four children.<ref name=Alexander8 />

Coxey would remarry in 1891, siring two more children, including a son named "Legal Tender" in honor of his father's quirky monetary obsessions.<ref>Alexander, ''Coxey's Army,'', pgp. 1.</ref>

Coxey was born to parents who supported the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]] and he entered politics under this banner. With the coming of the economic crisis of 1877, Coxey became a partisan of the [[United States Greenback Party]], which ascribed the nations economic woes to faulty economic principles which led to a severe contraction of the money supply in the years after the [[American Civil War]]. Prosperity could be restored, Greenbackers believed, by the issuance of sufficient quantities of paper money.<ref name=Extreme>Lyman Tower Sargent, ''Extremism in America.''. New York: University of New York Press, 1995; pgp. ???</ref>

In 1893 a severe [[economic depression]] swept the United States —– a crisis remembered as the [[Panic of 1893]]. Unemployment skyrocketed,<ref>Although statistics of the day are incomplete, some estimates peg the unemployment rate at nearly 20%. See, for instance, Alexander, ''Coxey's Army,'', pgp. 2.</ref> [[bank runs]] paralyzed the local financial system, and credit dried up, while a protracted period of [[deflation]] put negative pressure on wages, prompting widespread [[lockout (industry)|lockout]]s and [[strike action|strikes]].

Never one to be short of either self-confidence or political ambition, Coxey believed that he heldhad thea keycure tofor the nation's economic woes and began espousing a plan of [[public works]], specifically road improvement, to be financed through the issuance of $500 &nbsp;million in paper money, backed by government bonds.<ref name=Alexander3>Alexander, ''Coxey's Army,'', pgp. 3.</ref> This expenditure would in one swoop improve infrastructure, put unemployed workers to work, and loosen the strangled credit situation, Coxey believed.<ref name=Alexander3 />

To accompany his novel and controversial economic program, organized around the slogan "Good Roads,",<ref>Alexander, ''Coxey's Army,'', pgp. 45.</ref> Coxey and his close political associate [[Carl Browne]] devised a novel political strategy designed to force the United States government into action.<ref>Donald L. McMurry, ''Coxey's Army: A Study in Industrial Unrest, 1893-18981893–1898.'' Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1929; pp. 32-3632–36.</ref> Rather than attempt to form a conventional political organization to capture decision-making offices, Coxey decided upon a course of what would later be known as [[direct action]] — the assembly of a mass of unemployed workers who would boldly march on [[Washington, DC]]D.C., to demand immediate satisfaction of their needs by Congress. This plan began to take shape early in the spring of 1894, to the point that by March the managing editor of the ''[[Chicago Record]]'' would assign young reporter [[Ray Stannard Baker]] to cover the "queer chap down there in Massillon" who was "getting up an army of the unemployed to march on Washington."<ref>Quotedquoted in Alexander, ''Coxey's Army,'', pgp. 44.</ref>

Many members of Coxey’sCoxey's family were opposed to his involvement in [[Coxey’sCoxey's Army]]. His father refused to talk to reporters and called his son "stiff necked,", "cranky,", and "pig-headed.".<ref name=Odyssey/> One of Coxey’sCoxey's sisters called him an embarrassment.

He was a member of the [[Socialist Party of America|Socialist Party]] circa 1912.<ref>Johnson, Oakley C. ''[https://archive.org/details/MarxismUSHistoryBeforeRussianRev Marxism In United States History Before the Russian Revolution (1876-19171876–1917)]''. New York: Humanities Press. 1974. p. 175.</ref>

1894: Led [[Coxey's Army]], a march that started in Ohio, and passed through Pittsburgh in April.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Coxey has a new commissary |journal=The New York Times |year=1894 |issue=April 6 |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1894/04/06/106901442.pdf|accessdateaccess-date=2008-11-12 |November 2008 format=PDF}}</ref>

Interest in the march dwindled in mid May.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Coxey's Army Dwindling Away |journal=The New York Times |year=1894 |issue=May 11 |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1894/05/11/106904393.pdf |accessdateaccess-date=2008-11-12 |November 2008 format=PDF}}</ref> Coxey was concerned with the lack of meaningful work, and thus demanded that the federal government provide such for the unemployed. Coxey, his wife, and his son, Legal Tender Coxey, rode in a carriage ahead of some 400 protesters towards Washington D.C. He was arrested for walking on the grass and his army peacefully dispersed. Although it didn't seem to have much effect, the march on Washington and the growing threat of [[populism]] at this time struck fear into the hearts of many.

1928: Again tried unsuccessfully to get the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate in the primary. In the general election, he ran as an independent for the U.S. House in the [[Election Results, U.S. Representative from Ohio, 16th District|16th District]], against McSweeney again (who lost his seat to the Republican challenger [[Charles B. McClintock]]). He also received two votes in the race for Frank Murphy's seat. He also ran for President as the candidate of the Interracial Independent Political Party with Simon P. W. Drew as his running mate.[<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.time.com/time/archive/preview/0,10987,787279,00.html]|title=Fifth Party|work=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]|date=June 18, 1928|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://archive.today/20050309235702/http://www.time.com/time/archive/preview/0,10987,787279,00.html|archive-date=March 9, 2005}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cresswellslist.com/ballots2/farmer_l.htm|title=Profile of the Farmer-Labor Party|website=cresswellslist.com|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090328113358/http://www.cresswellslist.com/ballots2/farmer_l.htm]|archive-date=March 28, 2009}}</ref>

1931: Elected as [[mayor]] of Massillon.

[[1932: In [[United States presidential election, 1932|1932]],: unsuccessfullyUnsuccessfully ran for the office of [[President of the United States]] on the ticket of the [[Farmer-Labor Party|United States Farmer-Labor Party]].

1936: RanAgain again in [[United States presidential election, 1936|1936]] againstchallenged Democratic incumbent [[William R. Thom]], the successor to McSweeney and McClintock in the 16th U.S. House District, this time under the banner of the [[United States Union Party|Union Party]], and again losing.

[[Category:PeopleMayors fromof Massillon, Ohio]]

[[Category:MayorsSocialist Party of placesAmerica politicians infrom Ohio]]

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