Augustus Owsley Stanley I (May 21, 1867 – August 12, 1958) was an American politician from Kentucky. Being a former member of the Democratic Party, he served as the 38th governor of Kentucky and also represented the state in both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate. From 1903 to 1915, Stanley represented Kentucky's 2nd congressional district in the House of Representatives, where he gained a reputation as a progressive reformer. Beginning in 1904, he called for an antitrust investigation of the American Tobacco Company, claiming they were a monopsony that drove down prices for the tobacco farmers of his district. As a result of his investigation, the Supreme Court of the United States ordered the breakup of the American Tobacco Company in 1911. Stanley also chaired a committee that conducted an antitrust investigation of U.S. Steel, which brought him national acclaim. Many of his ideas were incorporated into the Clayton Antitrust Act.
During an unsuccessful senatorial bid in 1914, Stanley assumed an anti-prohibition stance. This issue would dominate his political career for more than a decade and put him at odds with J. C. W. Beckham, the leader of the pro-temperance faction of the state's Democratic Party. In 1915, Stanley ran for governor, defeating his close friend Edwin P. Morrow by just over 400 votes in the closest gubernatorial race in the state's history. Historian Lowell H. Harrison called Stanley's administration the apex of the Progressive Era in Kentucky. Among the reforms adopted during his tenure were a state antitrust law, a campaign finance reform law, and several labor laws. In 1918, Stanley was chosen as the Democratic nominee to succeed the recently deceased senator Ollie M. James. Stanley was elected, but did not resign as governor to take the seat until May 1919 and accomplished little in his single term. He lost his re-election bid to Frederic M. Sackett in the 1924 Republican landslide and never again held elected office. He died in Washington, D.C., on August 12, 1958.
Early life Augustus Owsley Stanley was born in Shelbyville, Kentucky, on May 21, 1867; he was the eldest of seven children of William and Amanda (Owsley) Stanley.Burckel, p. 137 His father was a minister of the Disciples of Christ and served as a judge advocate on the staff of Joseph E. Johnston in the Confederate Army.Johnson, p. 1109 His mother was the niece of former Kentucky governor William Owsley.Powell, p. 82 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."Kentucky Governor Augustus Owsley Stanley". National Governors Association. At both Centre and Kentucky A&M, he competed at the State Oratorical Contest, becoming the only such competitor to represent two different institutions.
For a year after graduation, Stanley served as chair of belles-lettres at Christian College in Hustonville, Kentucky. The following year, he was principal of Marion Academy in Bradfordsville, then spent two years in the same position at Mackville Academy in Mackville."Augustus O. Stanley". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. While he held these positions, he studied law under Gilbert Cassiday.Appleton in Kentucky's Governors, p. 145 He was admitted to the bar in 1894, and opened his practice in Flemingsburg, Kentucky.
Political career Stanley's first venture into the political arena was in 1897 when he made an unsuccessful bid to become county attorney of Fleming County.Harrison in The Kentucky Encyclopedia, p. 847 He continued to practice law in Flemingsburg until March 1898 when he moved to Henderson because of financial hardships. He served as a Democratic presidential elector on the ticket of William Jennings Bryan in 1900.
House of Representatives
In 1902, Stanley was elected as a U.S. Representative from Kentucky's 2nd congressional district. During his tenure in the House, he served on the Committee on Mines and Mining, the Committee on Territories, and the Committee on Agriculture. He advocated for progressive reforms such as more extensive study of mine accident prevention, railroad regulation, a pure food and drug act, and an eight-hour work day.
By the time of Stanley's election to the House, the American Tobacco Company had eliminated all its substantial competitors either by acquisition or by driving them out of business. The company worked with British tobacco manufacturers to set tobacco prices worldwide. Congressman Stanley came to the defense of the tobacco farmers of his district, making him virtually unbeatable as a congressional candidate. In the first of his five consecutive terms, he authored a bill that would remove an oppressive national tobacco tax, hoping this would help raise prices for unprocessed tobacco.Burckel, p. 138 The bill was defeated by extensive lobbying efforts by the American Tobacco Company. In 1904, he convinced the Ways and Means Committee to hold public hearings on the American Tobacco Company's monopolistic actions, but the hearings did not convince legislators to repeal the tax nor take action against the American Tobacco Company.
Besides his legislative efforts on behalf of farmers, Stanley also directly encouraged them to organize and keep their crops off the market until prices improved. He helped draft the charter for the Dark District Tobacco Planters Association. Some of the more radical members of this group, known as the "Night Riders", used vigilante violence to compel membership in the Association during what became known as the Black Patch Tobacco Wars.
Finally in 1909, Stanley attached his proposed repeal of the tobacco tax as a rider to the Payne–Aldrich Tariff Act.Burckel, p. 140 The bill passed the House, but the Senate stripped Stanley's provision. Kentucky Senator Ollie M. James reintroduced the repeal into the Senate version of the bill, and it survived when the bill was passed into law. The repeal resulted in higher tobacco prices, and although Stanley had not been alone in getting the repeal passed, he received much of the credit. In 1911, Stanley's fight against the American Tobacco Company bore fruit, as the Supreme Court ruled the company to be in violation of antitrust laws and broke it into separate companies. Both the tax repeal and the breakup of American Tobacco helped quell the violence perpetrated by the Night Riders.Harrison in A New History of Kentucky, p. 281
Stanley gained national notoriety for his actions against U.S. Steel. In 1909, he introduced a resolution calling for an investigation of the company, but it died in the House Rules Committee. A second resolution, introduced in June 1910, passed the House, but was ignored by President William Howard Taft. Stanley introduced a stronger resolution later that month, but it was killed in committee. After Republicans lost control of the house in the 1910 congressional elections, Stanley reintroduced his resolution. House Speaker Champ Clark appointed him as chairman of a nine-member committee to investigate U.S. Steel.Burckel, pp. 141–142
The committee's investigation lasted from May 1911 to April 1912. At its conclusion, the committee split along party lines. Stanley authored the majority report which condemned alleged price fixing by U.S. Steel and censured President Theodore Roosevelt for his role in U.S. Steel's purchase of the Tennessee Coal and Iron Company. The minority report, authored by Republican Augustus P. Gardner, absolved Roosevelt and downplayed the price fixing charges. Stanley's report also recommended a number of changes to strengthen the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890. Though his recommendations were not enacted into law during his time in the House, many of them were eventually included in the Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914.Burckel, pp. 142–144
1914 senatorial bid
Although he had no serious challengers for his House seat, Stanley declined to seek re-election in 1914, choosing instead to run for a seat in the U.S. Senate.Burckel, p. 144 He was one of three Democrats seeking the seat, the others being Governor James B. McCreary and former governor J. C. W. Beckham.Klotter, p. 224 McCreary was never a serious challenger, and the primary campaign centered on Stanley and Beckham, the leaders of the two largest factions of the state's Democratic party. The two men disliked each other. Stanley had once referred to Beckham as "a fungus growth on the grave of Goebel" – an allusion to Beckham's former running mate, Governor William Goebel, whose assassination in 1900 had elevated Beckham to the governorship. During the campaign, Stanley criticized Beckham's use of machine politics, calling his opponent "Little Lord Fauntleroy".
Prohibition became the major issue of the campaign. Though both Stanley and Beckham were known to drink liquor, Beckham campaigned on a pro-temperance platform.Harrison in A New History of Kentucky, p. 283 Stanley, an opponent of prohibition, criticized Beckham's position as hypocritical, saying of pro-temperance politicians in general and Beckham in particular "They keep full of booze and introduce bills to punish the man who sells it to them."Harrison in A New History of Kentucky, p. 214 "[Beckham] would sell out the world to go to the Senate," he added. The support of Louisville Courier-Journal editor Henry Watterson and Representative Ben Johnson were not enough to carry Stanley to victory.Harrison in A New History of Kentucky, p. 225 Beckham secured the Democratic nomination by almost 7,000 votes and went on to win the seat in the general election.
Governor of Kentucky Several candidates announced their intention to seek the Democratic gubernatorial nomination in 1915, but by late August, only two remained in the race.Klotter, p. 225 Stanley was the choice of the anti-prohibition faction of the party, while state superintendent Harry V. McChesney represented the prohibition faction, backed by Beckham.Klotter, pp. 225–226 Stanley won the nomination with 107,585 votes to McChesney's 69,722.Klotter, p. 226 The Republicans nominated Stanley's close friend Edwin P. Morrow. The two traveled the state together, often speaking from the same stage.Klotter, p. 227
Stanley was a powerful orator who used dramatic flourishes to emphasize his points. He would often loosen his tie before he ever started speaking, and by the end of his speech have thrown off his vest and coat. In one instance, the candidates debated a tax on dog owners of one dollar per dog. 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. On another occasion Stanley, who had too much to drink, vomited in front of the audience as Morrow spoke.Harrison in A New History of Kentucky, p. 285 When Stanley took the podium, he remarked, "That just goes to show you what I have been saying all over Kentucky. Ed Morrow plain makes me sick to my stomach."
Democrats had been divided in the primary, but united behind Stanley in the general election. Senators Beckham and Ollie M. James endorsed him, as did Governor James B. McCreary. Samuel Gompers praised Stanley for his opposition to trusts while in Congress; endorsements from local chapters of the American Federation of Labor soon followed. Even Harry McChesney, Stanley's primary opponent, urged Kentuckians to vote a straight Democratic ticket.Appleton in Register, pp. 50–51
The election was too close to call on election night. Knowing that a challenged election would be decided by the heavily Democratic General Assembly, Morrow conceded a week later. Official results showed that Stanley won the election by 471 votes, the closest gubernatorial vote in the state's history.Harrison in A New History of Kentucky, pp. 285–286