Introduction
I was born on 18th October 1839 in Portland Maine and attended the public school system in Portland, studying at Portland High School which was the 14th oldest public school in the United States Through hard work and determination I graduated successfully from the liberal arts college, Bowdoin College in 1860 with a law degree. I later joined the United States Navy on April 19th, 1864, and went on to serve as an acting assistant paymaster (i was a capable ballroom dancer) until the 4th of November 1865.
With my previous years being pretty much nondescript, it is only after my admission to the bar in 1865 that I was able to fully utilize my talents and achieve my childhood ambitions like “making the big decisions or speaking his mind.” (McCall, 127)
Political Life
After my admission to the bar in 1865, I continued practicing law in Portland and was later elected to the Maine House of Representatives in 1868. Being a new member to the House or freshman as they were more commonly known, I was later appointed to the Potter Commission whose purpose was to explore the possibility of voting irregularities in the presidential election of 1876 and also determine the eventual winner. The contest came down to a heated battle between Democrat Samuel J Tilden and Republican Rutherford B Hayes.
It was a nasty affair with allegations of ballot rigging and voter intimidation being labeled at both camps. Since the constitution had not mentioned how Electoral College Disputes are to be resolved, the only other option was for congress to set up a commission to sort out the disputed 20 Electoral Colleges votes. The commission which was made up of 15 members voted along party lines and awarded all the 20 Electoral College votes to Republican Hayes which was something of a surprise since Tilden needed only one vote to become president. Many people believed Tilden was cheated out of the presidential seat but Hayes went on to be sworn in as President on March 5th.
His early tenure in office (Hayes) was marked with rewarding those who helped him ascend to the presidency and I was lucky enough to have played my part. My skillful cross-examination that subsequently forced Tilden to personally appear and defend his character after his “nephew was implicated in the vote-rigging fiasco” (Offenberg, 107) will certainly leave a mark in people’s memories for quite a while.
After my service at the Potter Commission, I was by now part of the elite social society and this proved to be helpful during the passionate fight for the speaker’s seat with William McKinley of Ohio. Support from a young Theodore Roosevelt proved to be the decisive factor. I was elected Speaker in 1889.
Speaker of the House
During my tenure as a speaker, I saw the need to systematically and radically increase the powers of the Speaker over the House. Previously the Speaker’s powers mostly came from the influence which originated from the respect given to him by House Members. The problem was for House Business to be conducted, the members present had to answer a quorum call. Failure to do so resulted in the suspension of house business. This proved to be a problem since the majority of Democratic Party members could simply be absent and no business would be conducted for the day. I came up with a simple but controversial solution.
Upon announcing the Quorum call, the Speaker would begin counting every member present in the chamber; it was a non-issue for me whether they chose to answer his call or not. After doing so, House business will be conducted regardless of the absent members. To bring sanity to the process “The best system is to have one party govern and the other party watch”(Beisner, 210). In doing so, I limited the ability of the minority party to stop House business.
I saw the need to streamline House dealings but it was unfortunate that neither the Democrats nor Republicans shared the same beliefs. What followed was known as the “Battle of the Reed Rules.” Political intrigues and backroom fighting characterized the members’ disapproval of the new rules but the rules were fully adopted by congress. This greatly hastened House procedures and this was represented by the later passage of the McKinley Bill in 1890 and the Dingley Bill in 1897. (Zelizer, 328) My radical changes laid the groundwork for the tenure of Joseph Gurney Cannon as Speaker. I later did chair the Committee on the Judiciary in the 47th Congress and the Rules Committee in the 51st, 54th, and 55th Congresses In 1896.
My other ambitions led to an attempt to obtain a nomination for the presidency on a Republican ticket but Mark Hanna, who worked as Governor McKinley’s campaign manager quashed my efforts and this was probably due to the presidential ambitions being harbored by McKinley.
My other fallout with the McKinley administration came during the Spanish-American war. Initially, both of us were against the war but when McKinley switched to supporting the war, I disagreed and quit Congress in 1900. I felt it was the right time I go back to my previous passion, law, which I practiced in New York. However, during a nostalgic trip to Washington, my illustrious career was cut short by a sudden heart attack. (Thomas Brackett Reed is buried in Evergreen Cemetery, Portland Maine)
Summary
I’ve always been fully aware ever since I was a young man that I’m a giant of a man in all sense but the radical institutional changes I introduced during my tenure as a speaker; are changes that now seem impossible even for a man of my stature. My loyalty and service to the Republican Party was second to none “especially during the election dispute of 1876.” (Robinson, 26)I’m fully aware that I’ve won a few admirers in my political life and made a lot of enemies earning the nickname “Czar Reid” but I guess the question that bothers me the most is how I would like to be remembered.
I guess my eulogy should read like “Reed was fiercely loyal to his party, which he defended from his early days in the Potter Committee to his tenure as House Speaker; much to the disdain of the Democratic Members.” I did advocate for internal improvements for the sake of national purposes and believed “business stability was the key to national progress” (Brackett, 450). In views that I think are well ahead of my time, I am still against Capital Punishment and will advocate for women’s right to vote. However, my opinion remains; “a successful politician is dead”. That is how I would like to be remembered!
Works Cited
Beisner, Robert L. “That Fat, Sarcastic Man.” In Twelve Against Empire: The Anti-Imperialists, 1898-1900, New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1968 pp. 203-211.
Brackett Reed Thomas, Johnson Rossiter, McCarthy Justin, Ellery Bergh Albert, Modern Eloquence, Bibliobazaar LLC, 1900, 445-451.
McCall Walker Samuel, The Life of Thomas Brackett Reed, BiblioLife, 2009, pp 123-129.
Offenberg, Richard S. “The Political Career of Thomas Brackett Reed.”, New York University, 1963, pp 105-111.
Robison William A, Thomas B Reed Parliamentarian, Dodd, Mead and Company, 1930, pp 26-29.
Zelizer Julian E, The American Congress, Haughton Mifflin Harcourt, 1998, 325-328.