Watson, Thomas E. (Thomas Edward), 1856-1922

Thomas Edward Watson was born in Columbia County near Thomson, Georgia on September 5, 1856. He attended Mercer University in Macon, Georgia and during that time taught school for two years before he was admitted to the bar in 1875. Watson began practicing law in Thomson, Georgia in 1876, where he was also a farmer. Watson began his political career by winning election to the Georgia House of Representatives in 1882, where he served for one term. In 1888, Watson was appointed the presidential elector for Georgia Democratic ticket of Grover Cleveland and Allen G. Thurman. He then went on to be elected to the U.S. House of Representatives as a Populist (1891-1893), but was unsuccessful as a candidate for reelection in 1892 and in 1894. Watson resumed his law practice in Thomson, Georgia, and was later nominated for vice president at the Populist National Convention at St. Louis in 1896 and for president by the People's Party in 1904. Watson concluded his political career in 1921 when he won election to the United States Senate as a Democrat. Watson served in this position until his death on September 26, 1922. In addition to his political career, Watson was also a prolific writer and editor. In March 1905, Watson launched Tom Watson's Magazine and served as editor for two years. In 1906 and 1907, he published two magazines, The Jeffersonian (weekly) and Watson's Jeffersonian Magazine (monthly). He edited both from his home in Thomson, Georgia. He wrote many books and articles, including some expressing his opposition to the Catholic Church and its activities. Watson also authored biographies of Napoleon and Andrew Jackson. He was survived by his wife Georgia Durham and two of his three children. His interment is in Thomson Cemetery, Thomson, Georgia.

Thomas E. Watson of Thomson, Ga., was a lawyer; politician and Populist Party candidate for U.S. vice-president in 1896 and for president in 1904 and 1908; senator, 1921-1922; author; and newspaper and journal publisher.

Populist political leader, author, newspaper publisher, and U.S. representative and senator from Georgia; b. Edward Thomas Watson.

Thomas Edward Watson (1856-1922), lawyer, editor, author, and politician, resided in Thomason, Georgia.

Thomas E. Watson was born 5 September 1856 to John Smith and Ann Eliza Watson in Thomson, Georgia. He attended Mercer College in 1872 and 1873. He married Georgia Durham in 1878. The Watsons moved to Hickory Hill in Thomson, where they raised three children, none of whom survived their parents: John Durham (1880-1918); Agnes Pearce (1882-1917), and Louise (1885-1889).

Watson was a colorful and successful criminal lawyer, a leading populist politician, a popular author, and an influential publisher. He served in the Georgia House of Representatives in 1882, the United States House of Representatives, 1890-92, and the United States Senate, 1921-22. As a major figure in the Populist Party, he ran unsuccessfully for vice-president as William Jennings Bryan's running mate in 1896 and for president in 1904 and 1908. His history of France (1899); biographies of Napoleon (1902), Jefferson (1903), and Jackson (1912); and his novel, Bethany (1904), were praised for their populist spirit.

Watson was most influential through his various publications, including the People's Party Paper (1891-98), The Jeffersonian (1907-1917), and Watson's Magazine (1905-06, 1912-17). In muckraking editorials, he espoused populist causes, such as antitrust legislation, railroad regulation, and monetary policies favorable to agrarian interests, including coinage of silver. He fought to maintain the broad-based reformist and independent goals of the Populist Party against those who favored fusion with the major parties and a narrow focus on the silver issue. Initially a supporter of the inclusion of blacks in the agrarian movement, he later turned to race baiting, advocating black disfranchisement, and to virulent anti-Jewish and anti-Catholic diatribes. His lurid crusade against Catholicism led to his trial on charges of sending obscene material through the mail.

While unsuccessful in his national political campaigns, from 1906 to 1922 Watson was a dominant power in Georgia politics, making and unmaking governors. When his bitter opposition to America's entry into World War I and to such wartime legislation as the Espionage and Conscription Acts led to the revocation of his mailing privileges for his publications in 1917, Watson became a crusader for personal liberties--at least for personal liberties for Anglo-Saxon Protestants. With this, coupled with continuing attacks on blacks, Jews, and Catholics as his platform, he mounted his final, and, this time, successful, campaign for the Senate in 1920. Thomas E. Watson died 26 September 1922.

For additional information, see C. Vann Woodward, Tom Watson: Agrarian Rebel (New York 1938) and the biographical material in Subseries 6.1.