Marshall, Thomas R. (Thomas Riley), 1854-1925

<p>Thomas Riley Marshall (March 14, 1854 – June 1, 1925) was an American politician who served as the 28th vice president of the United States from 1913 to 1921 under President Woodrow Wilson. A prominent lawyer in Indiana, he became an active and well known member of the Democratic Party by stumping across the state for other candidates and organizing party rallies that later helped him win election as the 27th governor of Indiana. In office, he proposed controversial changes to the Constitution of Indiana; the state courts blocked his attempts.</p>

<p>Marshall's popularity as Indiana governor, and the state's status as a critical swing state, helped him secure the Democratic vice presidential nomination on a ticket with Wilson in 1912 and win the subsequent general election. An ideological rift developed between the two men during their first term, leading Wilson to limit Marshall's influence in the administration, and his brand of humor caused Wilson to move Marshall's office away from the White House. During Marshall's second term he delivered morale-boosting speeches across the nation during World War I and became the first U.S. vice president to hold cabinet meetings, which he did while Wilson was in Europe. As he was president of the United States Senate, a small number of anti-war Senators kept it deadlocked by refusing to end debate. To enable critical wartime legislation to be passed, Marshall had the body adopt its first procedural rule allowing filibusters to be ended by a two-thirds majority vote—a variation of this rule remains in effect.</p>

<p>Marshall's vice presidency is most remembered for a leadership crisis following a stroke that incapacitated Wilson in October 1919. Because of their personal dislike for Marshall, Wilson's advisers and wife Edith sought to keep him uninformed about the president's condition to prevent him from assuming presidential powers and duties. Many people, including cabinet officials and Congressional leaders, urged Marshall to become acting president, but he refused to forcibly assume Wilson's powers and duties to avoid setting a precedent. Without strong leadership in the executive branch, the administration's opponents defeated the ratification of the League of Nations treaty and effectively returned the United States to an isolationist foreign policy. Marshall is also the only known Vice President of the United States to have been exclusively targeted in an assassination attempt while in office.[b] Marshall was the first Vice President since Daniel D. Tompkins, nearly a century earlier, to serve two full terms.</p>

<p>Marshall was known for his wit and sense of humor; one of his most enduring jokes, which provoked widespread laughter from his colleagues, came during a Senate debate. Responding to Senator Joseph Bristow's catalog of the nation's needs, Marshall quipped that, "What this country needs is a really good five-cent cigar." After his terms as vice president, he opened an Indianapolis law practice, where he authored several legal books and his memoir, <i>Recollections</i>. He continued to travel and speak publicly. Marshall died while on a trip after suffering a heart attack in 1925.</p>

MARSHALL, THOMAS RILEY, a Vice President of the United States; born in North Manchester, Wabash County, Ind., March 14, 1854; attended the common schools and graduated from Wabash College, Crawfordsville, Ind., in 1873; studied law; admitted to the bar in 1875 and commenced practice in Columbia City, Ind.; Governor of Indiana 1909-1913; elected, as a Democrat, Vice President of the United States on the ticket with Woodrow Wilson in 1912 and inaugurated on March 4, 1913; reelected in 1916 and served until March 3, 1921; resumed the practice of law and literary work in Indianapolis, Ind.; member of the Federal Coal Commission 1922-1923; died in Washington, D.C., June 1, 1925; interment in Crown Hill Cemetery, Indianapolis, Ind.

<p>Thomas Riley Marshall was born March 14, 1854, in North Manchester, Indiana, to Daniel and Martha Patterson Marshall. Marshall's father was a country doctor who spent much of his time caring for his mother, who suffered from tuberculosis. Marshall attended Wabash College and studied law after graduating, gaining admittance to the Indiana bar in 1875. He lived with his mother until shortly before he married Lois Kimsey in 1895.</p>

<p>His family was traditionally Democratic, and Marshall was involved in politics from a young age. However, he did not successfully seek public office until 1908, when he was unexpectedly elected governor of Indiana.</p>

<p>Indiana was a pivotal swing state at the time, carried by every successful presidential candidate since 1880. Marshall, as the well-liked governor of a strategically important state, was in good position to advance to the national stage. Although Woodrow Wilson would have preferred a more progressive pick, he reluctantly chose Marshall because he balanced the ticket well. Marshall initially considered rejecting the offer because the job did not pay enough, but Mrs. Marshall's eagerness to go to Washington induced him to accept. With the Republican Party bitterly divided between President William Taft and former President Theodore Roosevelt, Wilson won in a landslide.</p>

<p>Marshall assumed that the job of vice president offered more responsibility and was disappointed when he realized the limits of his formal duties. Furthermore, his jovial disposition contrasted sharply with the serious intellectualism of Wilson, who had little to do with Marshall. President Wilson rarely consulted his vice president, and they often went months between meetings. Wilson was at least true to his words, having written in his 1885 book, Congressional Government, that the office of vice president "is one anomalous insignificance and curious uncertainty."In spite of his limited role, Marshall was well-liked nationally, and the Democrats renominated him in 1916. He became the first vice president elected to a second term since John C. Calhoun in 1828. The vice president dutifully supported Wilson's actions before and during World War I and briefly presided over the cabinet when Wilson left on a lengthy trip to negotiate the terms of peace in Europe. However, Marshall gave up his presiding role, citing a conflict of interest in being both presiding officer of the Senate and the cabinet.</p>

<p>When President Wilson suffered a stroke in October 1919 and was almost completely incapacitated, Marshall remained largely unaware of his condition and reluctant to take any decisive action. He did not attempt to preside over cabinet meetings, thinking that such action might be viewed as an attempt to usurp Wilson's authority. While the Constitution clearly stated the vice president should take office if the President was unable "to discharge the Powers and Duties of the said Office," there was no established process for carrying this out in such a case. Although Marshall would have had substantial Congressional support had he asserted authority, he declined to do so. The final months of the Wilson administration passed in curious uncertainty, with Wilson unable to serve but unwilling to relinquish control. Such issues of presidential disability were later clarified with the adoption of the 25th amendment in 1967.</p>

<p>Marshall briefly pursued the nomination for President in 1920 but attracted limited support. He retired to Indiana afterwards and passed away on June 1, 1925.</p>