Robinson, Joseph Taylor, 1872-1937

<p>ROBINSON, JOSEPH TAYLOR, a Representative and a Senator from Arkansas; born on a farm near Lonoke, Lonoke County, Ark., August 26, 1872; attended the common schools, the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, and the law department of the University of Virginia at Charlottesville; admitted to the bar in 1895 and commenced practice in Lonoke, Ark.; member, State general assembly 1895; presidential elector on the Democratic ticket in 1900; elected as a Democrat to the Fifty-eighth and to the four succeeding Congresses and served from March 4, 1903, to January 14, 1913, when he resigned, having been elected Governor; chairman, Committee on Public Lands (Sixty-second Congress); Governor of Arkansas from January 16 to March 8, 1913, when he resigned, having been elected Senator; elected to the United States Senate in 1913 to fill the seat vacated by the death of Senator Jeff Davis; reelected in 1918, 1924, 1930 and 1936 and served from March 10, 1913, until his death; minority leader and Democratic caucus chairman 1923-1933; majority leader and Democratic caucus chairman 1933-1937; chairman, Committee on Expenditures in the Treasury Department (Sixty-third and Sixty-fourth Congresses), Committee on Claims (Sixty-fifth Congress); unsuccessful candidate for Vice President of the United States on the Democratic ticket in 1928; died in Washington, D.C., July 14, 1937; funeral services were held in the Chamber of the United States Senate; interment in Roselawn Memorial Park in Little Rock, Ark.</p>

<p><b>Joseph T. Robinson<br>
The "Fightingest" Man in the U.S. Senate</b></p>

<p>He never lost a battle. From schoolyard fights to clashes in the Senate, Joseph T. Robinson defeated all challengers. In the end, it was not a person, but a bill that struck down the first Democratic Senate majority leader Robinson had a fatal heart attack during his campaign to pass President Franklin Roosevelt's controversial "court packing" plan in 1937. Colleagues from both parties mourned his passing, while newspaper editorials recalled two distinctive men: the respected senator, who swayed recalcitrant members with intelligence and good humor, and the effective autocrat, who bossed the Senate through sheer intimidation.</p>

<p>Born in 1872, Robinson grew up in rural Lonoke, Arkansas, where he attended a one-room schoolhouse. His father, a country doctor and minister, supplemented his son's education with books from the family library. The ninth of ten children, "Joe T." soon learned to command attention, seeking contests to show off his physical and intellectual strength. Known as a fearsome disciplinarian, Robinson taught school in order to pay for his law classes at the University of Arkansas and the University of Virginia.</p>

<p>Before passing the bar in 1895, Robinson served as a Democrat for one term in the Arkansas state legislature. He chose not to run for reelection, but instead joined a criminal law practice in Lonoke. Early in his legal career, he won the release of seven African American defendants charged with murder. In another famous case, he persuaded a judge to dismiss his clients' revenge killings as "justifiable homicide." Robinson's successes in court elevated his profile in the Democratic party, and in 1902, he was elected to Congress from the Sixth Congressional District of Arkansas.</p>

<p>In the House of Representatives, Robinson promoted anti-trust and low-tariff bills and helped frame the legislation creating the Federal Trade Commission. Opposed to children working long hours in factories, he took charge of the Child Labor Act, which was later deemed unconstitutional. In 1912 he ran for governor of Arkansas, beating the Democratic incumbent in the primary election. He resigned from the House on January 14, 1913 and, two days later, he was inaugurated as governor. Shortly before the inauguration, however, Arkansas Senator Jeff Davis died in office. On January 28, the state legislature elected Robinson to fill the Senate vacancy, but Robinson remained the governor until the start of Congress in March.</p>

<p>As a freshman Democratic senator, Robinson backed every measure in President Woodrow Wilson's "New Freedom" legislative agenda. Once the United States entered World War I, he denounced those senators against the war effort. During one harangue, he questioned the patriotism of Robert La Follette. Enraged, the Wisconsin Progressive had to be restrained from charging Robinson on the Senate floor. Meanwhile, "Scrappy Joe" taunted La Follette, "Let's settle this outside."</p>

<p>Following the war's conclusion in 1919, Robinson rallied Senate Democrats in favor of the Versailles Treaty and Wilson's League of Nations. Although the Republican-controlled Senate voted down the treaty, the president was impressed by Robinson's loyalty, calling him the "real moral and intellectual leader of the Senate." As chairman of the 1920 Democratic National Convention, the "moral leader" punched a guard for questioning his credentials. Otherwise, he won high praise for his performance as chair, and his colleagues chose him to head two succeeding conventions.</p>

<p>In 1923, Senator Oscar Underwood, the Democratic floor leader, resigned his leadership position due to illness. As the most senior Democrat, Senator Furnifold Simmons expected to assume the role of minority leader and chairman of the Democratic Conference. The much younger Robinson campaigned for the positions, however, vowing to turn the Democratic Conference into a "fighting force" capable of blocking the Republican agenda and initiating its own programs. Simmons withdrew his name from consideration and, on December 3, 1923, he nominated Robinson for minority leader and Conference chair. By unanimous acclamation, Robinson became the Democratic leader, a position he would hold until his death in 1937.</p>

<p>As minority leader, Robinson took over the distribution of patronage appointments and reformed the committee assignment process, decreeing that no senator would hold the top Democratic position in more than one important committee. A Capitol Hill resident, he never strayed far from the Senate chamber, but kept a constant watch over the proceedings in order to capitalize on any dissension within the Republican ranks. Known as a "horse trader," he made deals on both sides of the aisle and helped facilitate negotiations with the era's GOP presidents.</p>

<p>Robinson had presidential aspirations of his own. In 1924, he was a minor contender for the Democratic nomination. A "favorite son" candidate, he drew the support of his Arkansas constituents and the southern conservative members of his party. That year, however, his performance on a golf course brought him more attention than his short-lived race for the presidency. At the Chevy Chase Country Club (a favorite haunt for Washington politicians), a fellow golfer asked to move ahead of the senator's slow-playing foursome. Robinson refused to extend the courtesy to the local surgeon. After a few angry words, he hit the doctor, knocking him to the ground. The club expelled Robinson from its membership, and the press gave him a new title; he was now the "pugilist" senator.</p>

<p>Early in 1928, Robinson clashed with Senator James Heflin, a Democrat from Alabama, who frequently inserted anti-Catholic sentiments into many of his speeches. When New York's Catholic governor, Alfred E. Smith, announced his candidacy for president, Heflin made Smith the target of his criticism. Robinson admonished his views, stating that religious affiliation had no bearing on a person's credentials for higher office. On one famous occasion, he declared, "I have heard [the senator] denounce the Catholic Church and the Pope of Rome and the cardinal and the bishop and the priest and the nun until I am sick and tired of it, as a Democrat." Helfin retorted, "The Senator from Arkansas can not remain leader of the Democrats and fight the Roman Catholics' battle every time the issue is raised in this body." Interpreting the remark as a challenge to his authority, Robinson held a vote of confidence to gauge his colleagues' loyalty. By a near unanimous vote (Heflin was absent), the senators pledged their support to their leader and his stance against bigotry.</p>

<p>Later that year, Robinson accepted the offer to be Al Smith's running mate. The pairing represented two "firsts" in American politics: it was the first time since the Civil War that a southerner was seriously considered for a national office, and it was the first time in U.S. history that a Catholic won a presidential nomination. While Herbert Hoover decisively beat Smith in the general election, the 1928 presidential race provided an opening for future Catholic and southern candidates, most notably John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson.</p>

<p>Robinson emerged from the campaign a national figure, now known for the impassioned speeches he had made around the country on behalf of Smith and the Democratic platform. He continued to score victories as the Senate's minority leader, but his cooperative relationship with Hoover riled the members of his party. They understood that no other senator possessed Robinson's tenacity and influence, however, so they accepted his leadership, infuriating as it could be.</p>

<p>In 1932, the Democrats swept the national elections, capturing the White House, the House of Representatives, and the Senate. By unanimous vote, the Democratic Conference elected Robinson to be the Senate leader. Robinson's term commenced in March 1933, fourteen years after the Democrats had last commanded the Senate. Prior to the 1920s, the Senate had no official majority leaders. Therefore, Robinson was the first senator to represent the Democratic party in the role. He took his duties seriously, refusing to delegate his numerous responsibilities. As Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal "marshal," he ensured the passage of countless bills relating to the Depression and social policy, his most impressive victory being the Emergency Banking Act, which he pushed through both houses of Congress in seven hours.</p>

<p>Robinson had a much more difficult time with the president's Court Reorganization Act, designed to add liberal justices to the Supreme Court. For weeks in 1937, he spoke, fought, and cajoled for the bill, but he could not stifle the criticism of scores of Republicans and Democrats. The constant strain showed on his face and in the stoop of his shoulders, and his friends began to worry about his health. On July 14, just as the legislation seemed likely to split his party into two warring factions, Robinson's housekeeper found his pajama-clad body lying face down on his apartment floor. He had not given up the battle, but his heart had.</p>

<p>Two days after Robinson's sudden death, stunned colleagues, friends, and family attended his funeral in the Senate chamber. His casket, blanketed with flowers, rested in the green-carpeted pit, the site of his greatest speeches. The Senate chaplain gave a brief sermon, and the Capitol Police escorted his body to a funeral train headed to Little Rock. Thousands of mourners traveled to the Arkansas capitol to witness Robinson's lying-in-state ceremony and to express their grief and their enormous admiration for the majority leader: the "fightingest" man in the U.S. Senate.</p>

<p><b>Joseph Taylor Robinson (1872–1937) <br>
Twenty-third Governor (1913)</b></p>

<p>Joseph Taylor Robinson was governor only a short time before taking office as a U.S. senator. He became Senate majority leader during the Great Depression, after his nomination as the Democratic Party candidate for vice president—the first Arkansan ever on a major party ticket.</p>

<p>Joe T. Robinson was born on August 26, 1872, in Concord Township (Lonoke County) to James Madison Robinson—a doctor, farmer, and lay preacher from New York—and Matilda Jane Swaim of Tennessee. Usually attending the local one-room schoolhouse during the summer, he received fewer than forty-six months of formal education. He augmented his schooling by reading classics from his father’s extensive library. In his childhood, he chopped cotton and tended to his father’s apple orchard. During his teenage years, he made a reputation as a public speaker, winning forensic exchanges in both political and religious contests. At seventeen, he took the local test and was licensed to teach first grade in the county schools. After two years of teaching, he enrolled in the University of Arkansas (UA) in Fayetteville (Washington County), attending for one year until his father’s death in 1892, when he returned to Lonoke (Lonoke County). There he studied law with Thomas C. Trimble, a judge and political leader.</p>

<p>In 1894, Robinson defeated the Populist candidate for state representative and became the youngest member of the Arkansas General Assembly at age twenty-two. He introduced a bill to create a commission, similar to the Interstate Commerce Commission, to regulate state railroad rates. The bill was defeated, but in the next legislature, a similar bill was passed as an amendment to the state constitution and sent to the voters, who approved it overwhelmingly in 1898 by 63,703 to 16,940.</p>

<p>On December 15, 1896, Robinson married Ewilda “Billie” Grady Miller, a local beauty. The couple had no children.</p>

<p>After his one term in the legislature, Robinson concentrated on his growing law practice, earning enough income to allow him to re-enter politics. In 1902, he won a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, a position he held for a decade. With the Democrats in the minority and unable to pass their own bills, Robinson supported such progressive Republican legislation as railroad regulation, the Pure Food and Drug Act, campaign contribution restrictions, the graduated income tax, and the direct election of senators.</p>

<p>Robinson’s career took many rapid turns in 1912. He announced he would run for the Senate against the incumbent Jeff Davis, but after assaying Davis’s strength, he changed his mind. He ran for governor instead, and bested George W. Donaghey by nearly a two-to-one margin. But before Robinson’s inauguration, the recently reelected Davis died of a heart attack. Robinson won a close vote for Davis’s Senate seat. As governor, Robinson pushed through a progressive agenda for the state. He proposed, and the Legislature enacted, laws creating a state banking board, a state health board, and the Arkansas Highway Commission. He also oversaw the reform of the penitentiary system, including a paid oversight board and the outlawing of the notorious convict-leasing system. He also worked for ratification of the Seventeenth Amendment and the direct election of senators by the people. But on March 8, 1913, he resigned the governorship to take his Senate seat, causing a crisis in the state as Arkansas did not have the position of lieutenant governor.</p>

<p>In the Senate, Robinson became a politician of national stature. He stood by President Woodrow Wilson, leading fights for progressive legislation, such as a proposal to end child labor, and for wartime measures, the arming of merchant ships, and the declaration of war against Germany in 1917. After the war, he helped direct the unsuccessful battle for ratification of the Versailles Treaty, earning a reputation as a master tactician and excellent parliamentarian. In recognition of his efforts, he was chosen the permanent chairman of the 1920 Democratic National Convention.</p>

<p>His fame and power grew throughout the 1920s. In 1923, he became the Democratic leader of the Senate. Then, in 1924, he was one of many “favorite son” candidates nominated for president of the United States. As the convention deadlocked through 102 ballots, The New York Times anointed Robinson the “obvious compromise candidate.” Instead, the delegates chose John W. Davis, a Wall Street lawyer.</p>

<p>In 1928, Robinson made headlines again when, on the floor of the Senate, he attacked the anti-Catholic religious bigotry of Alabama senator Tom Heflin and the venomous hatred of the Ku Klux Klan. Because of this speech, he became a champion of religious toleration, a big issue at the time since the presumed Democratic nominee for president, Al Smith, was Catholic. Robinson was then chosen to serve as the permanent chairman of the Democratic National Convention in Houston, Texas. And shortly thereafter, Al Smith, governor of New York, selected him as his running mate; Robinson’s outspoken attack on religious prejudice in America, as well as his Southern roots, were seen as important to the ticket. Many politicos predicted that Southerners would never vote for an anti-prohibitionist Catholic for president; many believed that Robinson could help to deliver the “solid South” to the Democrats once more. When the Democrats officially nominated him for the vice-presidency on June 29, 1928, he became the first Arkansan ever nominated for a national office. By train, Robinson campaigned for thousands of miles across the South and the West. Herbert Hoover won the presidency, however. The next year, Hoover named Robinson as the only Democratic delegate to the London Naval Disarmament Conference. Upon his return, he secured enough Democratic votes in the U.S. Senate for the London Naval Disarmament Treaty to ensure its passage.</p>

<p>As the Great Depression of the 1930s grew, so did Robinson’s prestige. After the 1932 election, with the Democrats in control of the federal government, Robinson became the majority leader of the Senate. From this position, he pushed President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal legislation through a sometimes reluctant Senate. In 1933, he guided the Emergency Banking Act through the Senate and introduced and pushed for passage of the Civilian Conservation Corps, the Federal Emergency Relief Act, the Work Relief Act, the Home Owners Loan Act, and the Railroad Coordination Act.</p>

<p>After 1933, he continued to support Roosevelt’s program, in both foreign and domestic battles. In 1935, he led an unsuccessful attempt to bring the United States into the World Court. He supported other Roosevelt measures, such as the Social Security Act and the Rural Electrification Act, even while pushing through the Robinson-Patman Anti-Price Discrimination Act to protect small retailers from large chain stores; he pushed the Robinson-Patman Act through Congress without administration support.</p>

<p>Roosevelt acknowledged Robinson’s many contributions on numerous occasions, most notably when he came to Arkansas in 1936—the first time a sitting president had visited the state. Arriving for the main centennial celebration at the capitol on June 10, 1936, Roosevelt then went to Robinson’s home for a private luncheon and reception. Later that summer, he served as the Permanent Chairman of the Democratic National Convention, his third time to hold that office. Later that year, the state further honored Robinson by having a special centennial coin struck with his picture on one side. Perhaps the most controversial stand that Robinson took during the year was in his opposition to the Southern Tenant Farmers’ Union (STFU), which was trying to organize the overworked and underpaid day laborers in the delta region. He defended the large landowners, arguing to the president that “outside agitators” were orchestrating the troubles. Personally, he hated that the STFU leader, H. L. Mitchell, and called him “Greasy Joe.” In the end, the large landowners won.</p>

<p>Robinson’s career came to an end in 1937 during one of the most heated Senate conflicts of the twentieth century—Roosevelt’s plan to enlarge the Supreme Court. In June 1937, Roosevelt offered Robinson a seat on the Court—if he could get Senate support to add up to six new justices. For the next month, Robinson led the floor fight in the bitter battle over the Roosevelt proposal in the hot Senate chamber. Suddenly, on July 14, 1937, the skirmish ended when Robinson died in his apartment, apparently the victim of a heart attack. He was laid to rest in Roselawn Cemetery in Little Rock (Pulaski County).</p>