George Hunt Pendleton (July 19, 1825 – November 24, 1889) was a Representative and a Senator from Ohio. Nicknamed "Gentleman George" for his demeanor, he was the Democratic nominee for Vice President of the United States during the Civil War in 1864, running alongside George B. McClellan, who lost to Abraham Lincoln. George H. Pendleton was born in Cincinnati, Ohio. He was the son of Nathanael Greene Pendleton and attended the local schools and Cincinnati College and the University of Heidelberg in Germany. Pendleton studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1847 and commenced practice in Cincinnati. He was a member of the Ohio Senate from 1854 to 1856. In 1854 he ran unsuccessfully for the Thirty-fourth United States Congress. Three years later he was elected as a Democrat to the Thirty-fifth Congress and also succeeded in being reelected to the three following Congresses (March 4, 1857 to March 3, 1865), but in 1864 he failed to be elected to the Thirty-ninth Congress. Pendleton was a noted antiwar Democrat.
He was one of the managers appointed by the House of Representatives in 1862 to conduct the impeachment proceedings against West H. Humphreys, United States judge for several districts of Tennessee. He ran in the 1864 U.S. presidential elections for Vice President, together with George McClellan. Their opponents were Abraham Lincoln (President) and Andrew Johnson (nominee for Vice President). McClellan and Pendleton lost, receiving about 45% of the vote. Pendleton also failed to be elected to the Fortieth Congress and was an unsuccessful Democratic candidate for Governor of Ohio in 1869, losing to Rutherford B. Hayes. In 1869 he became president of the Kentucky Central Railroad and kept this position until he was elected as a Democrat to the United States Senate in 1879. He served six years in the Senate from March 4, 1879, to March 3, 1885, but was unsuccessful in winning renomination. During this time, he sponsored the Pendleton Act of 1883 in response to the assassination of President James A. Garfield by Charles Guiteau. The Act helped put an end to the system of patronage that was in widespread use at the time. From 1881 to 1885 he was Chairman of the Democratic Conference. He was appointed Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Germany in 1885, and served until his death in Brussels, Belgium. He is interred in Spring Grove Cemetery, Cincinnati, Ohio. The city of Pendleton, Oregon is named after him. The Senator George H. Pendleton House in Cincinnati is a National Historical Landmark and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1966.
Bibliography
- American National Biography; Dictionary of American Biography; Mach, Thomas S. "George Hunt Pendleton, The Ohio Idea and Political Continuity in Reconstruction America." Ohio History 108 (Summer-Autumn 1999): 125-144.
- Bloss, George M.D., "Life and Speeches of George H. Pendleton." Cincinnati: Miami Printing & Publishing Co., 1868.
- Mach, Thomas Stuart. "'Gentleman George' Hunt Pendleton: A Study in Political Continuity." Ph.D. dissertation, University of Akron, 1996.
- ___. "George Hunt Pendleton, The Ohio Idea and Political Continuity in Reconstruction America." Ohio History 108 (Summer-Autumn 1999): 125-144.
- George H. Pendleton at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
| Preceded by Timothy C. Day |
U.S. Representative from Ohio's 1st District 1859 – 1863 |
Succeeded by Benjamin Eggleston |
| Preceded by Herschel Vespasian Johnson, Joseph Lane(1) |
Democratic Party vice presidential candidate 1864 (lost) |
Succeeded by Francis Preston Blair, Jr. |
| Preceded by Thomas Stanley Matthews |
United States Senator (Class 3) from Ohio 1879 – 1885 |
Succeeded by Henry B. Payne |
| Preceded by John A. Kasson |
United States Ambassador to Germany June 21, 1885 – April 25, 1889 |
Succeeded by William W. Phelps |
| Notes & References | ||
| 1. The Democratic party split in 1860, producing two vice-presidential candidates. Johnson was nominated by Northern Democrats; Lane was nominated by Southern Democrats. | ||
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