Harry G. Leslie
Encyclopedia
Harry Guyer Leslie was a Indiana
Republican Party
politician, speaker of the state house and the 33rd Governor of the state. His term as governor was marked by the start of the Great Depression
.
on August 6, 1878 to Daniel and Mary Burkhart Leslie. His father was a local politician and served a chief of police for the town. While still a boy, his family moved into the country outside of the town. He attended public schools and worked delivering groceries as a teenager. In 1898 he was elected town clerk, a year after he graduated.
He soon enrolled in the recently constructed Purdue University
where he was a member of the Sigma Pi
Fraternity and Acacia Fraternity
. While at Purdue, Leslie was captain of both the school's football
and baseball
teams and became one of the school's "immortal" players. As one of the school's star players, his team was on course to win the state championship in 1903. On October 31 he and his teammates took a train from Lafayette to Indianapolis to a match against Indiana University
. As the train neared the 18th Street crossing in Indianapolis, it collided with another train. The incident would later become known as the Purdue Wreck
. The coach car in which Leslie was seated was shattered. One member of the team miraculously landed on his feet and was unharmed after being thrown out a window. The other eighteen boys, including Leslie, were pronounced dead at the scene and taken to the morgue.
A few hours later at the morgue, as the morticians prepared to embalm his body, they discovered he still had a pulse and immediately rushed him to the hospital. Barely alive, he needed several operations and edged on death for several weeks. His recovery was slow, but he eventually regained his health, although he walked with the aid of a cane for the remainder of his life. He returned to school at the end of 1904 and after another year he graduated with a degree in law. His survival of the Purdue Wreck
received significant attention across the state and he became a famous folk hero.
Leslie opened a law office in Lafayette the year he graduated and took a position at a local high school coaching football. There he met Martha Morgan, the couple married on August 16, 1910, and had three sons, Jack, Richard, and Robert. Leslie became involved in local politics and was elected as a Republican Tippecanoe County
treasurer in 1912. In 1914 he purchased a farm but found he didn't like the work. He sold the farm and bought stock in a local bank were he served as president until 1924.
. He became known for his down-to-earth style of speaking, and quickly made many allies in the body. He was reelected twice, and served through 1929. In 1925 he was elected Speaker of the House, and remained in that position until he left the body. His term as Speaker was dominated by the Indiana Ku Klux Klan. Their leader was arrested and convicted of rape and murder in 1925, and over the next two years many other Klansman were exposed and forced out of office on a host of charges—including nearly half the members of the General Assembly. The Klan had supported him in his bid for the speakership primarily because they opposed his rival candidate. Leslie fought the Klan block on several issues, including committee assignments, legislation aimed at eliminating Catholic schools, and other issues.
Leslie was pleased with the Grand Dragon's conviction and the collapse in Klan power. He personally believed he was innocent of the charges but thought he deserved prison because of his many unknown crimes. Among the causes Leslie championed was the creation of the Riley Children's Hospital in Indianapolis
.
On of his first acts as governor was to support legislation to repeal the state's 1915 primary election laws, and return candidate selections to state conventions. The measure was approved in 1929, and much to the disappointment of the Klan. The first part of Leslie's term was a period of economic growth and he hosted several high profile events, including the National Governors Association
, a visit by President Herbert Hoover
, Charles Lindbergh
, and other famous guests.
The Great Depression began in 1929, and was complicated by a drought in the state. He instituted some relief measures, but largely did nothing significant believing that the Depression would soon end. In 1932 he called a special session of the General Assembly to lower taxes. Among the relief legislation passed by the General Assembly was Indiana's first old-age pension act, but Leslie vetoed it. As the Depression continued, Leslie decided more needed to be done. He began hiring unemployed workers to work on state road projects. He also advocated that his program be duplicated by the federal government, and his plan was soon implemented as the WPA
. Among Leslie's other projects was continuing to grow the state park system.
In August 1931, Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith were lynched in Marion
after accused of assaulting a white woman and murdering her boyfriend. The murder of the two men created a national sensation and photos of their bodies were hanging from a tree were printed in papers around the country. Leslie issued a strong condemnation of the killings, but no action was taken to investigate or prosecute the murderers.
in Indianapolis
. Leslie enjoyed humor and among his close friends were George Ade
and Will Rogers
. While visiting Ade in Miami, Leslie died unexpectedly from heart disease
on December 10, 1937. His remains were returned to Indianapolis where he lay in state before being moved to Lafayette for a funeral and burial.
Indiana
Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...
Republican Party
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
politician, speaker of the state house and the 33rd Governor of the state. His term as governor was marked by the start of the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
.
Family and education
Harry G. Leslie was born in West Lafayette, IndianaWest Lafayette, Indiana
As of the census of 2010, there were 29,596 people, 12,591 households, and 3,588 families residing in the city. The population density was 5,381.1 people per square mile . The racial makeup of the city was 74.3% White, 17.3% Asian, 2.7% African American, 0.16% Native American, 0.03% Pacific...
on August 6, 1878 to Daniel and Mary Burkhart Leslie. His father was a local politician and served a chief of police for the town. While still a boy, his family moved into the country outside of the town. He attended public schools and worked delivering groceries as a teenager. In 1898 he was elected town clerk, a year after he graduated.
He soon enrolled in the recently constructed Purdue University
Purdue University
Purdue University, located in West Lafayette, Indiana, U.S., is the flagship university of the six-campus Purdue University system. Purdue was founded on May 6, 1869, as a land-grant university when the Indiana General Assembly, taking advantage of the Morrill Act, accepted a donation of land and...
where he was a member of the Sigma Pi
Sigma Pi
Sigma Pi is an international college secret and social fraternity founded in 1897 at Vincennes University. Sigma Pi International fraternity currently has 127 chapters and 4 colonies in the United States and Canada and is headquartered in Brentwood, Tennessee...
Fraternity and Acacia Fraternity
Acacia Fraternity
Acacia Fraternity is a Greek social fraternity originally based out of Masonic tradition. At its founding in 1904, membership was originally restricted to those who had taken the Masonic obligations, and the organization was built on those ideals and principles. Within one year, four other Masonic...
. While at Purdue, Leslie was captain of both the school's football
College football
College football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities...
and baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
teams and became one of the school's "immortal" players. As one of the school's star players, his team was on course to win the state championship in 1903. On October 31 he and his teammates took a train from Lafayette to Indianapolis to a match against Indiana University
Indiana University
Indiana University is a multi-campus public university system in the state of Indiana, United States. Indiana University has a combined student body of more than 100,000 students, including approximately 42,000 students enrolled at the Indiana University Bloomington campus and approximately 37,000...
. As the train neared the 18th Street crossing in Indianapolis, it collided with another train. The incident would later become known as the Purdue Wreck
Purdue Wreck
The Purdue Wreck was a railroad train collision in Indianapolis, Indiana, on October 31, 1903, that killed 17 people, including 14 players on the Purdue University football team.Two special trains operated by the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St...
. The coach car in which Leslie was seated was shattered. One member of the team miraculously landed on his feet and was unharmed after being thrown out a window. The other eighteen boys, including Leslie, were pronounced dead at the scene and taken to the morgue.
A few hours later at the morgue, as the morticians prepared to embalm his body, they discovered he still had a pulse and immediately rushed him to the hospital. Barely alive, he needed several operations and edged on death for several weeks. His recovery was slow, but he eventually regained his health, although he walked with the aid of a cane for the remainder of his life. He returned to school at the end of 1904 and after another year he graduated with a degree in law. His survival of the Purdue Wreck
Purdue Wreck
The Purdue Wreck was a railroad train collision in Indianapolis, Indiana, on October 31, 1903, that killed 17 people, including 14 players on the Purdue University football team.Two special trains operated by the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St...
received significant attention across the state and he became a famous folk hero.
Leslie opened a law office in Lafayette the year he graduated and took a position at a local high school coaching football. There he met Martha Morgan, the couple married on August 16, 1910, and had three sons, Jack, Richard, and Robert. Leslie became involved in local politics and was elected as a Republican Tippecanoe County
Tippecanoe County, Indiana
Tippecanoe County is a county located in the northwest quadrant of the U.S. state of Indiana. It was created in 1826 from Wabash County. It is part of the Lafayette, Indiana, Metropolitan Statistical Area....
treasurer in 1912. In 1914 he purchased a farm but found he didn't like the work. He sold the farm and bought stock in a local bank were he served as president until 1924.
Speaker of the House
In 1923 Leslie, aided by his popularity, was elected to represent Tippecanoe and Warren County in the Indiana House of RepresentativesIndiana House of Representatives
The Indiana House of Representatives is the lower house of the Indiana General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Indiana. The House is composed of 100 members representing an equal number of constituent districts. House members serve two-year terms without term limits...
. He became known for his down-to-earth style of speaking, and quickly made many allies in the body. He was reelected twice, and served through 1929. In 1925 he was elected Speaker of the House, and remained in that position until he left the body. His term as Speaker was dominated by the Indiana Ku Klux Klan. Their leader was arrested and convicted of rape and murder in 1925, and over the next two years many other Klansman were exposed and forced out of office on a host of charges—including nearly half the members of the General Assembly. The Klan had supported him in his bid for the speakership primarily because they opposed his rival candidate. Leslie fought the Klan block on several issues, including committee assignments, legislation aimed at eliminating Catholic schools, and other issues.
Leslie was pleased with the Grand Dragon's conviction and the collapse in Klan power. He personally believed he was innocent of the charges but thought he deserved prison because of his many unknown crimes. Among the causes Leslie championed was the creation of the Riley Children's Hospital in Indianapolis
Indianapolis
Indianapolis is the capital of the U.S. state of Indiana, and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population is 839,489. It is by far Indiana's largest city and, as of the 2010 U.S...
.
Governor
Leslie ran for the governor's nomination in the 1928 Republican primary. Among the five candidates, no one took a majority and the nomination went to the state convention. Leslie won on the fifth ballot and defeated the Democrat major of Indianapolis, Frank Daily, and was elected with 51.3% if the vote. He was the state's fifth consecutive Republican governor.On of his first acts as governor was to support legislation to repeal the state's 1915 primary election laws, and return candidate selections to state conventions. The measure was approved in 1929, and much to the disappointment of the Klan. The first part of Leslie's term was a period of economic growth and he hosted several high profile events, including the National Governors Association
National Governors Association
The National Governors Association , founded in 1908 as the National Governors' Conference, is funded primarily by state dues, federal grants and contracts and private contributions. NGA represents the governors of the fifty U.S. states and five U.S. territories The National Governors Association...
, a visit by President Herbert Hoover
Herbert Hoover
Herbert Clark Hoover was the 31st President of the United States . Hoover was originally a professional mining engineer and author. As the United States Secretary of Commerce in the 1920s under Presidents Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge, he promoted partnerships between government and business...
, Charles Lindbergh
Charles Lindbergh
Charles Augustus Lindbergh was an American aviator, author, inventor, explorer, and social activist.Lindbergh, a 25-year-old U.S...
, and other famous guests.
The Great Depression began in 1929, and was complicated by a drought in the state. He instituted some relief measures, but largely did nothing significant believing that the Depression would soon end. In 1932 he called a special session of the General Assembly to lower taxes. Among the relief legislation passed by the General Assembly was Indiana's first old-age pension act, but Leslie vetoed it. As the Depression continued, Leslie decided more needed to be done. He began hiring unemployed workers to work on state road projects. He also advocated that his program be duplicated by the federal government, and his plan was soon implemented as the WPA
Works Progress Administration
The Works Progress Administration was the largest and most ambitious New Deal agency, employing millions of unskilled workers to carry out public works projects, including the construction of public buildings and roads, and operated large arts, drama, media, and literacy projects...
. Among Leslie's other projects was continuing to grow the state park system.
In August 1931, Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith were lynched in Marion
Marion, Indiana
Marion is a city in Grant County, Indiana, United States. The population was 29,948 as of the 2010 census. The city is the county seat of Grant County...
after accused of assaulting a white woman and murdering her boyfriend. The murder of the two men created a national sensation and photos of their bodies were hanging from a tree were printed in papers around the country. Leslie issued a strong condemnation of the killings, but no action was taken to investigate or prosecute the murderers.
Later years
Following his governorship Leslie became a founder, and eventually the president, of Standard Life Insurance CompanyStandard Life
Standard Life plc is a long term savings and investment business, with headquarters in Edinburgh and operations across the globe. It has 1.5 million shareholders in more than 50 countries and over 6 million customers.-History:...
in Indianapolis
Indianapolis
Indianapolis is the capital of the U.S. state of Indiana, and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population is 839,489. It is by far Indiana's largest city and, as of the 2010 U.S...
. Leslie enjoyed humor and among his close friends were George Ade
George Ade
George Ade was an American writer, newspaper columnist, and playwright.-Biography:Ade was born in Kentland, Indiana, one of seven children raised by John and Adaline Ade. While attending Purdue University, he became a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity...
and Will Rogers
Will Rogers
William "Will" Penn Adair Rogers was an American cowboy, comedian, humorist, social commentator, vaudeville performer, film actor, and one of the world's best-known celebrities in the 1920s and 1930s....
. While visiting Ade in Miami, Leslie died unexpectedly from heart disease
Heart disease
Heart disease, cardiac disease or cardiopathy is an umbrella term for a variety of diseases affecting the heart. , it is the leading cause of death in the United States, England, Canada and Wales, accounting for 25.4% of the total deaths in the United States.-Types:-Coronary heart disease:Coronary...
on December 10, 1937. His remains were returned to Indianapolis where he lay in state before being moved to Lafayette for a funeral and burial.