Ohio Governor Gravesites: #45 Judson Harmon

Judson Harmon

Born: February 3, 1846
Died: February 22, 1927
Political Party: Democrat
Term of Office: January 11, 1909 - January 13, 1913
Buried: Spring Grove Cemetery Cincinnati, Ohio
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   Judson Harmon was born in Newton, Ohio in 1846 to a minister father. He graduated from Dennison College in 1866. He then attended Cincinnati Law School, after which he was admitted to the Ohio bar and set up his own law practice in 1869. He gained a very positive reputation as a lawyer and was chosen to be a Judge on the common please and superior courts in Cincinnati.

      Formerly a Republican, mismanaging of the reconstruction of the south after the Civil War pushed Harmon to become a Democrat. In 1895, President Grover Cleveland picked Harmon to be his Attorney General. He served in that position until the end of Cleveland's term. As U.S. Attorney General he pursued anti trust suits against railroad companies.

    After a limited retirement from politics, Judson Harmon ran for Governor of Ohio in 1908 and won. He won reelection in 1910, beating Republican challenger, former Lt. Governor and future President Warren G. Harding. As Governor, Harmon worked hard to do away with corruption and help state government run more efficiently. While Harmon was Governor, Ohio ratified the 16th and 17th Amendments to the Constitution. The 16th Amendment founded a federal income tax, and the 17 the Amendment stated that U.S. Senators would now be directly elected by the people.

    At the 1912 Democratic Convention in Baltimore, Harmon's name was put forward as a candidate for President. He started out as Ohio's favorite son candidate, but he started to gain support from other states as well. At the end of the first ballot Harmon had 148 delegate votes. But by the time the 26th ballot came out he only had 29. Voting ended on the 39th ballot when William Jennings Bryan shifted his support to New Jersey Governor Woodrow Wilson. Harmon was not on board for a lot of the Progressive policies sweeping the nation. And so he was probably the right guy at the wrong time.

     When Harmon left the Governorship he returned home to Cincinnati and attended to his law practice. He also taught law at Cincinnati Law School during this time. He died in 1927.

   Judson Harmon was the 4th of 6 Governor graves that we saw in Spring Grove Cemetery when we stopped in February 2012. He was just up the hill a little from Governor George Hoadly's gravesite.