Boies Penrose

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Boies Penrose
Junior Senator, Pennsylvania
In office 1897–1921
Preceded by	James Donald Cameron
Succeeded by	George Wharton Pepper
Born	November 1, 1860 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Died	December 31, 1921 Washington D.C.
Political party	Republican

Boies Penrose (November 1, 1860 – December 31, 1921) was an American lawyer and Republican politician from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He represented Pennsylvania in the United States Senate from 1897 until his death in 1921.

Born into a prominent Philadelphia family, he was brother to Spencer Penrose, who in 1918 would build the elegant Broadmoor Hotel at Colorado Springs, Colorado. Boise Penrose graduated from Harvard with a law degree in 1881, and was accepted into the Pennsylvania bar association in 1883. He took an interest in politics and began working for Matthew Quay, a Pennsylvania political boss. He was elected to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in 1884 and served until 1886 when he was elected to the State Senate, where he served as president pro tempore from 1889 to 1891.

Penrose stepped down from his position as a State Senator in 1897 to take office as a United State Senator. Penrose was a dominant member of the Senate Finance Committee and supported high protective tariffs. Penrose was elected the Republican leader of Pennsylvania upon Quay's death in 1904, and was reelected to this position in 1908. Penrose died in Washington, D.C. in 1921, and was buried in the Laurel Hill Cemetery in Philadelphia.

Senator Penrose was an avid outdoorsman and took pleasure in mountain exploration and big-game hunting. A mountain in Montana and another in the Dickson Range in the Bridge River Country in British Columbia were climbed and named by him. Local lore from the Bridge River Country told by his hunting guide, W.G. (Bill) Manson, was that the senator was a large man (overweight) and they had to shop all over the place to get a horse big enough to fit him and his custom saddle. The horse was so large no other saddle would fit him. The horse was called "Senator", and he was retired to the pasture because no standard saddle would fit him.

[edit] Quotes

"Public office is the last refuge of a scoundrel." -- Boies Penrose

"I believe in the division of labor. You send us to Congress; we pass laws under which you make money...and out of your profits, you further contribute to our campaign funds to send us back again to pass more laws to enable you to make more money." -- Senator Boies Penrose (R-Pa.), 1896, citing the relationship between his politics and big business.

[edit] External link

• Biographical Directory

Political offices
Preceded by James Donald Cameron	United States Senator (Class 3) from Pennsylvania 1897–1921 Served alongside: Matthew S. Quay, Philander C. Knox, George T. Oliver, William E. Crow	Succeeded by George Wharton Pepper

Persondata
NAME	Penrose, Boies
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION	United States Senator from Pennsylvania
DATE OF BIRTH	November 1, 1860
PLACE OF BIRTH	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
DATE OF DEATH	December 31, 1921
PLACE OF DEATH	Washington D.C.