Simon Cameron (1799–1889) was an American politician who was elected senator from Pennsylvania four times, and was War Secretary under Lincoln at the start of the Civil War. At first a supporter of James Buchanan, whom he succeeded in the Senate when Buchanan became Secretary of State in 1845, Cameron broke with Buchanan and the Democrats by the 1850s. An opponent of slavery, he briefly joined the Know Nothings before winning another term in the Senate as a Republican in 1857. He helped nominate and elect Lincoln, but rumors of corruption surrounded him; it was with reluctance that Lincoln appointed him to the cabinet. He did not do well in his post, and Lincoln made him minister to Russia in 1862, a post he held briefly. He rebuilt his political machine in Pennsylvania, winning a third term in the Senate in 1867. After ten years he resigned, arranging the election of his son, Don Cameron, in his place. Simon Cameron lived to age 90; his machine dominated local politics until the 1920s. (Full article...).
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Cameron> _______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries: 1890: Sitting Bull, a Hunkpapa Lakota leader, was killed on Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in South Dakota by U.S. Indian agency police. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sitting_Bull> 1939: The American historical epic film Gone With the Wind, adapted from Margaret Mitchell's Pulitzer Prize–winning novel of the same name, premiered in Atlanta, Georgia. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gone_with_the_Wind_%28film%29> 1945: The US-led occupying forces ordered the government of Japan to cease state support for Shinto. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_Shinto> 2019: Citizenship Amendment Act protests: 10 to 15 local women blockaded a major road in Delhi, India, to protest the exclusion of Muslims from the amended Citizenship Act. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaheen_Bagh_protest> _____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day: mothball: 1. To store (clothing, etc.) with mothballs (noun sense 1). 2. (figurative, chiefly passive voice) 3. To stop using (something), and often to put it in storage; specifically, while keeping it in good condition so it can be used in the future. 4. To stop work on (a plan, project, etc.) for the time being; to postpone, to shelve. 5. (chiefly in the plural) A small ball of chemical pesticide (originally camphor and now typically naphthalene or paradichlorobenzene) and deodorant placed in or around clothing and other articles to deter moth larvae which may damage them. <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/mothball> ___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day: The great ideas are always emerging, to be available to all men and women. And one hope of our lives is the communication of these truths. --Muriel Rukeyser <https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Muriel_Rukeyser> _______________________________________________ Wikipedia Daily Article mailing list. To unsubscribe write to: [email protected] Questions or comments? Contact [email protected]
