Adolph Borie | |
|---|---|
 | |
| 25thUnited States Secretary of the Navy | |
| In office March 9, 1869 – June 25, 1869 | |
| President | Ulysses S. Grant |
| Preceded by | Gideon Welles |
| Succeeded by | George M. Robeson |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Adolph Edward Borie (1809-11-25)November 25, 1809 |
| Died | February 5, 1880(1880-02-05) (aged 70) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Resting place | Laurel Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Political party | Whig(Before 1854) Republican(1854–1880) |
| Education | University of Pennsylvania(BA) |
Adolph Edward Borie (November 25, 1809 – February 5, 1880) was an American merchant and politician who briefly served asSecretary of the Navy in theUlysses S. Grant administration in 1869.
A native ofPhiladelphia, Borie was born into the successful mercantile trade business of his father. When the Civil War broke out, Borie became a close associate to GeneralUlysses S. Grant. Early in Grant's presidential administration, Borie served as Navy Secretary for a few months before stepping down, citing frail health. As Navy Secretary, Borie controversially renamed many naval ships, enforced full pay for an eight-hour work day, and desegregated the Washington Navy Yard, allowingAfrican Americans to freely work alongside whites. He accompanied Grant on his 1877-79 world tour.
Borie died on February 5, 1880, and is buried atLaurel Hill Cemetery in Philadelphia. Two U.S. warships have been namedUSSBorie.
Borie was born inPhiladelphia on November 25, 1809, the eldest of 12 children.[1] He was the son of John Joseph Borie, who emigrated from France'sBordeaux region, settled in Philadelphia and became a leading merchant and manufacturer.[1][2] His mother was Sophia Beauveau, the daughter of a wealthy Haitian planter who had fled Haiti during the violentHaitian Revolution.[2][1] Borie came from one of the oldest and most aristocratic families in Pennsylvania.[2]
Borie attended theUniversity of Pennsylvania and graduated in 1825 at the age of 16.[2] At the age of 24 Borie toured Europe and completed his studies in Paris.[1][3] In 1828, after returning from Europe, Borie entered his father's prestigious mercantile firm McKean Borie & Co.[1][3] Silk and tea were the emphasized trade commodities during his 30-year tenure in the firm during the epoch of the clipper ships.[1] Borie's firm did trade business with Mexico, the West Indies, and the Far East when Philadelphia foreign trade was at it zenith.[1] Borie was a pioneer in lobbying the federal government for diplomatic and naval support in protecting his business abroad.[1] The magnitude of his business was enormous, identified by $100,000 in property damages incurred during the 1857-58 disturbances of theSecond Opium War in China.[1] From 1848 to 1860, Borie was president of The Bank of Commerce and he became the director of several leading business ventures in Philadelphia.[1]
On May 23, 1839, Borie married Elizabeth Dundas McKean.[1] The couple had no children.
Before theCivil War, Borie had a slight connection to politics. He championedWhig Party policies and favoredprotectionist international trade.[1] In 1843, Borie was consul to Belgium.[1] When the Whig Party dissolved in the mid-1850s, Borie became aRepublican.[1]
Borie supported Republican candidateAbraham Lincoln during the presidential election of 1860.[1] At the outbreak of theCivil War Borie ardently supported the Union cause and Lincoln's presidency.[1] He was a founding member and one-time vice-president of Philadelphia'sUnion League, and guided the recruiting and equipping of several regiments, inspiring Unionist sentiment.[1] The Philadelphia Union League assumed national importance and inspired other cities to create similar organizations to support the Union war effort against the Confederacy.[1] During the war, Borie became an intimate of Union GeneralUlysses S. Grant.[1]
On March 5, 1869, now-President Grant nominated Borie to be Secretary of the Navy. Grant often appointed people who were non-elected or personal friends. For his first cabinet, Grant did not seek advice from Senators in his selections, partly out of national unity, and partly out of his military training to choose cabinet members as subordinates. A few of his nominees were exceptional in their service, most notably his effective Secretary of StateHamilton Fish, Secretary of the TreasuryBenjamin Bristow, and Attorney GeneralAlphonso Taft. But, in his initial stages of choosing his 1869 cabinet, it was a hit-or-miss matter. Borie had been very friendly to Grant on a visit to Philadelphia that he chaired. Grant, considering that he owed something to Borie and to the Republicans in theKeystone State announced that there would be a man from Pennsylvania in his cabinet. When pressed for details ("was it a member of the Republican machine underSimon Cameron?") Grant's sense of humor took over and he became mysterious, talking about a "man from Philadelphia".
The question of who was this "man from Philadelphia" bothered the public, but the revelation it was Borie was met with amazement. Nobody had ever heard of him outside of Philadelphia. Borie had little interest in public office, and freely admitted that AdmiralDavid Dixon Porter was the actual manager.
Borie disliked theNative American Indian names borne by so manyUnited States Navy ships of the post-American Civil War era, and during his very short term as Secretary of the Navy, had a great many vessels renamed after states of the Union, creatures and personages from classical Greek or Roman mythology, or names that conveyed power or strength. A sample of names that Borie selected were"Florida","Centaur", and"Tornado". The general public was shocked on hearing the changes, because it was traditional for American ships to be given American names. His successor,George M. Robeson, had most of these ships reverted to their original names a few months later. Ironically, Borie was a Philadelphian associated with the town ofManayunk (now a Philadelphia neighborhood), and one of the vessels that was never given back its original name wasUSSManayunk, which permanently kept its new name ofUSSAjax, renamed by Borie on June 15, 1869, ten days before his resignation.Ajax was amythological Greek hero, the son of KingTelamon andPeriboea.
On May 29, 1869, Borie enforced full pay and the eight-hour work day at theBrooklyn Navy Yard for mechanics and laborers for workper diem. Workers would receive unpaid backpay dating from May 19. Borie gave specific instructions:
The preciseness of the working times upset the workers.[4]
During Borie's brief tenure in office, the United States was going throughReconstruction, after theCivil War. TheThirteenth andFourteenth Amendments respectively abolished slavery and gave African Americans, former slaves, U.S. citizenship. Controversy ensued as conservativeEuropean Americans throughout the nation desired to keep blacks in a condition similar to slavery by violence or coercion and to keep them separate from white society.[5] Women, led bySusan B. Anthony andElizabeth Cady Stanton, were also fighting to gain higher pay in the federal work force, civil rights in marriage and education, and the right to vote in elections, calledsuffrage.[6]
In June 1869, during his last month in office, Borie desegregated theWashington Navy Yard, allowingAfrican American males to enter and work in the facilities. Borie was personally thanked by theWorking Women's Association on June 17.[7]
On June 25, 1869, Borie quietly resigned office, kept secret from the general public, serving only 3 months and 17 days in office. There was no formal explanation given other than that he was in frail health, running the Navy Department was overall too demanding for him, and he desired to return to his business. When it was announced thatGeorge M. Robeson had been nominated and replaced Borie, the public was shocked, not knowing that Borie had even resigned. Also Robeson was not known outside of New Jersey, his home state. Again, Grant did not seek Senate advise when finding an experienced candidate to run the Navy Department. Borie returned to his home in Philadelphia.
Borie returned to private life and resumed his business interests. In his later business career, he interested himself in railroads and financial concerns. He was a noted patron of the arts. He remained close friends with Grant, whom he joined for much of his world tour in 1877-1879.
In 1872, Borie was elected as a member of the American Philosophical Society.[9]
The demands of traveling abroad took a toll on Borie's health. Having returned to Philadelphia, he died on February 5, 1880, and was interred atLaurel Hill Cemetery.[10]
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| Preceded by | United States Secretary of the Navy 1869 | Succeeded by |
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