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Francis Burton Harrison | |
|---|---|
 Harrison in 1910 | |
| Governor-General of the Philippines | |
| In office October 6, 1913 – March 5, 1921 | |
| President | Woodrow Wilson |
| Preceded by | Newton W. Gilbert (acting) |
| Succeeded by | Charles Yeater (acting) |
| Philippine Secretary of Interior | |
Acting | |
| In office September 28, 1915 – March 29, 1916 | |
| Succeeded by | Rafael Palma |
| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives fromNew York | |
| In office March 4, 1907 – September 3, 1913 | |
| Preceded by | Jacob Ruppert |
| Succeeded by | Jacob A. Cantor |
| Constituency | 16th district (1907–13) 20th district (1913) |
| In office March 4, 1903 – March 3, 1905 | |
| Preceded by | Oliver Belmont |
| Succeeded by | Herbert Parsons |
| Constituency | 13th district |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Francis Burton Harrison (1873-12-18)December 18, 1873 New York City, United States |
| Died | November 21, 1957(1957-11-21) (aged 83) |
| Resting place | Manila North Cemetery,Manila,Philippines |
| Citizenship | American Filipino |
| Party | Democratic |
| Spouse(s) | Mabel Judson Cox (divorced)Margaret Wrentmore (divorced)Maria Teresa Larrucea (before 1956) |
| Children | 4, includingBarbara |
| Parent(s) | Burton Harrison Constance Cary Harrison |
| Alma mater | Yale University New York Law School |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  United States |
| Branch/service |  United States Army |
| Years of service | 1898–1899 |
| Rank |  Captain |
| Battles/wars | Spanish–American War |
Francis Burton Harrison (December 18, 1873 – November 21, 1957) was an American-Filipinostatesman who served four terms in theUnited States House of Representatives between 1903 and 1913 and was appointedgovernor-general of the Philippines byPresident of the United StatesWoodrow Wilson. Harrison was a prominent adviser to the president of thePhilippine Commonwealth, as well as the next fourpresidents of theRepublic of the Philippines. He is the only former governor-general of the Philippines to be awarded Philippine citizenship.
Harrison was born inNew York City, toBurton Harrison, a lawyer and private secretary toConfederate PresidentJefferson Davis, andConstance Cary Harrison, novelist and social arbiter. Through his mother, Harrison was great-grandson ofVirginia-planter,Thomas Fairfax, 9th Lord Fairfax of Cameron. Through Fairfax in birth and marriage, Harrison was also relative to United States founding fathers:Gouverneur Morris (his great-great-uncle),Thomas Jefferson, theRandolphs, the Ishams,Robert Carter I, andConfederate GeneralRobert E. Lee.
Harrison graduated fromYale College in 1895, where he was a member of thePsi Upsilon fraternity and the secret societySkull and Bones,[1]: 166 and from theNew York Law School in 1897. From 1897 to 1899, Harrison was an instructor in the Evening Division at New York Law School. He later left to serve inUnited States Army during theSpanish–American War, as an assistantadjutant general with the rank ofcaptain.
A member of theDemocratic Party, Harrison was elected to the58th United States Congress, and served from March 4, 1903, to March 3, 1905. In1904, Harrison ran unsuccessfully forlieutenant governor of New York. Afterwards, he resumed the practice of law. He was again elected to the60th,61st,62nd and63rd United States Congresses, and served from March 4, 1907, to September 3, 1913, when he resigned to become governor-general of the Philippines. HisHarrison Narcotics Tax Act was eventually passed on December 17, 1914.
During his service in theFar East, Harrison was a candidate for the Democratic nomination in the1920 presidential election. He lost the nomination toGovernor ofOhioJames M. Cox at theDemocratic National Convention inSan Francisco, who eventually lost to the Republican candidateWarren G. Harding.
Harrison was governor-general of the Philippines from 1913 to 1921 and advocated for and oversaw the process of Filipinization, or the transfer of authority to Filipinos in theUnited States territory'sInsular Government to better prepare for independence.[2] He was governor-general during the passages of thePhilippine Autonomy Act, otherwise known as the Jones Act, which converted the partially electedPhilippine Legislature with the appointedPhilippine Commission as theupper house and the electedPhilippine Assembly as thelower house, to a fully elected Philippine Legislature with thePhilippine Senate replacing the now-dissolved Philippine Commission and the Philippine Assembly renamed theHouse of Representatives of the Philippines.
Despite the length of his tenure as governor-general, he vetoed only five bills, the least number by any American governor-general in the Philippines.[3] His pro-Filipino stance made him a popular figure in the Philippines but also the object of criticism of conservative Americans who viewed his liberal governance as not supportive enough of U.S. interests.[4]
Under his administration, the governor-general's Spanish-era mansion calledMalacañang Palace was expanded with the construction of an executive building. When he left the Philippines, Harrison lived inScotland until being recalled to the Philippines in 1934, during a period of transition from anunincorporated territory of the United States to theCommonwealth of the Philippines.
Manuel L. Quezon became the first president of the Commonwealth, and Harrison was asked to be Quezon's principal advisor in November 1935. He served in that capacity for ten months. In 1936, Harrison expressed interest in acquiring Filipino citizenship but did not fulfill the required years of residency under the Naturalization Law.[5] Upon Quezon's initiative, the National Assembly passed Commonwealth Act No. 79, making him a naturalized Filipino citizen.[6] Harrison returned to the position of advisor upon Quezon's request in May 1942, after Filipino and American troops had surrendered theBataan Peninsula andCorregidor Island duringWorld War II and Quezon went into exile in the United States. Harrison would serve the government-in-exile.
From November 1946 to February 1947, Harrison served as commissioner of claims in the civil service of theUnited States Army inManila. He later served as an advisor to the first four presidents of the newPhilippine Republic afterthe country's independence in 1946, serving as special adviser of foreign affairs toManuel Roxas.
After this latest service to the Philippines, Harrison retired toSpain for six years, then chose to move toCalifon,New Jersey in August 1957.
Harrison's first wife was Mary Crocker, daughter ofCaliforniarailroad andmining magnateCharles Frederick Crocker. They were married on June 7, 1900, atSt. Mary's Church inTuxedo Park, New York.[7] She died in 1905 in an automobile accident leaving Harrison to raise two small daughters, the elderVirginia Randolph Harrison and the youngerBarbara Harrison Wescott.[8] Harrison would marry and divorce four more times to: Mabel Judson Cox, Elizabeth Wrentmore (divorced by Wrentmore in 1927 due to abandonment),[9] Margaret Wrentmore whom he had a son, Norvell Burton Harrison who died in an automobile accident in Tucson, AZ on April 19, 1941, at the age of 13, and Doria Lee.[10] His only surviving son, Dr. Francis Burton "Kiko" Harrison Jr., (1921–2014), was the subject of many photographs taken between 1939 and 1942 by thePaJaMa Collective andGeorge Platt Lynes.[11] Kiko was a product of his third marriage.[12] His last wife, Maria Teresa Larrucea, a youngBasque woman, was born inAmorebieta (Bizkaia,Spain) and outlived Harrison.
Harrison died on November 21, 1957, atHunterdon Medical Center inRaritan Township nearFlemington, New Jersey. He willed that he be buried in the Philippines, and he was interred in theManila North Cemetery in Manila.[13]
F.B. Harrison Street in theMetro Manila cities ofManila,Pasay, andParañaque was named after him. Harrison Road inBaguio, a major thoroughfare beginning in the city center betweenBurnham Park and near the Baguio Convention Center, is also named for Harrison.
Mrs. Francis Burton Harrison of 876 Fifth Avenue, wife of the Democratic candidate for Lieutenant Governor in 1904, and a leader of society here and in San Francisco, was instantly killed in an automobile accident at Thompson Avenue and Van Pelt Street, Long Island City, just before noon yesterday.
| Party political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Charles N. Bulger | Democratic nominee forLieutenant Governor of New York 1904 | Succeeded by |
| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
| Preceded by | Member of the U.S. House of Representatives fromNew York's 13th congressional district 1903–1905 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Member of the U.S. House of Representatives fromNew York's 16th congressional district 1907–1913 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Member of the U.S. House of Representatives fromNew York's 20th congressional district 1913 | Succeeded by |
| Government offices | ||
| Preceded by | Governor-General of the Philippines 1913–1921 | Succeeded by |
Americangovernors-general of thePhilippines | ||
|---|---|---|
1898–1935 | ||
| Military government (1898–1902) | .svg) | |
| Insular Government (1901–1935) | ||
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| International | |
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| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
