Godlove Orth | |
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| United States Ambassador toAustria | |
| In office March 9, 1875 – March 10, 1876 | |
| President | Ulysses S. Grant |
| Preceded by | John Jay II |
| Succeeded by | Edward F. Beale |
| Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromIndiana's9th district | |
| In office March 4, 1881 – December 16, 1882 | |
| Preceded by | Michael D. White |
| Succeeded by | Charles T. Doxey |
| Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromIndiana'sAt-Large district | |
| In office March 4, 1873 – March 4, 1875 | |
| Preceded by | New district |
| Succeeded by | District abolished |
| Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromIndiana's7th district | |
| In office March 4, 1869 – March 3, 1871 | |
| Preceded by | Henry D. Washburn |
| Succeeded by | Mahlon D. Manson |
| Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromIndiana's8th district | |
| In office March 4, 1863 – March 3, 1869 | |
| Preceded by | Albert S. White |
| Succeeded by | James N. Tyner |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Godlove Stein Orth (1817-05-22)May 22, 1817 Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Died | December 16, 1882(1882-12-16) (aged 65) Lafayette, Indiana, U.S |
| Resting place | Greenbush Cemetery |
| Political party | Republican |
| Other political affiliations | Whig Know Nothing |
| Education | Pennsylvania College |
Godlove Stein Orth (April 22, 1817 – December 16, 1882) was aUnited States representative fromIndiana and an actingLieutenant Governor of Indiana.
OfGerman ancestry, he was born nearLebanon,Lebanon County, Pennsylvania, on April 22, 1817.[1] He attendedPennsylvania College atGettysburg for about one year and then studied law with the office ofJames Cooper. He entered the bar in 1839.[2]
His political career started with public speeches in 1840 supportingWilliam Henry Harrison for president. He started as aWhig but as that party collapsed, he looked elsewhere. For a time he was the Indiana leader of theKnow-Nothings (called the American Party) and later aligned himself with theRepublican Party.
He served in the Indiana Senate from 1843 to 1849, and as acting-Lieutenant Governor of Indiana in 1845.
He served as a U.S. House representative from Indiana from 1863 to 1871, 1873 to 1875, and from 1879 to 1882.
"Godlove S. Orth is a fat, fluffy, pudgy-cheeked, good-humored old boy, with a volubility co-equal with the necessities of a politician, and a smile that is broad, bewitching, childlike, and bland," theChicago Times reported in 1876. "He has a good head, well stocked with information and experience, and is no fool."[3] He was, in fact, a politician skilled at political survival, and had to be: as was so often the case with congressmen, local jealousies kept even the most able members from serving more than one or two terms, before some other county in the district demanded the nomination in recognition. Those jealousies and factional feuds nearly prevented his re-election in 1866, and in 1868 he had to fend off a serious challenge from GeneralLew Wallace. Survival therefore took assiduous cultivation of his constituents. In his district, as he informed another Republican, he kept a list of the top hundred party leaders for each county, and a file on some ten thousand other constituents, "pretty much all the reading Republicans and some Democrats in the District."
When he sent out public documents and books, or speeches from other House members, he would mail them to names on the first list; when he sent pamphlets and his own speeches, it went to the second. Naturally, he had a hearty appreciation of the franking system, as a way of not having to pay the postage costs.[4]
Orth therefore made a reliable second-string leader for the House Republicans in the late 1860s. He stood at the more conservative end of his party duringAndrew Johnson's administration: supportingReconstruction, but trying to bring the President and Congress back into harmony, if it were possible. On theHouse Foreign Affairs Committee, he became theGrant Administration's most reliable point-man, and in 1871 the one to manage a resolution appointing a fact-finding commission sent toSanto Domingo to prepare the way for possible annexation. AChicago Tribune correspondent described him as "as good a man as can be found, without prejudice, without notions, without fixed ideas upon any question. He is one of those men, who, upon large, general irresponsible principles are always right, but who are unpronounced upon little, local, and special questions." That was not meant in criticism; the reporter thought him "one of the most law-observing, conservative, neighborhood constructions of manhood we know".[5]
Despite his history with the Know-Nothings, near the end of his life, Orth stood as one of a small number of congressmen defending racial equality. He condemned the racial discrimination of the first Chinese Exclusion Act (1882), declaring that he would vote against the bill because "I am opposed to all legislation founded on 'race, color, or previous condition of servitude.' We have no such odious laws now upon our statute-book, and no vote of mine shall ever be given to place any there."[6]
After his retirement from the House, Orth was appointedEnvoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Austria. He resigned in the late spring of 1876, having been nominated in February for governor by the Republican party. Members of the reform wing distrusted Orth automatically, because he stood well with SenatorOliver Morton's political machine, and they doubted his personal integrity. They were strengthened in their suspicions when a newspaper charged him with participating in a ring of speculators that shook down Venezuelan claimants in disputes between injured parties inVenezuela and the United States and with lobbying the Congress to confirm those claims.
With the ex-Congressman refusing to make a full explanation or convincing denial and with rumors of incriminating letters waiting to be released in what promised to be a hot campaign[clarification needed], Morton withdrew his public support.[citation needed] On August 2, Orth withdrew as candidate for governor, and was replaced byBenjamin Harrison.
Orth was married twice,[2] and had a daughter and two sons.
He died in office in December 1882 inLafayette, Indiana, just after losing a re-election bid toThomas B. Ward, and is interred at Greenbush Cemetery in that city.[7]
| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of the U.S. House of Representatives fromIndiana's 8th congressional district March 4, 1863 – March 3, 1869 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Member of the U.S. House of Representatives fromIndiana's 7th congressional district March 4, 1869 – March 3, 1871 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by District inactive | Member of the U.S. House of Representatives fromIndiana's at-large congressional district March 4, 1873 – March 3, 1875 (obsolete district) | Succeeded by District inactive |
| Preceded by | Member of the U.S. House of Representatives fromIndiana's 9th congressional district March 4, 1879 – December 16, 1882 | Succeeded by |
| Diplomatic posts | ||
| Preceded by | United States Ambassador to Austria-Hungary March 9, 1875 – March 10, 1876 | Succeeded by |
 Austrian Empire(1838–1867) |  | |
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 Austro-Hungarian Empire(1867–1917) | ||
 Republic of Austria(1921–1938, 1946–present) | ||
| International | |
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| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
