Charles Curtis

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This article is about the former Vice President of the United States. For the musician, see Charles Curtis (musician).

Charles Curtis
31st Vice President of the United States
In office March 4, 1929 – March 4, 1933
Preceded by	Charles G. Dawes
Succeeded by	John N. Garner
President	Herbert Hoover
Born	January 25, 1860 Topeka, Kansas
Died	February 8, 1936 Washington, D.C.
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Annie Baird Curtis (died on June 29, 1924)

Charles Curtis (January 25, 1860 – February 8, 1936) was a Representative and a Senator from Kansas as well as the 31st Vice President of the United States. Curtis was of American Indian ancestry. His mother was Kaw. He spent part of his early life on a Kaw reservation, and is the first person with acknowledged non-European ancestry to reach either of the two highest offices in the United States government's executive branch. Of less significant note, Curtis was the last US Vice President or President to wear a beard or mustache—in his case, a mustache—while in office.

Curtis was born in Topeka, Kansas, attended Topeka High School and was admitted to the bar in 1881. He commenced practice in Topeka and served as prosecuting attorney of Shawnee County, Kansas from 1885 to 1889. He was elected as a Republican to the House of Representatives of the 53rd Congress and to the six succeeding Congresses and served in the House from March 4, 1893 until January 28, 1907, when he resigned, having been chosen by the Kansas Legislature to serve in the United States Senate to fill the short unexpired term of Joseph R. Burton, who had likewise resigned. On that same day of January 28, Curtis was simultaneously tapped by Kansas' state lawmakers to the full Senatorial term commencing March 4 of that year and ending March 4, 1913. He was an unsuccessful candidate for re-designation in 1912. However, the Kansas Legislature again appointed him for the six-year term commencing March 4, 1915. In 1920, he was elected by Kansas voters (in compliance with the Constitution's recently-ratified 17th Amendment) and again in 1926 and served without interruption from March 4, 1915, until his resignation on March 3, 1929. During his tenure in the Senate, he was President pro tempore of the Senate as well as Chairman of the Committee on Expenditures in the Department of the Interior, of the Committee on Indian Depredations, and of the Committee on Coast Defenses, as well as of the Republican Conference. He was also United States Senate Republican Whip from 1915 to 1924 and Majority Leader from 1925 to 1929. It was during his Senatorial years that he—in concert with fellow Kansan, Representative Daniel Read Anthony, Jr.—offered in their respective bodies during December of 1923 the first rendition of the proposed Equal Rights Amendment to the United States Constitution.

Curtis resigned from the Senate on March 3, 1929 to assume the office of Vice President, following the landslide 58% - 41% victory achieved as running mate to Republican candidate Herbert Hoover in 1928. The pair were inaugurated on March 4, 1929. He endorsed the five day work week, with no reduction in wages, as a work-sharing solution to unemployment soon after the Great Depression began. (See John Ryan's book Questions of the Day) Following the 57% - 40% landslide defeat of the Hoover-Curtis ticket in 1932, Curtis' term as Vice President ended on March 4, 1933.

In Washington, D.C., Curtis resumed the practice of law. He died from a heart attack in that city in 1936. His remains were returned to Topeka, Kansas, where he is buried at Topeka Cemetery.

The Curtis Act in 1898—passed while he served in the House—expanded the powers of the federal government over American Indian affairs. An Act of Congress in 1902 disbanded the Kaw, the tribe of his mother, as a legal entity and transferred 160 acres (0.6 km²) to the federal government and about 1,625 acres (6.6 km²) of Kaw land to Curtis and his children.

[edit] External links

• Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• All American Patriots
• Curtis, Charles - A biography
• Charles Curtis' Gravesite

Preceded by Alfred W. Benson	U.S. Senator (Class 2) from Kansas 1907–1913	Succeeded by William H. Thompson
Preceded by William P. Frye	President pro tempore of the United States Senate Varying pro tems	Succeeded by James P. Clarke
Preceded by Joseph L. Bristow	U.S. Senator (Class 3) from Kansas 1915–1929	Succeeded by Henry J. Allen
Preceded by J. Hamilton Lewis	United States Senate Majority Whip 1919–1924	Succeeded by Wesley L. Jones
Preceded by Charles G. Dawes	Republican Party Vice Presidential candidate 1928 (won), 1932 (lost)	Succeeded by Frank Knox
Preceded by Charles G. Dawes	Vice President of the United States March 4, 1929–March 4, 1933	Succeeded by John Nance Garner

Vice Presidents of the United States of America

Adams • Jefferson • Burr • Clinton • Gerry • Tompkins • Calhoun • Van Buren • R Johnson • Tyler • Dallas • Fillmore • King • Breckinridge • Hamlin • A Johnson • Colfax • Wilson • Wheeler • Arthur • Hendricks • Morton • Stevenson • Hobart • Roosevelt • Fairbanks • Sherman • Marshall • Coolidge • Dawes • Curtis • Garner • Wallace • Truman • Barkley • Nixon • L Johnson • Humphrey • Agnew • Ford • Rockefeller • Mondale • Bush • Quayle • Gore • Cheney

United States Republican Party Vice Presidential Nominees
Dayton • Hamlin • Johnson • Colfax • Wilson • Wheeler • Arthur • Logan • Morton • Reid • Hobart • Roosevelt • Fairbanks • Sherman • Butler • Fairbanks • Coolidge • Dawes • Curtis • Knox • McNary • Bricker • Warren • Nixon • Lodge • Miller • Agnew • Dole • Bush • Quayle • Kemp • Cheney

Presidents pro tempore of the United States Senate

Langdon • Lee • Langdon • Izard • H Tazewell • Livermore • Bingham • Bradford • Read • Sedgwick • Laurance • Ross • Livermore • Tracy • Howard • Hillhouse • Baldwin • Bradley • Brown • Franklin • Anderson • Smith • Bradley • Milledge • Gregg • Gaillard • Pope • Crawford • Varnum • Gaillard • Barbour • Gaillard • Macon • Smith • L Tazewell • White • Poindexter • Tyler • W R King • Southard • Mangum • Sevier • Atchison • W R King • Atchison • Cass • Bright • Stuart • Bright • Mason • Rusk • Fitzpatrick • Bright • Fitzpatrick • Foot • Clark • Foster • Wade • Anthony • Carpenter • Anthony • Ferry • Thurman • Bayard • Davis • Edmunds • Sherman • Ingalls • Manderson • Ransom • Harris • Frye • (Special: Bacon • Curtis • Gallinger • Brandegee • Lodge) • Clarke • Saulsbury • Cummins • Moses • Pittman • W H King • Harrison • Glass • McKellar • Vandenberg • McKellar • Bridges • George • Hayden • Russell • Ellender • Eastland • Magnuson • Young • Magnuson • Thurmond • Stennis • Byrd • Thurmond • Byrd • Thurmond • Byrd • Stevens Emeritus: Thurmond • Byrd

United States Senate Majority Leaders
Curtis • Watson • Robinson • Barkley • White • Lucas • McFarland • Taft • Knowland • Johnson • Mansfield • Byrd • Baker • Dole • Byrd • Mitchell • Dole • Lott • Daschle • Lott • Daschle • Frist • Reid