Benton McMillin

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Benton McMillin (September 11, 1845January 8, 1933) was governor of the U.S. state of Tennessee from 1899 to 1903. A Democrat, he was a native of Kentucky and an attorney.

McMillin was a member of the state legislature from 1875 to 1877, and served in the United States Congress from 1879 until his election as governor in November, 1898. He was governor during the settlement of a long-running boundary dispute between Tennessee and Virginia. He pushed for the adoption of uniform textbooks in the state public schools and a tax increase to support public high schools. Re-elected in 1900, he subsequently entered the insurance business at the end of his second term.

McMillin later was appointed by President Woodrow Wilson as U.S. Minister to Peru from 1913 to 1919, and as Minister to Guatemala from 1919 to 1923.

He advocated the introduction of an income tax while serving in Congress and in a later article in the Saturday Evening Post.[citation needed]

[edit] References

Tennessee Encyclopedia, Benton McMillin [1]

Political offices
Preceded by
Haywood Yancey Riddle
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Tennessee's 4th congressional district

1879-1899
Succeeded by
Charles Edward Snodgrass
Preceded by
Robert Love Taylor
Governor of Tennessee
1899-1903
Succeeded by
James B. Frazier
Diplomatic posts
Preceded by
H. Clay Howard
United States Minister to Peru
9 September 19135 September 1919
Succeeded by
William E. Gonzales
Preceded by
William Hayne Leavell
United States Minister to Guatemala
January 15, 1920December 6, 1921
Succeeded by
Arthur H. Geissler
Languages