Joseph M. McCormick

Joseph Medill McCormick
In 1912 as Illinois representative
United States Senator from Illinois
In office March 4, 1919 – February 25, 1925
Preceded by	J. Hamilton Lewis
Succeeded by	Charles S. Deneen
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Illinois's at-large district
In office March 4, 1917 – March 3, 1919
Preceded by	Burnett M. Chiperfield
Succeeded by	Richard Yates
Member of the Illinois House of Representatives
In office 1913–1917
Personal details
Born	(1877-05-16)May 16, 1877 Chicago, Illinois
Died	February 25, 1925(1925-02-25) (aged 47) Washington, D.C.
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Ruth Hanna McCormick
Alma mater	Yale University

Joseph Medill McCormick, known as Medill McCormick (May 16, 1877 – February 25, 1925), was part of the McCormick family of businessmen and politicians in Chicago. After working for some time and becoming part owner of the Chicago Tribune, which his maternal grandfather had owned, he entered politics.

After serving in the State House, he was elected both as a Representative in the United States Congress and later as a US Senator from Illinois. He committed suicide at age 48, a few months after losing his bid for renomination to a second term in the senate.

Early life

Joseph Medill McCormick was born in Chicago on May 16, 1877. His father was the future diplomat Robert Sanderson McCormick (1849–1919), who was a nephew of Cyrus McCormick.

McCormick attended the Groton School, a preparatory school at Groton, Massachusetts. He graduated from Yale University in 1900, where he was elected to the secret society Scroll and Key.

He worked as a newspaper reporter and publisher, and became an owner of the Chicago Daily Tribune. He later purchased interests in The Cleveland Leader and Cleveland News. In 1901 he served as a war correspondent in the Philippine Islands.

Marriage and family

In 1903 he married Ruth Hanna, daughter of the Ohio Senator Mark Hanna. They had three children:

• Ruth "Bazy" McCormick, (1921–2013) who married a Miller and then Tankersley. As Bazy Miller, she founded Al-Marah Arabians, a breeding and training farm for Arabian horses now in Tucson, Arizona, which is still operating.^[1]
• Katrina McCormick (1913–2011), who married Courtland Dixon Barnes, Jr.^[2]
• John Medill McCormick, called "Johnny," died in a mountain-climbing accident in 1938.

The Chicago Tribune

McCormick was the grandson of the Tribune owner Joseph Medill. His mother Katherine Medill McCormick hoped that leadership of the paper would pass from her brother-in-law, Robert Wilson Patterson, to her first son. Joseph McCormick took over much of the management of the paper between 1903 and 1907, but became increasingly depressed and developed alcoholism. In 1907–1908, he spent some time under the care of the psychoanalyst Carl Jung in Zurich, and subsequently followed Jung's advice to detach himself from the family newspaper.^[3]

His younger brother Robert Rutherford McCormick (1880–1955) became involved in the newspaper, and worked closely on it for four decades.^[4]

Political career

McCormick was vice chairman of the national campaign committee of the Progressive Republican movement from 1912 to 1914. He was elected to the Illinois House of Representatives in 1912 and 1914.

Afterward he advanced to national office, being elected to the United States House of Representatives, where he served one term from March 4, 1917 to March 3, 1919. He was elected to the United States Senate in 1918, and served from March 4, 1919 until his death at age 48 in 1925. In the Senate, McCormick was chairman of the Committee on Expenditures in the Department of Labor and the Committee on Expenditures in Executive Departments.

McCormick lost the nomination in 1924 to Charles S. Deneen. He died on February 25, 1925 in a hotel room in Washington, DC.^[5] Although it was kept quiet at the time, his death was considered suicide.^[6] McCormick was interred in Middle Creek Cemetery, near Byron, Illinois.^[7]

Family tree

Paternal side

Maternal side

See also

• List of United States Congress members who died in office (1900–49)

References

• American National Biography
• Dictionary of American Biography
• Miller, Kristie. Ruth Hanna McCormick: A Life in Politics from 1880 to 1944. Albuquerque, NM: University of New Mexico Press, 1992
• Stone, Ralph A. "Two Illinois Senators Among the Irreconcileables." Mississippi Valley Historical Review 50 (December 1963): 443-65.