14 Facts About Judson Harmon

Judson Harmon was an American Democratic politician from Ohio.

Judson Harmon served as United States Attorney General under President Grover Cleveland and later served as the 45th governor of Ohio.

Judson Harmon's parents were Benjamin Franklin Harmon and Julia Brunson, a native of Olean, New York.

Judson Harmon graduated from the Cincinnati Law School and was admitted to the bar in 1869.

Judson Harmon was elected judge of the Superior Court of Cincinnati in 1878 and served until he resigned in 1887 to resume the practice of law.

Judson Harmon was appointed Attorney General by President Cleveland on June 8,1895, upon the elevation of Richard Olney to become United States Secretary of State.

Judson Harmon served out the remainder of Cleveland's second term in office.

Shortly after his appointment, Judson Harmon urged Congress to fix some of the weaknesses in the Sherman Antitrust Act.

Judson Harmon issued the most explicit statement of what became known as the Judson Harmon doctrine of absolute sovereignty, "the rules, principles and precedents of international law impose no liability or obligation upon the United States" in a case involving a claim by Mexico for damages from diverting the waters of the Rio Grande.

In 1910, Harmon was re-elected for a second term as governor, this time defeating future President of the United States Warren G Harding.

In June 1912, Judson Harmon led the Ohio delegation to the Democratic National Convention in Baltimore, Maryland.

That was largely as a favorite son of the State of Ohio, Judson Harmon found support from elsewhere and on the first ballot of the Convention, and he received the votes of 148 delegates.

Accordingly, Judson Harmon left office in January 1913 upon completing this second term.

In 1870 Judson Harmon married Olivia Scobey, the daughter of a leading physician in Hamilton.