Benjamin Harrison: A President at the Crossroads

He was a man living in two worlds. He witnessed both the extremes of wealth and poverty in the Gilded Age and the unbridled promise of the Modern Era. He saw the rise of prairie populism and a country’s transformation from rural isolationism to international power. He dreamed of a world where men shared the same civil rights regardless of color, but was challenged at every pass. Above all else, Benjamin Harrison was America’s Hoosier President, raising a family in the country’s heartland in Indianapolis..
Who was this 23rd president of the United States?
A war hero and champion of veterans. Cold in conversation but a brilliant lawyer and orator. In conservation, he was visionary; in foreign affairs, foresighted; in personal affairs, unconventional. He was an early architect of a social safety net. He signed landmark anti-trust legislation still on the books today.
You’ll discover the politics and the power, the personality and the private life, of a man at the crossroads between the past and the now.
But always, a President with boundless faith in people: “An American could not be a good citizen who did not have hope in his heart.”
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#indianahistory, #presidents, #americanhistory

[@whicker59]

As a historian for 6 decades, I still devour history like this.

[@jmdec20]

me too. Harrison is in both sides of our family line. I found out I liked him. Try his biography in three parts.

[@jmdec20]

Through his education you will find out why he was described as aloof or cool when his actions show otherwise. He was taught to measure the words he spoke to uplift or be said as if a record of life.

[@brandon7482]

Iam a member of Ben Harrison Camp #356 Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War.

[@user-hu5iw4lb4x]

That’s really great !! ❤

[@Ptrm594]

Where do you folks meet ?

[@gregoryphillips2939]

Great-grandson of Arkansas Little Rock Volunteers. Long live Dixie.

[@brandon7482]

@@gregoryphillips2939 have you looked at joining the Sons of Confederate Veterans? I am also a member. Florida Volunteers, Texas Volunteers, Arkansas Volunteers, and my great Uncle was a Colonel of a Confederate Indian regiment.

[@Annoyed-Dragon]

​@@brandon7482 Harrison opposed the Confederate army. Is it common to support both sides? As one was for the rights of states to keep slaves and the other was not? -genuinely curious.

[@ColeYounger16]

Watching for 2 mins and I'm hooked! Love this stuff, and, it grows your brain.

[@bidenator9760]

Great documentary. I will be sure to read more about Harrison.

[@d.c.8828]

Thanks for this documentary on a presidency and era I had little knowledge about. Cheers from Houston, TX!

[@bidenator9760]

Nice profile pic!

[@terriaranich8524]

Wow, he accomplished so much. I really enjoyed this. Thank-you

[@mikenixon2401]

Very good presentation. It is interesting to think what voters and politicians of the 21st century could learn from those of the 19th century.

[@jasonnaimie5465]

Great video, I am glad he signed the bill for the union veterans. the person that came before him should done it. I glad it was signed. He did a great job in office.He did a better job than many of our current Presidents. I am a u.s. Army Veteran myself having served two combat tours in Iraq. Thank you for doing this video.

[@mikenixon2401]

Based on your comments, you may enjoy a short film made in the 1930s of veterans of both Union and Confederate militaries having a reunion. I found it interesting that old men (yeah I'm now in that category) could bond over a common experience without sides being a factor.

[@TheDroppedAnchor]

Bravo to the unsung who helped in the production of this extremely fine documentary. My esteem for the second President Harrison is immense. Thank you for the education.

[@carlcleary548]

Great Documentary thanks for sharing this 🎉

[@lindahouston5635]

I'd never really read anything about this president. He sounds like a good man that I have some admiration for.

[@jameswaltersdorf2783]

That was very enjoyable and informative. I always thought Harrison was underrated. Also remember he hired Teddy Roosevelt

[@CarmonBenford]

Wow! Up to now, i looked at Benjamin Harrison as the President sandwiched between Cleveland's two terms. So much done in these four years of his. Quite a history, and now i'm ready to read more about him. Like others have said here, there's so much about Benjamin to be appreciated.

[@sheilasnyder3718]

Great job on this! President Harrison actually sounds like a great man that gets no notice. This documentary was very well done!

[@mikenixon2401]

After taking in this piece I'm inclined to look up the "forgotten" presidents and continue my education.

[@brianrichardcohn2159]

I wonder what Harrison would have thought if he had lived in your country today. Greetings from Sweden. :)

[@Ptrm594]

He'd think "wow, I'm in a lot of pain", then he'd look down at his skeletal body, and he'd probably die of fright

[@mikenixon2401]

I suspect many from the 19th century would have heart attacks. I'm not making a joke of heart attacks with that comment.

[@joecole7122]

What would King Oscar ii think of Sweden today?

[@brianrichardcohn2159]

@@joecole7122 Good question. Don. t know.

[@boga5014]

Great documentary about a great man .

[@ajbufort]

Learned so much from this biography. Very much enjoyed and appreciated it!

[@villanovakid84]

Very interesting documentary on a president who I knew very little about. When I visit Indiana again; I will make it a point to visit the Harrison House in Indianapolis.

[@nancyjensen6409]

Thank you for an excellent documentary. I enjoyed it very much. 🎉🎉

[@gee853]

At least we were civilized enough and were capable of having smooth transitions between to administrations then!!!

[@a.leemorrisjr.9255]

First that I've heard about this amazing man. His story deserves to be better known. He's largely forgotten today.

[@cathyanderson785]

Great documentary, thank you.

[@richardmiranda640]

This was very interesting. I learned a great deal. Thanks for sharing this video.

[@tedbaxter5234]

Prior to this video, if I’d seen this man’s name, I’d never associate it with a United States President. Now I will remember him. Thank you!

[@brenttesterman1198]

I wish they taught this in high schools!

[@davidcouch6514]

Don’t know if still exists but I learned this in 5th Grade; I distinctly remember a pension was granted to someone injured “while intending to enlist.”

[@brenttesterman3171]

@@davidcouch6514 could be, sounds familiar.

[@ge2623]

His contributions as The Beatles guitarist should not be forgotten either.

[@miketackabery7521]

😂👍🏻

[@carlkuss]

That was his brother George, you dummy.

[@tombrennan4839]

Great documentary. Hope people beyond Indiana see this.

[@TheDroppedAnchor]

As a West Coast liberal now living in New Orleans I assure you this has a far reaching audience.

[@bidenator9760]

@@TheDroppedAnchorEast Coast liberal in DC reporting in

[@mikenixon2401]

I just watched it from my home in south Texas. Yes, near what was once our border. I thought it was a great documentary.

[@miketackabery7521]

Alaska conservative checking in. It was a well done show. I look forward to reading about him in depth. Good documentaries are like reading the menu: I'm looking forward to the meal.

[@dictatorofcanada4238]

Canadian checking in 🇨🇦

[@frompapertopeoplepodcast4889]

James Madison, one of my history professors - nice to see you!!!

[@ronbork684]

Thank you for your informative video of this kinsman on my Mother's side. With pensions and jobs disappearing, crime and unemployment rising, civil unrest and the threat of another war looming, one can not help but see the truthfulness of the inspired words of Psalm 146:3, "Do not put your trust in princes Nor in a son of man, who cannot bring salvation." Thankfully that Kingdom that Christ Jesus told his followers to pray for, will soon accomplish all the good, that human governments never could. Matthew 6:9,10, Daniel 2:44, Micah 4:3,4 Isaiah 65:21,22 Revelation 21;3,4

[@crazyman8472]

“Benjamin Harrison is not to be fucked with. He was quick, stocky, and efficient with his actions, and according to historian William DeGregorio, he ‘tackled problems through mastery of detail.’”😎 -from “How To Fight Presidents”, by Daniel O’Brien

[@kevinb9327]

I understand that prior to the Civil War, the expression was "the United State ARE..." After the war, it was "the US IS ..." Significant.

[@miketackabery7521]

These United States was also frequently used.

[@carlkuss]

This is a beautiful, lovingly made, old-fashioned historical documentary which one can learn very much from. But it is very much a parable with a message for our times (election year 2024). It is nice and slow but that´s the way I like it. Its still waters run deep. I find that the reconstruction period has deep lessons for us today. There was this sapiential reflection on the lessons of the Civil War. Learning the lessons without giving way to meanness and intransigence. The Harrison that emerges here is a man of moral decency and personal coherence. The period of Reconstruction is the period in which the Reconstruction Amendments emerge with their insistence on the principle of equality under the law, a principle which needs a new and deeper hermeneutics surpassing that of mere judicial activism on the one hand and the Originalist Error on the other hand, an error which represents the overcoming of the spirit of legal positivism. (See the discourse of Pope Benedict XVI given before the Reichstag in Berlin.)

[@nathancoleman7235]

Benjamin Harrison was the grandson of William Henry Harrison the 9th president of the United States who died in office on April 4,1841 after only one month as president.

[@mnoliberal7335]

The short mentions of his funeral and memorial kind of choked me up. They could have been a video

[@davidcouch6514]

Growing up I visited the Atlanta Cyclorama about once a year. Included in the presentation: Gen. John Logan commissioned a Cyclorama painting of the Battle of Atlanta toward his planned 1888 Presidential Campaign, for traveling exhibition popularizing as “Logan’s Ride” his decisive act in the battle. Unfortunately the General died in 1886. General Benjamin Harrison took part in the Atlanta Campaign but wasn’t actually present in the battle. Some clever initiative in the Harrison Campaign had the painting doctored to set General Harrison in another’s saddle, and the Painting toured celebrating General Harrison’s bravery.

[@paulguevara5397]

Very interesting documentary. Things you don't learn.

[@PaidSearch]

8x grandfather

[@Captain-ln3vh]

That is pretty awesome. Be proud of your history.

[@PaidSearch]

Very proud of him and his grandfather. I hope to do them likewise

[@onomatopoeia162003]

Makes me wonder if anyone else's fam would ever run. From said family tree today.

[@DennisMSulliva]

05:30 Still grieving the loss of a baby daughter. Before twentieth century medicine, mothers giving birth and children were at great risk, even if they were upper class.

[@leohorishny9561]

Nicely done. Interesting though to me, his birth near Cincinnati, but he left Ohio, and didn't seem to look back.🤔

[@normanbonk8064]

❤❤❤

[@passiveaggressivenegotiato8087]

22:50 it would have been something to see the scene when Ben arrived to a crowd outside of his home.

[@garyfrancis6193]

Too bad no one can put dates on this in the description or comments or even in the narration. We are all supposed to be intimately familiar with the history of Benjamin Harrison who Wikipedia records was president from 1889 to 1993 which is odd. Now presidential elections are in even numbered years. Why? We are not all Americans.

[@noguidebooks5975]

Since George Washington’s first re-election in 1792, presidential elections have always been held in the fall of “even numbered” years. Every four. The winner takes office (these days) at the end of January of the following year, thus the odd year term dates.

[@noguidebooks5975]

Yeah, 104 years. 26 terms. Is a comment pointing out an obvious 9 vs 8 typo really necessary? Try and be a pleasant human being.

[@christineabercrombie7316]

Robert johnson where was that? South of memphis. Alabama? Never been

[@haroldhorton2603]

I thought it was interesting about the veterans' pension started out a simple thing that had good intentions, but turned into social security services where 17 years old were married to 90+ years for the pension. Then it started to cause the budget of the of USA to increase.

[@jerrygottlick4614]

Maybe not everybody caught it but President Cleveland won two non-consecutive terms. This is not usual in American politics.

[@TheBatugan77]

Wonder if Cleveland took Ohio. 😮

[@davidcouch6514]

Yet.

[@paulgaskins7713]

26:34 at least he didn’t try to jail his opponent

[@crewshaw2122]

The way the country is the way it will fall…Anti Black Hate! RIP Mr Harrison

[@kevinjohnson-lf3kj]

God Bless America

[@jona.scholt4362]

@0:50 Wow, whoever wrote this obviously doesn't understand how income inequality is even greater now than it was back then.

[@jona.scholt4362]

@@TheBatugan77 This is an extremely easy statistic to look up. Never before in the history of this nation has more wealth been concentrated in a smaller percentage of the population.

[@junkboxxxxxx]

I'm a James G Blaine man myself

[@SkiiDreamr420]

That little girl looks just like her papa!

[@sondrasims-taylor5367]

who is moms Mabley? did she have regular ID card in that decade?

[@sondrasims-taylor5367]

the decade there can have veterans Jurasci military Peter frances add to sondra 's bankruptsy , what u have to note. jurasci is in chicago. they have no right to arrest jurasci

[@johnhafford1970]

He looks like Obi Wan

[@charleschase1300]

Benjamin Hairs

[@THEScottCampbell]

It's always worth mentioning that five Union states AND Washington D.C. had legal ⚖ ⚖ slavery throughout the entire civil war and Lincoln's attack on The South killed more Americans than all other wars combined to this very day. Lincoln also gave thousands of square miles to his railroad executives that made him rich and made him president with 41% of the popular vote. Lincoln also began the war of extinction against the Plains Indians. Harrison was part of that.

[@TheBatugan77]

I'm good with it.

[@distractionb]

I also dislike birds and cats

[@tangetstone2.045]

D4C

[@gilbertoortiz6739]

Just another carry a big stick president.

[@onomatopoeia162003]

That's Teddy Roosevelt. He was the one who keyed that term.

[@gary_stavropoulos]

He only uttered a profanity once, but every other word out of his mouth was vulgarity.

[@31wst83]

please elaborate on this comment...

[@gary_stavropoulos]

@@31wst83 it was a joke about how people don’t know the difference between profanity and vulgarity. Profanity is religious in nature while vulgarity is what gets you fined if you say it on tv.

[@jimmaughan1898]

Terrible biography. it jumps all over the place.