Ben Hanford

Benjamin Hanford (1861 – January 24, 1910) was an American socialist politician during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. A printer by trade, Hanford is best remembered for his 1904 and 1908 runs for Vice President of the United States on the ticket of the Socialist Party of America, running next to Presidential nominee Eugene V. Debs. Hanford was also the creator of the fictional character "Jimmie Higgins," a prototypical Socialist rank-and-filer whose silent work on the unglamorous tasks needed by any political organization made the group's achievements possible — a character later reprised in a novel by Upton Sinclair.

Biography

Early life

Benjamin Hanford was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1861, the son of George Byington Hanford and Susan Elizabeth Martin Hanford. Ben's mother died when he was in infancy. Hanford's father later married Frances Jane Thompson, a woman from Bangor, Maine who as Hanford's step-mother imparted a taste for scholarship and culture upon him. With his 18th birthday approaching, Hanford left Iowa for the great regional metropolis of Chicago, where on February 26, 1879, he became a member of the Chicago Typographical Union, a local affiliate of the International Typographical Union. Hanford would remain a dues-paying member of that organization for the rest of his life. There he worked as a printer and became involved in the affairs of International Typographical Union Local No. 6 — known as "Big Six" in that era.

In August 1901, the eastern "Social Democratic Party" of Hillquit, Slobodin, and Hanford merged with the Chicago-based Social Democratic Party of America headed by Eugene V. Debs and Victor L. Berger to form the Socialist Party of America (SPA), of which Hanford became a charter member. Hanford was tapped the New York ticket of the SPA in the November 1902, running for Governor of New York for a third time.

Hanford was regarded as an effective orator who possessed both "a burning earnestness" and "an ability to clothe his thoughts and feelings into the simplest and most direct language." was reprised after Hanford's death in a novel by the same title by Upton Sinclair.

Death and legacy

Following the close of the 1908 Socialist Party National Convention, at which he was nominated for vice president for a second time, Hanford was stricken by "a virulent stomach trouble." The couple made their home in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn.

Ben Hanford died at his home in Brooklyn, New York at noon on Monday, January 24, 1910, with his wife and party comrades by his bedside. His last hours were said to have been "peaceful and free of pain."

Works

McKinley, Bryan or Debs? New York: G. Speyer, 1900. Railroading in the United States. New York: Socialistic Cooperative Publishing Association, 1901. Hanford's Reply to Havemeyer: Patriotism and Socialism. New York: Comrade Cooperative, 1903. What Workingmen's Votes Can Do. Chicago: National Committee of the Socialist Party, 1904. The Labor War in Colorado. New York: Socialistic Cooperative Publishing Association, 1904. Speeches of Acceptance of Eugene V. Debs and Ben. Hanford: Candidates of the Socialist Party for President and Vice-President; Delivered at the National Convention of the Socialist Party Held at Chicago, May 1–6, 1904. Chicago: National Committee of the Socialist Party, 1904. Shall the Mine Owners Murder Moyer and Haywood Because They are Trade Union Officials? New York: n.p., n.d. [c. 1906]. Fight for Your Life! Recording Some Activities of a Labor Agitator. Introduction by Joshua Wanhope. New York: Wilshire Book Co., 1909. The Jimmie Higgins. Girard, KS: Appeal to Reason, n.d. . "Jimmie Higgins" is also a one man play by Portland, ME writer and actor Harlan Baker.

Footnotes