Eugene Foss

Eugene Noble Foss (September 24, 1858 – September 13, 1939) was an American politician and manufacturer from Massachusetts. He was a member of the United States House of Representatives and served as a three-term governor of Massachusetts. Foss's father was a politically active manager at the St. Albans Manufacturing Company. The family moved to St. Albans, Vermont, when he was ten.

Career Foss first worked as a traveling salesman, selling a lumber-drying device for the company his father managed. His campaign was held while there were high coal prices that had badly hurt Massachusetts. Foss lost the general election to John Andrew Sullivan. He next failed in a bid for the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor in 1906. The party's position on tariffs led Foss to leave the party.

In March 1910, Foss won a special election for United States House of Representatives, filling a vacancy caused by the death of William C. Lovering. He served until January 4, 1911, when he resigned to become governor of Massachusetts. There were fistfights on the floor, chairs were thrown, and the convention ended up appointing a committee to choose a nominee. In the general election, labor Democrats attacked Draper's anti-labor record, while Foss essentially campaigned against the pro-tariff stance of Senator Lodge. In addition, a pension plan was started for state employees and part-time schooling for working children was also enforced.

Foss's tenure included the 1912 textile strike in Lawrence, Massachusetts, which was stimulated by the passage of a law limiting the working hours of women and children.

Foss denied clemency for Clarence Richeson for the sensationalized murder of Avis Linell. Richeson had documented bouts of mental problems and was convicted without trial after eventually pleading guilty to the charges. His case prompted calls for reforms in the state's handling and treatment of mental patients.

By 1913 Foss's anti-labor policies had disenchanted the state Democratic leadership, and Lieutenant Governor David I. Walsh announced that he would challenge Foss for the Democratic nomination. Foss received no support from the party but was offered—and declined—the opportunity to contest for the Bull Moose Party nomination. He eventually took out papers for the Republican nomination but failed to qualify for the primary ballot. He ran in the general election as an Independent.

Personal On June 12, 1884, Foss married his employer's daughter, Lilla Rollins Sturtevant (1860–1925). They divorced in 1921. Guy Noble Foss (b. 1889), who married Katherine Cobb, a daughter of Frederick L. Cobb, in 1912. Esther Foss (1894–1954), a twin who married polo player George Gordon Moore. They divorced in 1933 and she married Aiden Roark, another polo player, in 1934. They divorced in 1937. and she married Sidney Webster Fish, son of Stuyvesant Fish. Helen Foss (b. 1894), a twin who married English polo player Henry Forrester in 1930.

He was as active in the Home Market Club of Boston and was also chair of the Republican Party in ward 23 of Boston. He was a trustee of the Boston Young Men's Christian Association (later the YMCA), Colby University, the Hebron Academy, the Newton Theological Seminary and the Vermont Academy. He was a member of the First Baptist Church in the Jamaica Plain neighborhood of Boston. He was a member of the Algonquin Club, the Boston Art Club, the Eliot Club, the Exchange Club, the Jamaica Club, and the Country Club.

He died in Jamaica Plain on September 13, 1939. He was buried in Forest Hills Cemetery in Boston.