Asa S. Bushnell (Governor)

For subject's grandson, the sports administrator, see Asa Bushnell.

Asa Smith Bushnell I (September 16, 1834 – January 15, 1904) was a Republican politician from Ohio. He served as the 40th Governor of Ohio. Bushnell was president of Warder, Bushnell and Glessner Company, which later became International Harvester, now known as Navistar Corporation. He was also president of the Springfield Gas Company and the First National Bank of Springfield (OH).^[1]

Biography

Bushnell was born in Rome, New York and moved to Springfield, Ohio at age 17. He was a Presidential elector in 1884 for Blaine/Logan.^[2] A business executive, Bushnell served as the Ohio State Republican Party Chair in 1885. He succeeded William McKinley as governor, serving two two-year terms from 1896-1900.

Valentine Anti-Trust Act

During the Bushnell administration, Ohio took an early leadership role in trust-busting. The Valentine Anti-Trust Act was signed into law by Bushnell. This Act prohibited price fixing, and production limitation. All of these practices helped businesses by driving up the prices for their products, thus harming the consumer. In addition to Valentine Anti-Trust Act, Bushnell's attorney general pursued the monopolistic practices of the Standard Oil Company in the courts. Eventually, U.S. Senator John Sherman of Ohio introduced the Sherman Antitrust Act in the United States Congress in 1890. This law served as the first serious attempt by the federal government to break up monopolies and trusts, though successful enforcement of anti-trust laws was still more than a decade, and new political commitment, away.^[3]

Death

On the same day after he stepped down as governor, he suffered a paralytic stroke from which he couldn't rally again, and finally died on Jan 15, 1904.^[4]

Residence

Gov. Asa S. Bushnell House, 838 E. High St., Springfield, Ohio (1885-88). Now a funeral home.

Bushnell and his wife built a Richardson Romanesque mansion in Springfield, Ohio. The house was not designed by Henry Hobson Richardson, but by Richardson’s firm soon after the architect's death. Both of Bushnell's business partners, Benjamin Head Warder and John Glessner, had earlier hired Richardson to design their houses: the Warder Mansion in Washington, DC, and the John J. Glessner House in Chicago. Glessner's house is considered one of Richardson greatest designs.

The Bushnell House is on the National Historic Register.^[1]

References

1. ^ ^{a b} "Asa Bushnell House" Greater Springfield, Ohio Web site. Retrieved 6/5/09.
2. ^ Taylor 1899 : vol. 2, 106
3. ^ "Valentine Anti-Trust Act" Ohio History Central. Retrieved 6/5/09.
4. ^ "Ohio's Former Chief Executive Dies at State Capital, Body Removed to Springfield Where Funeral Will Take Place. Opponent of Senator Hanna". New York Times. January 16, 1904. http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F70E15FA355E12738DDDAF0994D9405B848CF1D3. Retrieved 2010-11-15. 

• Taylor, William Alexander; Taylor, Aubrey Clarence (1899). Ohio statesmen and annals of progress: from the year 1788 to the year 1900 .... 2. State of Ohio. p. 106. http://books.google.com/books?id=ztegAAAAMAAJ. 

External links

• The National cyclopaedia of American biography: being the history .... 8. New York: James T White and Company. 1900. pp. 43–44. http://books.google.com/books?id=0dsDAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA43. 
• Bushnell House No longer active 6/5/09.
• Glessner House
• grave site
• ohiohistorycentral.org on the life of Asa Bushnell
• International Truck and Engine Corporation

Political offices
Preceded by William McKinley	Governors of Ohio 1896–1900	Succeeded by George K. Nash

Persondata
Name	Bushnell, Asa S.
Alternative names
Short description	American politician
Date of birth	September 16, 1834
Place of birth
Date of death	January 15, 1904
Place of death