Blaine, James G

Blaine, James G(illespie)

(born Jan. 31, 1830, West Brownsville, Pa., U.S.—died Jan. 27, 1893, Washington, D.C.) U.S. politician and diplomat. He moved to Maine in 1854 to become editor of the Kennebec Journal, a crusading Republican newspaper. He served in the U.S. House of Representatives (1863–76), becoming speaker in 1868. An advocate of moderation in the Republican Party, he opposed the Radical Republicans led by Roscoe Conkling. Elected to the U.S. Senate in 1876, he resigned his seat in 1881 to become secretary of state. In this office he took the first steps toward securing U.S. control of the eventual route of the Panama Canal. As the Republican presidential candidate in 1884 he narrowly lost to Grover Cleveland. As secretary of state for a second time in 1889–92, he chaired the first Pan-American Conference.