Hoar, George Frisbie

Hoar, George Frisbie, 1826–1904, American legislator, b. Concord, Mass. He practiced law, became a Republican in politics, and was U.S. Representative (1869–77) and U.S. Senator (1877–1904). Hoar served on the congressional electoral commission that decided the contested election of 1876 in favor of the Republican Rutherford B. Hayes. He fought political corruption and avoided much of the partisan bitterness of the day. Hoar was a leader among the group of New Englanders who opposed President McKinley's imperialism. His Autobiography of Seventy Years (1903) is an excellent commentary on American political history.

Bibliography

See biography by F. H. Gillett (1934); study by R. E. Welch (1971).

---

Hoar, George Frisbie

(born Aug. 29, 1826, Concord, Mass., U.S.—died Sept. 30, 1904, Worcester, Mass.) U.S. politician. He graduated from Harvard College (1846) and Harvard Law School (1849) and then went into private law practice in Worcester. He was an early supporter of the Free Soil Party in Massachusetts. With his brother, Ebenezer Hoar, and father, Samuel Hoar (1778–1856), he was instrumental in the formation of the Republican Party. He served in the U.S. House of Representatives (1869–77) and Senate (1877–1904). He championed civil-service reform, and he was an outspoken foe of the anti-Catholic and anti-immigrant American Protective Association.