McClure, Alexander Kelly

McClure, Alexander Kelly, 1828–1909, American journalist and political leader, b. Perry co., Pa. He edited and published the Juniata Sentinel of Mifflintown, Pa., before acquiring and editing (1850–56, 1862–64) the Franklin Repository at Chambersburg. He was an early and active Republican, and, at the party's national convention in 1860, he and Andrew G. Curtin swung the pivotal Pennsylvania delegation to Lincoln. As chairman of the state committee, McClure built up the Republican organization that secured the governorship for Curtin and Pennsylvania's electoral votes for Lincoln. He served in both houses of the state legislature and after the Civil War practiced law in Philadelphia. McClure supported Gen. U. S. Grant in 1868, but in 1872 was one of the leaders of the Liberal Republican party, which nominated Horace Greeley for President. In 1874 he was defeated for mayor of Philadelphia. He founded (1875) the Philadelphia Times and was its editor until 1901.

Bibliography

See his recollections (1902).