Home > Facts > US Government Facts > Charles Evans Hughes Facts

Charles Evans Hughes Facts

Charles Evans Hughes Facts
Charles Evans Hughes was an important American politician during what is known as the Progressive Era in the early twentieth century. Among the important positions Hughes held were Governor of New York (1907-1910), Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court (1910-1916), Secretary of State (1921-1925), and his crowning achievement as Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court (1930-1941). Although Hughes was a progressive Republican and believed in breaking up corporate monopolies and weeding out corruption, he was known striking down many of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal reforms. Hughes was born Charles Evans Hughes on April 11, 1862 in Glen Falls, New York to Welsh immigrant Baptist preacher David Charles Hughes and his wife Mary Catherine. Hughes graduate from the prestigious Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island at the age of nineteen and then went to Columbia Law School, which paved the way for his long and successful career in law and politics. He married Antoinette Carter in 1888; the couple would have one son, Charles Evans Hughes Junior, and three daughters.
Interesting Charles Evans Hughes Facts:
Hughes' first taste of the Progressive Era was when he worked as an investigative lawyer on a commission appointed by Governor Frank Higgins to investigate New York's public utilities in 1905.
One of Hughes' most important early political allies was President Theodore Roosevelt. Both men were from New York and were progressive Republicans.
The 1906 New York governor's race was wide open as it was an open seat. Although New York leaned heavily Republican at that time, the Democrat candidate was media tycoon William Randolph Hearst. Hughes was able to overcome Hearst's money and media through endorsements and support by President Roosevelt and other prominent New York Republicans.
Hughes was nominated for the Supreme Court by President William Taft in 1910. The Senate unanimously confirmed him.
During his six years as an Associate Justice, Hughes judged as a progressive, ruling in favor of state laws pertaining to eight hour work days, minimum wage, and Congress' ability to regulate business.
Hughes retired from the Supreme Court in 2016 to accept the Republican Party's presidential nomination. He lost to incumbent President Woodrow Wilson in the general election.
After losing the presidential election, Hughes worked as a private attorney for most of the 1920s, staying out of politics for the most part. He did, though, serve as U.S. Secretary of State under Republican President Warren G. Harding from 1921 until he died in 1923 and then under President Calvin Coolidge until 1925.
The pinnacle of Hughes' public career came in 1930 when he was nominated by Republican President Herbert Hoover to be Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court.
Political alignments were different in 1920s and '30s America, with there being three primary divisions: conservative, progressives, and southern Democrats. Hughes was firmly in the progressive camp and sometimes aligned with progressive Democrats against conservative Republicans.
The Hughes' court was divided by the conservative "Four Horsemen" and the liberal "Three Musketeers." As a Republican, Hughes sometimes voted with the Four Horsemen, but as a progressive he sometimes sided with the Three Musketeers.
Hughes died on August 27, 1948 at the age of eighty-six in Osterville, Massachusetts. He was buried in New York City.


Related Links:
Facts
US Government Facts
Animals Facts