Harry Lane
| Harry Lane | |
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United States Senator from Oregon |
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In office March 4, 1913 – May 23, 1917 |
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| Preceded by | Jonathan Bourne, Jr. |
| Succeeded by | Charles L. McNary |
| 35th Mayor of Portland, Oregon | |
| Preceded by | George Henry Williams |
| Succeeded by | Joseph Simon |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
August 28, 1855 Corvallis, Oregon, U.S. |
| Died | May 23, 1917 (aged 61) San Francisco, California, U.S. |
| Political party |
Independent (1905–1912) Democratic (1912–1917) |
| Profession | Doctor |
Harry Lane (August 28, 1855 – May 23, 1917) was an American politician in the state of Oregon. A physician by training, Lane served as the head of the Oregon State Insane Asylum before being forced out by political enemies. After a decade practicing medicine the progressive Democrat Lane won election as the mayor of Portland in 1905, gaining re-election in 1907. Lane's tenure in office was largely ineffective, although he did gain lasting recognition for having appointed the first female police officer in America in 1908 as well as for his vision that the city should host an annual Rose Festival.
In November 1912, Lane was elected to the United States Senate where he was a leading advocate for woman suffrage and a more benevolent relationship between the American government and the nation's Native American population. He was one of a small handful of federal legislators to vote against American participation in the war in April 1917, an action which made him the prospective subject of a recall effort. This campaign was rendered moot when Lane died in office on May 23, 1917.
Harry Lane was born in Corvallis, Oregon, a small town on the banks of the Willamette River, on August 28, 1855. He was the son of Eliza Jane and Nathaniel Lane. The elder Lane was a successful participant in the California Gold Rush of the late 1840s who had returned to Oregon to invest his mining proceeds in construction of a lumber mill.
The Lanes were part of a prominent Oregon political family. Nathaniel Lane's father Joseph Lane had been the first territorial Governor of Oregon and was immortalized as the namesake of Lane County, Oregon. In the election of 1860 Joseph Lane had achieved national prominence as the Vice Presidential running mate of John C. Breckinridge on the pro-slavery Southern Democratic Party ticket — with the pair carrying 11 states in a losing effort to Abraham Lincoln. Nathaniel's brother, Lafayette Lane, was elected a member of the Oregon Legislature and United States Congress. Harry would eventually continue the family tradition, albeit as a Democrat of an altogether different stripe than had been his uncle and grandfather.
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