Richard Achilles Ballinger
| Richard A. Ballinger | |
|---|---|
 |
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| 24th United States Secretary of the Interior | |
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In office March 6, 1909 – March 12, 1911 |
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| President | William Howard Taft |
| Preceded by | James R. Garfield |
| Succeeded by | Walter L. Fisher |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
July 9, 1858 Boonesboro, Iowa, U.S. |
| Died | June 6, 1922 (aged 63) Seattle, Washington, U.S. |
| Resting place | Lake View Cemetery, Seattle, Washington, U.S. |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse(s) | Julia Bradley Ballinger |
| Children | Edward Bradley Ballinger Richard Talcott Ballinger |
| Alma mater | Williams College |
| Profession | Politician |
Richard Achilles Ballinger (July 9, 1858 – June 6, 1922) was mayor of Seattle, Washington, from 1904–1906, Commissioner of the General Land Office from 1907-1908 and U.S. Secretary of the Interior from 1909–1911.
Ballinger was born in Boonesboro, Iowa, the son of Richard Henry Ballinger and Mary Elizabeth Norton. In 1884 he graduated from Williams College, where he was a member of the Zeta Psi fraternity.
Ballinger passed the bar exam in 1886 and began practicing law in Seattle. He married Julia Albertson Bradley later that year, on October 26. The couple ultimately had two sons, (Edward Bradley Ballinger and Richard Talcott Ballinger).
Following the scandal-prone Yukon Gold Rush era administration of Thomas J. Humes, Ballinger was elected Seattle's mayor in 1904. With the support of the downtown business elite, he cracked down somewhat (but not heavily) on vice, and opposed labor unions. Ballinger later proved a roadblock to the city's strong municipal ownership movement. He also named Lake Ballinger in Snohomish County north of the city for his father, Col. Richard Bannister.
After serving as the mayor of Seattle, Ballinger joined the administration of President Theodore Roosevelt and served as commissioner of the General Land Office from 1907 until 1908. In 1909, Ballinger helped organize the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition, a World's Fair to highlight development in the Northwest.
In 1909 despite previous promises to retain ex-President Roosevelt's cabinet officers, newly elected President William Howard Taft appointed Ballinger to replace conservationist (and fellow Ohioan) James R. Garfield as the U.S. Secretary of the Interior. One of his first acts was to revoke executive protection of lands potentially subject to development of hydroelectric energy pending surveys, restoring them to the public domain for leasing. Progressives feared that hydroelectric monopolies would grab such sites either to control or preclude development and would then dictate energy prices, since 13 companies (including General Electric and Westinghouse) already controlled more than a third of waterpower resources as Roosevelt left office. However, that restoration soon provoked a scandal. In August, in conjunction with the National Irrigation Conference in Spokane, Washington, a United Press reporter published a story about 15,868 acres of land in Montana being sold to large corporations (General Electric, Guggenheim and Amalgamated Copper). Ballinger at first ignored the story, then accused reporters of opposing development in the West. Although that Montana waterpower story proved to be overblown, accusations of favoritism continued to dog Ballinger as Secretary of the Interior.
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