William Dempster Hoard
| William Dempster Hoard | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| 16th Governor of Wisconsin | |
|
In office January 7, 1889 – January 5, 1891 |
|
| Lieutenant | George W. Ryland |
| Preceded by | Jeremiah McLain Rusk |
| Succeeded by | George W. Peck |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
October 10, 1836 , New York |
| Died | November 22, 1918 (aged 82) Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin, U.S. |
| Resting place | Evergreen Cemetery Fort Atkinson, Jefferson County, Wisconsin |
| Citizenship | USA |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse(s) | Agnes Elizabeth Bragg Hoard |
| Children | Halbert Louis Hoard Arthur Ralph Hoard Frank Ward Hoard |
| Parents | William Bradford Hoard Sarah Katherine White Hoard |
| Profession |
Dairyman Editor Politician |
| Military service | |
| Service/branch | Union Army |
| Years of service | 1861-1862 1864-1865 |
| Unit |
4th Wisconsin Volunteer Regiment 1st New York Artillery Regiment |
| Battles/wars | American Civil War |
William Dempster Hoard (October 10, 1836 – November 22, 1918) was an American politician, a newspaper editor, and the 16th Governor of the U.S. state of Wisconsin from 1889 to 1891.
Born in , he moved to Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin.
During the American Civil War, Hoard served in the 4th Wisconsin Volunteer Regiment as a musician until he was discharged for medical reasons. He went back to New York to recover and served to the end of the war in the 1st New York Artillery Regiment. Returning to Wisconsin, he got involved with the hops industry, but the glut and decline in the industry left him without money. He was a member of the Republican Party, but was an outsider and an amateur in politics. He was a leading promoter of the dairy industry, through his weekly magazine Hoard's Dairyman.
In 1889, Hoard asked the legislature to pass the Bennett Law, the state's first compulsory school attendance law. It required all public and private schools to teach major subjects in English. The German Lutherans and Germans Catholics, who each had a large parochial school system that used German-speaking teachers, strenuously objected. Hoard made the extremely controversial law the centerpiece of his reelection campaign, rejecting the advice of professional politicians that it would doom the GOP. The law, and Hoard, were repudiated by the state's large German community. Hoard was defeated in an intense campaign by Democrat George Wilbur Peck, the Yankee mayor of Milwaukee.
The Republican establishment was outraged at Hoard. In turn the moralistic rank and file bridled at the boss rule. Hoard joined forces with Robert M. La Follette Sr. and created the Progressive faction of the state GOP. It propelled La Follette to the governorship and the U.S. Senate, but Hoard, still an influential publisher, broke with La Follette in 1912.
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