‘One of Washington County’s most distinguished sons’
West Brownsville native James G. Blaine ran for president in 1884
James G. Blaine, who grew up in West Brownsville and is the only Washington County resident to ever run for president on a major party ticket, is getting a “glow up,” thanks to a new Netflix drama series featuring President James Garfield’s brief term in office.
The Washington County Historical Society recently listed Blaine as “one of our most famous statesmen of the 19th century and one of Washington County’s most distinguished sons,” but few people around here seem to know much about him and his local ties despite his outsized role in national politics.
Blaine was born Jan. 31, 1830, and grew up in a house that once stood on Main Street in West Brownsville Borough not far from the banks of the Monongahela River.
Astonishingly, he enrolled at Washington College in 1843 at age 13 and studied at the school until graduating in 1847. While going to the school that would become Washington & Jefferson College a couple of decades later, Blaine lived at a house on South Main Street in the city that still stands today – with an exterior plaque that bears his name – and is now a home decor shop.
A few years after graduating from college, Blaine relocated to Maine and called that home for much of his adult life as he moved up the political ladder in the Republican Party. He served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1863 until 1875 – being elevated to speaker for several years – before being elected to the U.S. Senate in 1876.
Known as the “Magnetic Man From Maine,” he had dreams of running for president, even becoming “warped” by the idea, according to the book, “Destiny of the Republic,” by Candice Millard. Blaine put his name into the mix during the Republican National Convention in Chicago in 1880, but was defeated by the unassuming candidacy of Congressman James Garfield of Ohio.
But the political opponents were also longtime friends from their time together in Congress, and when Garfield won election later that year, he tapped Blaine to serve as his Secretary of State.
It’s here where the story of Blaine takes some of the spotlight in the Netflix drama, “Death by Lightning,” that features the unexpected political rise of Garfield and his abbreviated presidency when an assassin’s bullet and subsequent infection took his life months later. Bradley Whitford, who is known for his acting roles in movies such as Billy Madison and the television series, “The West Wing,” portrayed a white-bearded Blaine who was a close ally and confidant to Garfield.
After Garfield’s death in September 1881 – more than two months after he was shot with Blaine by his side and just six months into his term – Blaine briefly remained as Secretary of State under the deceased president’s successor, Chester Arthur, until leaving his post at the end of the year.
But Blaine’s political career wasn’t over. In 1884 at age 54, he secured the Republican Party’s nomination for president, but narrowly lost to Grover Cleveland in the general election.
Washington County Historical Society Director Clay Kilgore, who was researching Blaine for a possible “Laid Back History” video, was surprised when there were no mentions of him as a “hometown boy” in campaign stories in the local papers when he ran for president.
“He becomes this pretty prominent person. Are people (here) still following him?” Kilgore said of his research in local newspaper clippings discussing his political rise. “And there’s nothing in the papers.”
He thought that was especially interesting, considering many people in this region “hold onto these things” by fondly remembering successful local residents even after they leave the area.
“People (here) almost forgot about him,” Kilgore said.
Blaine returned to Washington County in October 1886 for the first time in many years, according to the historical society, visiting his childhood home in West Brownsville and later traveling to Brownsville and Washington during his trip. But politics soon came calling once again as Blaine served as Secretary of State for President Benjamin Harrison from 1889 until his health began failing in 1892.
After retiring from office, Blaine stayed in Washington, D.C., where he died Jan. 27, 1893, just four days shy of his 63rd birthday. He was originally buried at Oak Hill Cemetery in the nation’s capital, according to the historical society, but his body later was reinterred in his adopted hometown of Augusta, Maine.
The village of Blainsburg – located on top of the hill within West Brownsville Borough – was named in his honor in 1906, and a historical marker stands at the site of his childhood home on Main Street just below the Lane Bane Bridge. But there are few other local references of the man from Washington County who nearly became president and has newfound stardom thanks to Netflix.