George Congdon Gorham

George Congdon Gorham (July 5, 1832 – February 11, 1909) was an American Republican politician, newspaper editor, and author who served as Secretary of the United States Senate from 1868 to 1879, spanning most of the Reconstruction era.

Gorham was born in New York on July 5, 1832. He was educated in Connecticut and moved to California in 1849, one of many "forty-niners" in search of gold. When this didn't pan out, Gorham became a law clerk for Stephen Johnson Field, who became his lifelong mentor and friend. Gorham pursued a career in journalism in 1859, first as assistant editor of the Sacramento Daily Standard and then editor of the San Francisco Daily Nation. In the 1860s, he became a circuit court clerk and one of eight owners of the Central Pacific Railroad.^[1]

Gorham ran for Governor of California in 1867 on the National Union ticket, defeating Congressman John Bidwell at the party convention. However, Gorham lost to Democratic candidate Henry Huntly Haight by a margin of 7,458 votes in a campaign that viciously attacked Gorham's support for the railroad companies and civil rights.^[2] Gorham also represented California on the Republican National Committee.^[1] He and Field wrote a book on the early history of California.^[3]

Gorham served as secretary of the United States Senate from June 6, 1868 to March 24, 1879, during which he oversaw the creation of the Senate Library and the Congressional Record.^[1] Gorham served as a delegate to the 1880 Republican National Convention allied with the party's "Stalwart" wing,^[4] a decision that cost him reappointment as secretary when Republicans retook the Senate in 1883. From 1880 to 1884, he was editor of the National Republican newspaper.

In retirement, Gorham wrote an authoritative two-volume biography of Edwin Stanton, Abraham Lincoln's secretary of war. Gorham broke from the Republican Party in 1896 to support William Jennings Bryan, and remained a Democrat for the rest of his life.^[5] He died in Washington, D.C. on February 11, 1909.^[1] Among the pallbearers at his funeral were Supreme Court Justices David J. Brewer and John Marshall Harlan and Senators Henry M. Teller and William M. Stewart.^[5]

• "The Reconstruction Policy of Congress, as Illustrated in California"
• "The New Elaine"
• "How Gorham Pick(x) Lies"
• "A Crown for the U. S. Ruler"
• "Hard Pushing"
• "Gen. Miller's Reward"
• "Fired Out"
• "Bucking the Political Tiger"

• Works by George Congdon Gorham at Project Gutenberg
• Works by or about George Congdon Gorham at the Internet Archive
• Senate history - Gorham as Secretary of the Senate