Hiester Clymer
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Hiester Clymer (3rd November 1827 - 12th June 1884) was a Democratic politician best remembered for his involvement in the investigation into William W. Belknap's alleged corruption.
Biography edit
Clymer was a member of the Hiester family political dynasty and the Democratic Party. He was the nephew of William Muhlenberg Hiester and the cousin of Isaac Ellmaker Hiester. Although Clymer was born in Pennsylvania, he was adamantly opposed to Abraham Lincoln's administration and the Republican Party's prosecution of the American Civil War.
Elected Pennsylvania state senator in 1860, Clymer opposed state legislation that supported the state Republican Party's war effort. After the American Civil War ended, Clymer unsuccessfully ran for the Pennsylvania Governor's office in 1866 on a white supremacist platform against Union Major-General John W. Geary.
After his election to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1872 as a Democrat, Clymer would be primarily known for his investigation of Sec. William W. Belknap's War Department in 1876. Belknap escaped conviction in a Senate trial, since he resigned his cabinet position before being impeached by the House of Representatives. Having retired from the House in 1881, Clymer served as Vice President of the Union Trust Co. of Philadelphia and president of the Clymer Iron Co. until his death in 1884.
Racism edit
Clymer was a virulently pro-slavery politician, as most Democrats were at the time. He was a strong opponent of reconstruction and the emancipation of African-Americans following the American Civil War, running for governor of Pennsylvania in 1866 on a White Supremacist platform. During the controversial campaign, Clymer produced some of the most openly racist campaign material of the decade, such as the infamous "two platforms" poster, which featured a racist caricature of an African-American man and proclaimed that "every radical in Congress voted for Negro suffrage", as well as stating that Clymer's platform was "for the white man", whereas his rival John W. Geary, who ultimately won the election, was "for the Negro". He was also a supporter of the Ku Klux Klan, only investigating Belknap, who was eventually acquitted due to a technicality, because he was using his position to investigate the Klan and promote reconstruction.