Who Was John G. Carlisle?

 

John Griffin Carlisle, however, is arguably Covington’s most important native son in national politics, serving as speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 1883 to 1889, and Secretary of the Treasury from 1893-1897.

 

Born and raised in Covington as the oldest of 11 children, Carlisle showed early promise as he became a teacher in the Covington school system at age 16. 

“They allowed him to be a teacher because you didn’t need the qualifications to become a teacher as you do now,” said Paul Tenkotte, Professor of History and Director of the Center for Public History. Tenkotte also co-authored the Covington historical encyclopedia Gateway City: Covington, Kentucky, 1815-2015, released for the city’s bicentennial year. “Carlisle was a Covingtonian through and through.”

 

He studied law in Covington under John White Stevenson who was a prominent local attorney and politician and served as Kentucky’s 25th governor. Carlisle served in the US House of Representatives for six consecutive terms. After he was Speaker of the House, he served as US Senator until 1893 when President Grover Cleveland appointed him Secretary of the Treasury.

 

It was this period of Carlisle’s political career that is best remembered, and not altogether fondly. The economic Panic of 1893 essentially ended Carlisle’s political career while heading the Treasury. During this time, the overbuilding and flimsy financing of the railroad industry caused many banks to fail, triggering a run on gold and ultimately a recession. In response to the gold run, Carlisle felt forced to end silver coinage and also supported the 1894 Wilson-Gorman Tariff Act bill which lowered tariffs on domestic goods and negatively impacted farmers. These were unpopular moves, exemplified by the rotten eggs that were reportedly thrown at him during a speech in Covington in 1896.

 

“Carlisle was a solid-gold standard guy and there were all kinds of things happening in the United States at that time,” Tenkotte said. “William Jennings Bryan and others were saying we should not be nailed to a cross of gold and they wanted silver and gold both being used. So when they should have maybe eased up the money flow, Carlisle said no, everything needs to based on gold. The depression was a long and hard depression and he wasn’t terribly popular because of it.”

 

He moved to New York soon after where he practiced law and died on July 31, 1910 at the age of 75. He is buried in Linden Grove Cemetery in Covington.

“An important man despite his unpopularity; a man who seemed to have integrity and stood up for his principles.”
 

The school that bears his name has seen its share of history as well. The building that precedes the one there today was built in 1937 with funding from the Works Progress Administration and was dedicated John G. Carlisle School. That structure remained until 1994 when the new school was built adjacent to the site of the old one.