Robert Emory Pattison (8 December 1850-1 August 1904) was the Democratic Governor of Pennsylvania from 16 January 1883 to 18 January 1887 (succeeding Henry M. Hoyt and preceding James A. Beaver) and from 20 January 1891 to 15 January 1895 (succeeding Beaver and preceding Daniel H. Hastings).
Biography[]
Robert Emory Pattison was born in Quantico, Maryland on 8 December 1850, and he was raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at the age of five. He practiced law from 1872 to 1877 and was elected Controller of the City of Philadelphia in 1880. At the age of 32, he was elected Governor of Pennsylvania in 1882, becoming the only Democratic Governor of Pennsylvania between the start of the American Civil War and the Great Depression. He served as Governor from 1883 to 1887 and from 1891 to 1895, and he suppressed the Homestead Strike, introduced the secret ballot to battle against machine politics in his state, unsuccessfully ran for Mayor of Philadelphia in 1895, unsuccessfully ran for President of the United States in 1896, and failed in his 1902 gubernatorial bid. He died in Philadelphia in 1904.