Clifton Rodes Breckinridge (November 22, 1846 – December 3, 1932) was a Democratic alderman, congressman, diplomat, businessman and veteran of the Confederate Army and Navy. He was a member of the prominent Breckinridge family, the son of Vice President of the United States and Confederate General John C. Breckinridge and the great-grandson of U.S. Senator and Attorney General of the United States John Breckinridge.
Early life
Born near Lexington, Kentucky, the son of John Cabell and Mary Cyrene Burch Breckinridge, Breckinridge attended rural schools in his hometown as a child. The Breckinridge family had by that time already established itself as a political dynasty. Clifton’s grandfather, John Breckinridge, was President Thomas Jefferson’s attorney general, while Clifton’s father would over the years hold several high-ranking government positions, including vice president of the United States.
At the outbreak of the Civil War, 15-year old Clifton entered the Confederate Army with his father and was later a midshipman in the Confederate Navy.
After the war, he attended Washington College in Lexington, Virginia for three years where the school's president, Confederate General Robert E. Lee, encouraged his desire for a career of public service. Afterwards, he joined his older brother in a cotton plantation near Pine Bluff, Arkansas and engaged in cotton planting and in the commission business for thirteen years. In 1876, Breckinridge married Katherine Carson, the daughter of a well-to-do Mississippi family, with whom he had four children.
Politics
Breckinridge started his political career when he was elected an alderman in the Pine Bluff City Council.
Congress
He was later elected a Democrat to the United States House of Representatives in 1882, taking seat in 1883. John G. Carlisle, the new Speaker of the House and friend of the Breckinridges, saw to it that the new congressman got a place on the Committee on Ways and Means. He was reelected in 1884 and 1886.
Clayton Affair
Breckinridge's political career came into great danger after the election of 1888. Arkansas Democrats were found guilty of voting fraud in the election for Arkansas's 2nd congressional district after it was discovered that in Conway County, Arkansas, four masked and armed white men stormed into a predominantly black voting precinct and, at gunpoint, stole the ballot box that contained a large majority of votes for his Republican opponent, John M. Clayton, the brother of former Arkansas Governor and Senator Powell Clayton. Under these circumstances, Clayton contested the election and went to Plumerville, Arkansas to start an investigation on the matter. However, on the evening of January 29, 1889, an unknown assailant shot through the window to the room he was staying in at a local boardinghouse and killed him instantly. After a congressional investigation, Clayton was declared the winner, thus unseating Breckinridge; however, owing to Clayton's death, the seat was declared vacant. Breckinridge was not found guilty in any wrongdoing in the rigged election or in Clayton's assassination and was elected to fill the vacant seat in 1890.
Work in Congress
Breckinridge was reelected to the House of Representatives again in 1890 and 1892. He was one of the authors of legislation to repeal the Sherman Silver Purchase Act and adopted the Wilson–Gorman Tariff Act. He regained trust after the so-called "Clayton Affair" and was greatly respected as a congressman. A featured article in Harper's Weekly described him as "one of the very first men in the House of Representatives." During the Panic of 1893-1894, Breckinridge staunchly supported President Grover Cleveland's defense of the gold standard. Arkansas farmers, most of whom supported free silver, refused to support the incumbent for reelection and Breckinridge lost the Democratic primary to John S. Little who went on to win the election.