Jacob Dolson Cox

Jacob Dolson Cox, Jr. (October 27, 1828August 4, 1900), was a statesman, lawyer, Union Army general during the American Civil War, Republican politician from Ohio, Liberal Republican Party founder, educator, author, and recognized microbiologist. He served as president of the University of Cincinnati, the 28th governor of Ohio and as United States Secretary of the Interior. As Governor of Ohio, Cox sided for a time with President Andrew Johnson's Reconstruction plan and was against African American suffrage in the South, though he supported it in Ohio. However, Cox increasingly expressed racist and segregationist viewpoints, advocating a separate colony for blacks to "work out their own salvation." Seeing himself caught between Johnson and the Radical Republicans, Cox decided not to run for reelection. He stayed out of politics for a year, though both Sherman and Grant advocated that Cox replace Stanton as Secretary of War as a means of stemming the demands for Johnson's impeachment. But Johnson declined. When Ulysses S. Grant became president, he nominated Cox Secretary of Interior, and Cox immediately accepted.

Secretary of Interior Cox implemented the first civil service reform in a federal government department, including examinations for most clerks. Grant initially supported Cox and civil service reform, creating America's first Civil Service Commission. However, Cox was opposed by Republican Party managers, who ultimately convinced Grant to cease civil service reforms in the Interior, a large department coveted for its vast Congressional patronage. President Grant and Secretary Cox were at odds over the fraudulent McGarahan Claims and the Dominican Republic annexation treaty. Secretary Cox advocated a lasting, honest, and comprehensive Indian policy legislated by Congress after the Piegan Indian massacre. Cox resigned as Secretary of Interior having been unable to gain Grant's support over civil service reform. Although Cox was a reformer, Grant had believed Cox had overstepped his authority as Secretary of Interior and had undermined his authority as president. In 1871 Cox helped found the Liberal Republicans in opposition to Grant's renomination. In 1876, Cox returned to politics and served one term as a United States Congressman from Ohio. Congressman Cox supported President Hayes's reform efforts, but his term as Congressman was unsuccessful at establishing permanent Civil Service reform.

Cox was elected as a member to the American Philosophical Society in 1870.

Cox was elected U.S. Representative (Ohio) and served in Congress from 1877 to 1879. Afterward, Cox never returned to active politics. Cox served as president and receiver of a railroad, Dean of Cincinnati Law School, and as president of the University of Cincinnati. Cox also studied microscopy and made hundreds of photo-micrographs, and in 1881 he was elected fellow of the Royal Microscopical Society. In 1882, Cox started a series of books he authored on Civil War campaigns, which remain today respected histories and memoirs. After Cox retired in 1897, he died in Massachusetts in 1900. Throughout the 20th century, Cox's life was mostly forgotten by historians, however, there has been renewed interest during the 21st century in Cox's military career as Union general during the Civil War, and his implementation of civil service while Secretary of Interior under President Grant, the first cabinet officer to do so in U.S. history. Provided by Wikipedia