Alexander Miller Harvey

Alexander Miller Harvey (November 24, 1867 in Richmond, Kentucky – March 9, 1928 in Topeka, Kansas) was an American lawyer, politician, and author.

Alexander Miller Harvey
Sketch of A. M. Harvey (1896)
Lieutenant Governor of Kansas
In office
1897–1899
GovernorJohn W. Leedy
Preceded byJames Armstrong Troutman
Succeeded byHarry E. Richter
Personal details
Born(1867-11-24)November 24, 1867
Richmond, Kentucky
DiedMarch 9, 1928(1928-03-09) (aged 60)
Topeka, Kansas
Political partyPopulist, Democrat

Political career

A lawyer from Topeka admitted to the bar in 1893,[1] Harvey was elected Lieutenant Governor of Kansas in 1896 on the Populist ticket along with John W. Leedy and served from 1897 to 1899.[2]

In 1900 Harvey was again a candidate for lieutenant governor, on a Populist/Democratic/Free Silver Republican fusion ticket with John W. Breidenthal for governor; Breidenthal lost to incumbent governor William E. Stanley by 164,793 votes to 181,893.[3]

In 1904 Harvey was the Democratic Party candidate for US representative from the First District of Kansas; he lost to the Republican Party candidate, future vice president Charles Curtis.[4] In 1914 he lost again to Curtis, in the Republican US Senate primary (Harvey came in a poor fourth).[5]

Harvey was the president of the Topeka Bar Association from 1922 to 1923.[6]

Following the conviction of Industrial Workers of the World organizer Harold Fiske under the Kansas Criminal Syndicalism act in late 1923, Harvey was hired to handle the appeal to the Kansas Supreme Court and later to the United States Supreme Court. Harvey, working with his son Randal C. Harvey and Charles L. Carroll, obtained the 1927 Fiske v. Kansas decision freeing Fiske and establishing that state laws must conform to federal freedom of speech rights.[7]

Another prominent case was the two bribery trials, on separate cases, of Governor Jonathan M. Davis in 1925, in which Harvey, fellow Populist Frank Doster, and John Addington obtained acquittals on all charges.[8]

Other activities

In May 1898 Harvey joined the 22nd Kansas Infantry as a major; the regiment did not see action and was mustered out in November 1898.[9] During his brief time in the service Harvey served in part as a military lawyer, defending a surgeon in his regiment against a charge of grave-robbing.[10] He was active in the National Association of Spanish–American War Veterans, serving as Inspector General in 1903.[11]

In 1903 Harvey was one of the leaders of rescue efforts during severe flooding in Topeka, and wrote a short account of his experiences.[12]

Harvey also wrote short stories, a collection with the title Tales and Trails of Wakarusa was published in 1917.

Harvey was also a chess player and the Kansas state chess champion as of 1909.[2] He also had played against Emanuel Lasker in simultaneous exhibitions, scoring one win and one draw.[2]

Family

Harvey was the son of James D. Harvey (1830–1906) and his wife Rebecca (née Sparks). They had three sons – Randall Cone Harvey (1897–1953), Paul Lamphere Harvey (1900–1943), and Rev. Alexander Miller Harvey (1907–1971).

Harvey's brother William West Harvey was Speaker of the Kansas House of Representatives 1921–1923 and then served on the Kansas Supreme Court from 1923 to 1956, serving as Chief Justice for the last eleven years. Another brother, Louis S. Harvey (1866–1931), was also a prominent Kansas lawyer; both brothers served, at different times, as assistant district attorneys.[13]

A. M. Harvey was not closely related to James M. Harvey (1833–1894), Kansas governor and senator.

References
  1. "Polk's Kansas State Gazetteer and Business Directory, 1912, section "Topeka"". Archived from the original on 2011-01-14. Retrieved 2011-07-04.
  2. Cassell, Hartwig; Helms, Hermann (1909). American Chess Bulletin. H. Cassell and H. Helms. p. 41.
  3. "Skyways transcription of Kansas: A Cyclopedia of State History..., volume II, Chicago: 1912". Archived from the original on 2012-10-21. Retrieved 2012-08-07.
  4. World Almanac and Encyclopedia, 1906, p. 480
  5. Nineteenth Biennial Report of the Secretary of State, Kansas Secretary of State, Topeka, 1914, p. 18
  6. "Topeka Bar Association awards page (see list of past presidents)". Archived from the original on 2012-03-13. Retrieved 2011-07-04.
  7. "The Wobblies and Fiske v. Kansas: Victory Amidst Disintegration", Richard C. Cortner, Kansas History, Spring 1981, p. 30-38
  8. Brodhead, Michael J. (1968). "A Populist Survival: Judge Frank Doster in the 1920s". Kansas Historical Quarterly. 1968 (Winter): 443–456. Archived from the original on 2006-08-11.
  9. Kansas: a cyclopedia of state history, 1912 (transcribed here Archived 2011-05-04 at the Wayback Machine)
  10. "Museum of the Kansas National Guard, reprinting a 1998 article from the Plains Guardian newspaper". Archived from the original on 2011-05-28. Retrieved 2011-07-04.
  11. 1903 World Almanac, p. 343
  12. History of Shawnee County, Kansas, James Levi King, 1905, Chapter XVII
  13. "Usual and Unusual", Wichita Eagle, September 27, 1921, p. 5
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