On October 6, 1913, Francis Burton Harrison assumed office as American governor-general of the Philippines. He stayed in office until 1921.
A vigorous anti-imperialist and opponent of “Dollar Diplomacy”, Harrison was appointed by President Woodrow Wilson and was tasked to ameliorate the United States governance of the Philippines.
Harrison declared the Democratic Party’s intention to seek independence for the Philippines and locally introduced a number of reforms that brought more Filipinos into responsible administrative positions and added other elements of self-government.
After the defeat of the Democratic Party in the United States in 1920, Harrison lived outside the US, on an estate in Scotland and at resorts on the Mediterranean.
In 1935, Harrison returned to the Philippines and became a “presidential adviser” of President Manuel L. Quezon and served the Philippine government-in-exile in Washington, D.C., during World War II.
After the war, he again served as a special adviser to the first three presidents of the independent Republic of the Philippines.
He wrote Cornerstone of Philippine Independence in 1922 and, the Origins of the Philippine Republic: Extracts from the Diaries and Records of Francis Burton Harrison published in 1974.
In his last years, 1950 to 1956, Harrison and his sixth wife lived secluded in Spain.
Harrison died on November 21, 1957, at Hunterdon Medical Center in Raritan Township near Flemington, New Jersey. He willed that he be buried in the Philippines so his corpse was shipped back from the United States. He was given a state funeral and was interred in the Manila North Cemetery in La Loma, Manila.
Harrison was born on Dec. 18, 1873, in New York City into a wealthy and prominent family. His father was a successful New York lawyer who had been a private secretary to Jefferson Davis, and his mother was a well-known Virginia-born novelist.
References:
Philippine News Agency archive
Online Encyclopaedia Britannica
Photo: Wikipedia Commons
(Filed by Jr Amigo/ai/mnm)