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Harrison's inaugural address was brief. It was half as long as that of his grandfather, William Henry Harrison, who still holds the record for the longest presidential inaugural address. In his speech, Benjamin Harrison credited the nation's growth to the influences of education and religion. He called for ethical practices in business, stating, "If our great corporations would more scrupulously observe their legal obligations and duties, they would have less call to complain of the limitations of their rights or of interference with their operations." Harrison also urged early statehood for the territories and called for pensions for veterans, which was met with enthusiastic applause. In foreign affairs, Harrison reaffirmed the Monroe Doctrine and urged modernization of the Navy. He also called for a merchant marine force. He gave his commitment to international peace through noninterference in the affairs of foreign nations. John Philip Sousa's Marine Corps band played at the Inaugural Ball inside the Pension Building with a large crowd attending.
Harrison acted quite independently in selecting his cabinet, something that the Republican bosses were not happy with. He delayed the nomination of James G. Blaine as Secretary of State in order to prevent Blaine's involvement in the formation of the administration. The only Republican boss nominated was Redfield Proctor, as Secretary of War. Harrison's cabinet selections alienated important Republican support in New York and Pennsylvania, compromising his political position in future. Harrison usually held two full cabinet meetings each week, as well as separate weekly one-on-one meetings with each cabinet member.
Civil service reform was a major issue for Harrison, who had campaigned as a supporter of the merit system, as opposed to the spoils system (patronage). Part of the civil service had been covered under the Pendleton Act, passed during the presidency of Chester Alan Arthur, Congress was widely divided on the issue of expanding measures which removed patronage from the civil service. Harrison was reluctant to address the issue because he did not want to alienate either side. Harrison addressed the issue by appointing Theodore Roosevelt and Hugh Smith Thompson, both reformers, to the Civil Service Commission.
Harrison's first priority was the enactment of the Dependent and Disability Pension Act in 1890, a cause he had championed while in Congress. It provided pensions to disabled Civil War veterans, regardless of the cause of their disability. Harrison saw this as a way to use up some of a huge federal budget surplus. Pension expenditures reached $135 million under Harrison, the largest expenditure of its kind to that point in American history. Pension Bureau commissioner James R. Tanner's was criticized for his expansive interpretation of the pension laws. Harrison replaced Tanner, due to apparent loose management style. Green B. Raum, Tanner's replacement, was later accused of accepting loan payments in return for expediting pension cases. Harrison kept him in office after a dissenting Congressional Republican investigation report exonerated Raum.
The tariff levels had been a major political issue since before the Civil War, and they were the major issue of the 1888 election. High tariff rates had created a surplus of money in the Treasury, which led many Democrats to call for lowering them. Republicans preferred to maintain the rates and spend the surplus on internal improvements as well as eliminate some taxes. Representative William McKinley and Senator Nelson W. Aldrich framed the McKinley Tariff that would raise the tariff even higher. Harrison attempted to make the tariff more acceptable by urging Congress to add provisions which would allow the President to reduce rates when other countries reduced their rates on American exports. But even with the reductions and the reciprocity provision, the McKinley Tariff enacted the highest average tariff rate in American history. The revenue it generated and the spending associated with it led to criticism of what was dubbed the "Billion-Dollar Congress."
Members of both parties were concerned with the growth of the power of trusts and monopolies, a cause that Theodore Roosevelt would later champion. One of the first acts of the 51st Congress was to pass the Sherman Antitrust Act, sponsored by Senator John Sherman of Ohio. The Act, which passed by wide margins in both houses, had bi-partisan support and Harrison signed it into law. But Harrison's administration was not especially vigorous in enforcing the act, although the government successfully prosecuted a case against a Tennessee coal company and initiated several other cases against trusts.
One of the most volatile questions of the 1880s was whether the currency should be backed by gold and silver, or by gold alone. This issue would later come to a head in the election of 1896. It was an issue which cut across party lines. Western Republicans and southern Democrats joined together in the call for the free coinage of silver, but both parties' representatives in the northeast were firm in their support for the gold standard. Because silver was worth less than its legal equivalent in gold, taxpayers paid their government bills in silver, while international creditors demanded payment in gold, resulting in a depletion of the nation's gold supply. Owing to worldwide deflation in the late 19th century, however, a strict gold standard had resulted in reduction of incomes without the equivalent reduction in debts, pushing debtors and the poor to call for silver coinage. Harrison appointed a silverite as Treasury Secretary, namely William Windom, who encouraged the free silver supporters. Harrison attempted to steer a middle course between the two positions, advocating for the free coinage of silver, but at its own value, not at a fixed ratio to gold. This compromise was not accepted by the two factions. In July 1890, Senator Sherman sponsored the Sherman Silver Purchase Act, which passed both houses. Harrison signed it into law. But the effect of the bill was the increased depletion of the nation's gold supply, a problem that would persist for the remainder of Harrison's term.
After regaining the majority in both Houses of Congress, Harrison urged his party to attempt to pass legislation to protect African-Americans' civil rights. Harrison's Attorney General, William H. H. Miller and the Justice Department saw to the prosecutions for violation of voting rights in the South. This proved ineffective as white juries almost always failed to convict or indict offenders. Harrison called on Congress to pass legislation that would "secure all our people a free exercise of the right of suffrage and every other civil right under the Constitution and laws." He endorsed the proposed Federal Elections Bill written by Representative Henry Cabot Lodge and Senator George Frisbie Hoar in 1890, but the bill was defeated in the Senate. After the failure to pass that bill, Harrison continued to speak in favor of African American civil rights in addresses to Congress. On December 3, 1889, Harrison went before Congress and said:
"The colored people did not intrude themselves upon us; they were brought here in chains and held in communities where they are now chiefly bound by a cruel slave code, When and under what conditions is the black man to have a free ballot? When is he in fact to have those full civil rights which have so long been his in law? When is that quality of influence which our form of government was intended to secure to the electors to be restored? In many parts of our country where the colored population is large the people of that race are by various devices deprived of any effective exercise of their political rights and of many of their civil rights. The wrong does not expend itself upon those whose votes are suppressed. Every constituency in the Union is wronged."
Harrison was critical of putting authority over civil rights in the hands of the states because he recognized that many states ignored this responsibility. He supported a bill proposed by Senator Henry W. Blair, which would have granted federal funding to schools regardless of the students' races. He also endorsed a proposed constitutional amendment to overturn the Supreme Court ruling in the Civil Rights Cases (1883) that declared much of the Civil Rights Act of 1875 unconstitutional. None of these measures gained congressional approval, but Harrison cemented his reputation as a principled and genuine supporter of civil rights for African-Americans.
In March 1891 Congress enacted and Harrison signed the Land Revision Act of 1891, legislation designed to reclaim surplus lands that had been granted for potential settlement or use for railroads. Section 24 was added at the request of Secretary of the Interior John Noble, which allowed the President to create forest reserves and public parks. Within a month of the enactment of this law, Harrison authorized the first forest reserve to be located on land adjacent to Yellowstone Park, in Wyoming. Other areas were also designated by Harrison, bringing the first forest reservations total to 22 million acres in his term.
During Harrison's administration, the Lakota Sioux, previously confined to reservations in South Dakota, came to oppose their confinement. They were led by Wovoka, a leader who encouraged them to participate in a spiritual movement called the Ghost Dance. Many in Washington mistakenly believed this to be a militant movement being used to rally Native Americans against the government. On December 29, 1890, troops from the Seventh Cavalry clashed with the Sioux at Wounded Knee. The result was a massacre of at least 146 Sioux, including many women and children. The dead Sioux were buried in a mass grave. Harrison directed Major General Nelson A. Miles to investigate and ordered 3500 federal troops to South Dakota. Harrison's general policy on Native Americans was to encourage assimilation into white society. This policy had support from liberal reformers at the time, but eventually proved detrimental to Native Americans, who sold most of their land at low prices to white speculators.
During Harrison's presidency, the United States experienced great advances in science and technology. Harrison was the earliest President whose voice is known to be preserved on a recording. This sound recording was originally made on a wax phonograph cylinder in 1889 by Gianni Bettini. Harrison also had electricity installed in the White House for the first time by Edison General Electric Company, but he and his wife would not touch the light switches for fear of electrocution and would often go to sleep with the lights on.
When Harrison took office the United States Navy had only two commissioned warships. In his inaugural address he had called for the construction of "a sufficient number of warships and their necessary armaments". His Secretary of the Navy Benjamin F. Tracy pushed for the rapid construction of vessels, and within a year congressional approval was obtained for building of the warships Indiana, Texas, Oregon and Columbia. By 1898, ten modern warships had been built, with steel hulls and greater displacements and armaments, making the United States into a legitimate naval power, thanks to initiatives that had begun during the Harrison term.
Harrison's Secretary of State James G. Blaine suffered from persistent medical problems, which warranted more of a hands-on effort by Harrison in the conduct of foreign policy. In San Francisco, while on tour of the United States in 1891, Harrison proclaimed that the expanding navy would protect oceanic shipping and increase American trade, as well as its influence and prestige abroad. The First International Conference of American States met in Washington in 1889. Harrison set the agenda, which included customs and currency integration. The conference failed to achieve any diplomatic breakthrough however, due in large part to an atmosphere of suspicion promoted by the Argentinian delegation. It did succeed in establishing an information center that became the Pan American Union. Harrison worked toward tariff reciprocity with Latin American nations and his administration concluded eight reciprocity treaties among these countries.
On another front, Harrison appointed Frederick Douglass as ambassador to Haiti, but Douglass failed in his attempts to establish a naval base there.
In 1889, the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany were locked in a dispute over control of the Samoan Islands. Harrison was keenly involved in the status of this Pacific outpost, including in selection of the local ruler and in the establishment of a three power protectorate. These arrangements facilitated the future strong position of the U.S. in the Pacific.
Throughout the 1880s various European countries had imposed a ban on importation of United States pork out of an unconfirmed allegation of trichinosis. This was a significant issue because of the high volume of pork products exported annually. Harrison sent Whitelaw Reid, minister to France, and William Walter Phelps, minister to Germany, to negotiate the restoration of these exports. He also successfully asked the congress to enact the Meat Inspection Act to eliminate the accusations of product deficiency. He also threatened Germany with retaliation by initiating an embargo in the U.S. against Germany's highly demanded beet sugar. By September 1891 Germany relented, and soon other European nations followed.
The first international crisis Harrison faced arose from disputed fishing rights on the Alaskan coast. Canada claimed fishing and sealing rights around many of the Aleutian Islands. As a result, the United States Navy seized several Canadian ships. In 1891, the administration began negotiations with the British that led to a compromise over fishing rights after international arbitration, which resulted in the British government paying compensation in 1898.
In 1891, a diplomatic crisis emerged in Chile, known as the Baltimore Crisis. The American minister to Chile, Patrick Egan, granted asylum to Chileans who were seeking refuge during the 1891 Chilean Civil War. Egan, an Irish immigrant, wanted to thwart Great Britain's influence in Chile. That year sailors from the USS Baltimore took shore leave in Valparaiso and a fight ensued, resulting in the deaths of two American sailors and the arrest of three dozen others. The Baltimore's captain, Winfield Schley claimed that the sailors had been attacked with bayonets by Chilean police without provocation. Harrison demanded reparations. The Chilean Minister of Foreign Affairs Manuel Matta called Harrison's demand "erroneous or deliberately incorrect," and said that the Chilean government was treating the affair the same as any other criminal matter. Tensions increased as the nations were on the brink of war. Harrison threatened to break off diplomatic relations unless the United States received a suitable apology, and said the situation required, "grave and patriotic consideration". He added, "If the dignity as well as the prestige and influence of the United States are not to be wholly sacrificed, we must protect those who in foreign ports display the flag or wear the colors." The Navy was also placed on high alert. Secretary Blaine made brief conciliatory overtures to the Chilean government, but he later reversed course and joined the call for concessions and an apology by the Chileans. The Chilean government ultimately obliged, and war was averted. Theodore Roosevelt later complimented Harrison for his use of the "big stick" in the matter.
In the last days of his administration, Harrison dealt with the issue of Hawaiian annexation. Following a coup d'état against Queen Liliuokalani, the new government of Hawaii led by Sanford Dole petitioned for annexation by the United States. Harrison was interested in expanding American influence in Hawaii and in establishing a naval base at Pearl Harbor but had not previously expressed any support for annexing the islands. The United States consul in Hawaii John L. Stevens recognized the new government on February 1, 1893 and forwarded their proposals to Washington. With just one month left before leaving office, the administration signed a treaty on February 14 and submitted it to the Senate the next day with Harrison's recommendation. But the Senate failed to act, and President Cleveland withdrew the treaty shortly after taking office.
Harrison appointed four justices to the Supreme Court of the United States. The first was David Josiah Brewer, a judge on the Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. Shortly after Brewer's nomination, Justice Matthews died, creating another vacancy. Harrison had considered Henry Billings Brown, a Michigan judge and admiralty law expert, for the first vacancy and now nominated him for the second. His nomination was confirmed. For the third vacancy, which arose in 1892, Harrison nominated George Shiras. Shiras's appointment was somewhat controversial because at age sixty he was older than usual for a newly appointed Justice. Shiras also drew the opposition of Senator Matthew Quay of Pennsylvania because they were in different factions of the Pennsylvania Republican party, but his nomination was nonetheless approved. Finally, at the end of his term, Harrison nominated Howell Edmunds Jackson to replace Justice Lamar, who died in January 1893. Harrison knew the incoming Senate would be controlled by Democrats, so he selected Jackson, a respected Tennessee Democrat with whom he was friendly to ensure his nominee would not be rejected. Jackson's nomination was confirmed as expected.
When Harrison took office, no new states had been admitted in more than a decade, because Congressional Democrats believed these new states would elect Republicans. Early in Harrison's term, Congress passed bills that admitted four states to the union: North Dakota and South Dakota on November 2, 1889, Montana on November 8, and Washington on November 11. The following year two more states held constitutional conventions and were admitted – Idaho on July 3 and Wyoming on July 10, 1890. The initial Congressional delegations from all six states were solidly Republican as expected. More states were admitted under Harrison's presidency than any other since George Washington's.
Harrison attended the three-day grand Centennial Celebration of George Washington's inauguration in New York City on April 30, 1889. He made the following remarks:
"We have come into the serious but always inspiring presence of Washington. He was the incarnation of duty and he teaches us today this great lesson: that those who would associate their names with events that shall outlive a century can only do so by high consecration to duty. Self-seeking has no public observance or anniversary."
Harrison traveled frequently, making speeches at most stops. The most notable of his presidential trips was a five-week tour of the west in the spring of 1891, aboard a lavishly outfitted train. Harrison also frequently traveled by train to nearby Virginia or Maryland. During the hot Washington summers, the Harrisons made traveled to Deer Park, Maryland and Cape May Point, New Jersey. In 1890 John Wanamaker joined with other Philadelphia devotees of the Harrisons and made an unsolicited gift to them of a summer cottage at Cape May. Harrison was uncomfortable with the ethics of such a gift and a month later he wrote Wanamaker a $10,000 personal check for reimbursement to the various donors of the gift. Nevertheless, Harrison's opponents criticized him for accepting the home.
In 1892 Harrison ran for re-election. His opponent was the same man he had faced four years earlier, Grover Cleveland. Bu this time the treasury surplus had evaporated and the nation's economic health was worsening. Congressional elections in 1890 had gone against the Republicans and Harrison was losing support within his own party because of his adamant refusal to give party members more patronage. Specifically, Thomas C. Platt, Mathew S. Quay, Thomas B. Reed and James Clarkson quietly organized a "dump Harrison" movement. They unsuccessfully solicited the support of Blaine.
Many of Harrison's detractors persisted in pushing for Blaine to run, but he announced that he was not a candidate in February 1892, more because of his poor health than because of any loyalty to his president. Some party leaders still hoped to draft Blaine into running, and speculation increased when he resigned at the 11th hour as Secretary of State in June. But at the convention in Minneapolis, Harrison prevailed, winning the nomination on the first ballot, though with some opposition.
The Democrats renominated Cleveland, making the 1892 election a rematch of the one four years earlier. The tariff revisions of the past four years had made imported goods so expensive. Many westerners, traditionally Republican voters, defected to the new Populist Party candidate, James Weaver, who promised free silver, generous veterans' pensions, and an eight-hour work day.
Harrison's wife Caroline began a critical struggle with tuberculosis earlier in 1892 and two weeks before the election, on October 25, she passed away. Their daughter Mary Harrison McKee assumed the role of First Lady after her mother's death. Mrs. Harrison's illness meant that her husband's heart really wasn't in the campaign. Cleveland ultimately won the election by 277 electoral votes to Harrison's 145, and also won the popular vote by 5,556,918 to 5,176,108.