Benjamin Harrison Biography

Benjamin Harrison was a Civil War general and a Republican senator from Indiana before defeating incumbent Grover Cleveland in the 1888 presidential election. His presidency was undistinguished, but his family tree was not: Harrison’s great-grandfather was a signer of the Declaration of Independence; his grandfather was William Henry Harrison, ninth president of the United States; and his father was a congressman from Ohio. In a try for a second term, Harrison was defeated by Grover Cleveland in a rematch of their 1888 race.