Biography:

James Gillespie Blaine was born on January 31, 1830 in West Brownsville, Pennsylvania.  He served as Secretary of State during the Benjamin Harrison and James A. Garfield Administrations and was the 31st Speaker of the US House of Representatives.  Blaine graduated from Washington College in 1847 and became a newspaper editor in Augusta, Maine.  In 1859 he was elected to serve in the Maine House of Representatives and later, in 1862, successfully ran for the US Congress.  In 1880 he lost the Republican Presidential nomination to James A. Garfield and, after the election, chosen to serve as Secretary of State.  Four years later Republicans nominated him as their candidate, but he narrowly lost the presidential election to Grover Cleveland.  In 1888, Benjamin Harrison appointed him Secretary of State.  As Secretary of State, Blaine expanded trade with Latin America and served as chairman of the first Pan-American Conference.  Blaine resigned as Secretary of State on June 4, 1892.  He died on January 27, 1893 in Washington, DC.