Boies Penrose

Boies Penrose (November 1, 1860 – December 31, 1921) was an American politician from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, who served as a Republican member of the United States Senate for Pennsylvania from 1897 to 1921. He served as a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives for the Philadelphia County district in 1885. He served as a member of the Pennsylvania State Senate for the 6th district in 1897 and as President pro tempore of the Pennsylvania Senate from 1889 to 1891.

Penrose was the fourth political boss of the Pennsylvania Republican political machine (known under his bossism as the Penrose machine), following Simon Cameron, Donald Cameron, and Matthew Quay. He was the most powerful political operative in Pennsylvania for 17 years, supported Warren Harding in his nomination for U.S. president, and added the oil depletion allowance into the Revenue Act of 1913 to benefit oil producers. Penrose was the longest-serving U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania until Arlen Specter surpassed his record in 2005.

He was born on November 1, 1860, in Philadelphia, one of seven sons, to Dr. Richard Alexander Fullerton Penrose and Sarah Hannah Boies.

Penrose was born into a prominent Old Philadelphian family of Cornish descent. The family traced their American origins to Bartholomew Penrose, a Bristol shipbuilder, who was invited by William Penn to establish a shipyard in the Province of Pennsylvania. He was a grandson of Speaker of the Pennsylvania Senate Charles B. Penrose and brother of gynecologist Charles Bingham Penrose and mining entrepreneurs Richard and Spencer Penrose. He was a descendant of the prominent Biddle family of Philadelphia.

Penrose attended Episcopal Academy and Harvard University. He was almost expelled from Harvard due to poor academics but was able to improve his grades by Senior year. He graduated second in his class in 1881. After reading the law with the firm of Wayne MacVeagh and George Tucker Bispham, he was admitted to the Pennsylvania Bar in 1883.

He served as a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives for Philadelphia County in 1885, and was elected to the Pennsylvania State Senate for the 6th district in 1886. He served as president pro tempore from 1889 to 1891. At the age of 26, he was the youngest state senator and at age 29, the youngest President pro tempore.

Although Penrose wrote two books on political reform, he joined the political machine of Matthew Quay, a Pennsylvania Republican political boss. In 1895, Penrose ran unsuccessfully for mayor of Philadelphia. He was forced to withdraw from the race when his Democrat opponent released a photo of Penrose leaving a brothel at three o'clock in the morning.

In 1897, the state legislature elected Penrose to the United States Senate over John Wanamaker.