J. Donald Cameron

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32nd United States Secretary of War
James Donald Cameron

In office May 22, 1876 – March 4, 1877
President	Ulysses S. Grant
Preceded by	Alphonso Taft
Succeeded by	George W. McCrary

Born	May 14, 1833(1833-05-14) Middletown, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Died	August 30, 1918 (aged 85) Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Elizabeth Sherman Cameron
Profession	Politician, Clerk, Cashier, Railroad President

Will he cast his sword into the balance?
An 1882 Puck cartoon depicts Cameron and fellow Pennsylvania senator John I. Mitchell on the Republican Pennsylvania Scale. Cameron, sitting on a platform marked "bossism", attempts to weigh himself down with weights marked "threats", "tricks" and "bluster" while Mitchell, dressed as a Roman, stands at the opposite end as an "Independent Republican". President Chester A. Arthur, too dressed as a Roman, holds a sword marked "patronage" which Cameron asks for to even out the balance.

James Donald Cameron (May 14, 1833 – August 30, 1918) was an American politician from Pennsylvania who served as Secretary of War under Ulysses S. Grant and in the United States Senate for twenty years.

Born in Middletown, Pennsylvania, the son of Simon Cameron, the 26th Secretary of War and a powerful Pennsylvania politician and Margaret Brua. Cameron graduated from Princeton College (today Princeton University) in 1852 and received a graduate degree in 1855. He worked as a bank clerk and cashier and was later president of the Northern Central Railway from 1866 to 1874. In 1876, President Ulysses S. Grant appointed Cameron to his cabinet as Secretary of War, a post his father once served in during the Lincoln administration, to succeed Alphonso Taft, who became Attorney General, and served as so until the end of Grant's presidency.

In 1877, his father resigned from his seat in the United States Senate and Cameron was appointed to fill the vacancy under the ensurance of the Pennsylvania Legislature. He was reelected three more times serving for a total of twenty years. He served as chairman of the Committee on Naval Affairs from 1881 to 1891 and again from 1895 to 1897 and as chairman of the Committee on Revolutionary Claims from 1893 to 1895. Cameron also served as chairman of the Republican National Committee from 1879 to 1880. After not being a candidate for reelection in 1896, he engaged in several business enterprises in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and later died at his country home called "Donegal" in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. He was interned in Harrisburg Cemetery in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Prior to his death, Cameron was the last surviving member of the Grant administration.

Cameron's second wife, the former Elizabeth Sherman, whom he married in 1878, was the niece of William Tecumseh Sherman and John Sherman and a close friend of Henry Brooks Adams.

J. Donald Cameron at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress

J. Donald Cameron at Find A Grave
J. Donald Cameron at the United States Army

Preceded by Alphonso Taft	United States Secretary of War May 22, 1876 – March 4, 1877	Succeeded by George W. McCrary
Preceded by Simon Cameron	United States Senator (Class 3) from Pennsylvania March 20, 1877 – March 3, 1897 Served alongside: William A. Wallace, John I. Mitchell and Matthew S. Quay	Succeeded by Boies Penrose
Preceded by Zachariah Chandler	Chairman of the Republican National Committee 1879 – 1880	Succeeded by Marshall Jewell