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Godlove Orth
United States Ambassador to Austria
In office March 9, 1875 – March 10, 1876
President	Ulysses S. Grant
Preceded by	John Jay II
Succeeded by	Edward F. Beale
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Indiana's 9th district
In office March 4, 1881 – December 16, 1882
Preceded by	Michael D. White
Succeeded by	Charles T. Doxey
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Indiana's At-Large district
In office March 4, 1873 – March 4, 1875
Preceded by	New district
Succeeded by	District abolished
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Indiana's 7th district
In office March 4, 1869 – March 3, 1871
Preceded by	Henry D. Washburn
Succeeded by	Mahlon D. Manson
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Indiana's 8th district
In office March 4, 1863 – March 3, 1869
Preceded by	Albert S. White
Succeeded by	James N. Tyner
Personal details
Born	Godlove Stein Orth (1817-05-22)May 22, 1817 Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Died	December 16, 1882(1882-12-16) (aged 65) Lafayette, Indiana, U.S
Resting place	Greenbush Cemetery
Political party	Republican
Other political affiliations	Whig Know Nothing
Education	Pennsylvania College

Godlove Stein Orth (April 22, 1817 – December 16, 1882) was a United States representative from Indiana and an acting Lieutenant Governor of Indiana.

Biography

Of German ancestry, he was born near Lebanon, Lebanon County, Pennsylvania, on April 22, 1817. He attended Pennsylvania College at Gettysburg for about one year and then studied law with the office of James Cooper. He entered the bar in 1839.

Early political career

His political career started with public speeches in 1840 supporting William Henry Harrison for president. He started as a Whig but as that party collapsed, he looked elsewhere. For a time he was the Indiana leader of the Know-Nothings (called the American Party) and later aligned himself with the Republican Party.

He served in the Indiana Senate from 1843 to 1849, and as acting-Lieutenant Governor of Indiana in 1845.

Congress

He served as a U.S. House representative from Indiana from 1863 to 1871, 1873 to 1875, and from 1879 to 1882.

"Godlove S. Orth is a fat, fluffy, pudgy-cheeked, good-humored old boy, with a volubility co-equal with the necessities of a politician, and a smile that is broad, bewitching, childlike, and bland," the Chicago Times reported in 1876. "He has a good head, well stocked with information and experience, and is no fool." He was, in fact, a politician skilled at political survival, and had to be: as was so often the case with congressmen, local jealousies kept even the most able members from serving more than one or two terms, before some other county in the district demanded the nomination in recognition. Those jealousies and factional feuds nearly prevented his re-election in 1866, and in 1868 he had to fend off a serious challenge from General Lew Wallace. Survival therefore took assiduous cultivation of his constituents. In his district, as he informed another Republican, he kept a list of the top hundred party leaders for each county, and a file on some ten thousand other constituents, "pretty much all the reading Republicans and some Democrats in the District."

When he sent out public documents and books, or speeches from other House members, he would mail them to names on the first list; when he sent pamphlets and his own speeches, it went to the second. Naturally, he had a hearty appreciation of the franking system, as a way of not having to pay the postage costs.

Orth therefore made a reliable second-string leader for the House Republicans in the late 1860s. He stood at the more conservative end of his party during Andrew Johnson's administration: supporting Reconstruction, but trying to bring the President and Congress back into harmony, if it were possible. On the House Foreign Affairs Committee, he became the Grant Administration's most reliable point-man, and in 1871 the one to manage a resolution appointing a fact-finding commission sent to Santo Domingo to prepare the way for possible annexation. A Chicago Tribune correspondent described him as "as good a man as can be found, without prejudice, without notions, without fixed ideas upon any question. He is one of those men, who, upon large, general irresponsible principles are always right, but who are unpronounced upon little, local, and special questions." That was not meant in criticism; the reporter thought him "one of the most law-observing, conservative, neighborhood constructions of manhood we know".

Despite his history with the Know-Nothings, near the end of his life, Orth stood as one of a small number of congressmen defending racial equality. He condemned the racial discrimination of the first Chinese Exclusion Act (1882), declaring that he would vote against the bill because "I am opposed to all legislation founded on 'race, color, or previous condition of servitude.' We have no such odious laws now upon our statute-book, and no vote of mine shall ever be given to place any there."

Retirement

After his retirement from the House, Orth was appointed Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Austria. He resigned in the late spring of 1876, having been nominated in February for governor by the Republican party. Members of the reform wing distrusted Orth automatically, because he stood well with Senator Oliver Morton's political machine, and they doubted his personal integrity. They were strengthened in their suspicions when a newspaper charged him with participating in a ring of speculators that shook down Venezuelan claimants in disputes between injured parties in Venezuela and the United States and with lobbying the Congress to confirm those claims.

With the ex-Congressman refusing to make a full explanation or convincing denial and with rumors of incriminating letters waiting to be released in what promised to be a hot campaign, Morton withdrew his public support. On August 2, Orth withdrew as candidate for governor, and was replaced by Benjamin Harrison.

Family

Orth was married twice, and had a daughter and two sons.

Death and burial

He died in office in December 1882 in Lafayette, Indiana, just after losing a re-election bid to Thomas B. Ward, and is interred at Greenbush Cemetery in that city.

See also

• List of United States Congress members who died in office (1790–1899)

Notes

1. "German ancestry Politicians in Indiana". The Political Graveyard. Retrieved 14 May 2015.
2. ^ "CONGRESSMAN ORTH'S DEATH.; THE LAST MOMENTS AND CAREER OF A DISTINGUISHED INDIANIAN". The New York Times. 1882-12-18. Retrieved 2009-03-03.
3. Chicago Times, March 20, 1876.
4. Godlove S. Orth to Daniel D. Pratt, October 27, 1868, Daniel D. Pratt Papers, Indiana State Library.
5. Chicago Tribune, January 16, 1871.
6. 13 Cong. Rec. 2189
7. Robert Kriebel (1990). Old Lafayette volume 2: 1854-1876. Tippecanoe County Historical Association.

References

• United States Congress. "Godlove S. Orth (id: O000106)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved on 2008-10-30

External links

• "Godlove S. Orth". Find a Grave. Retrieved 2008-10-30.

v t e United States ambassadors to Austria
Austrian Empire (1838–1867)	Muhlenberg Jenifer Stiles Webb McCurdy Foote Jackson Jones Motley
Austro-Hungarian Empire (1867–1917)	Watts Jay Orth Beale Kasson Phelps Taft J. Francis Lawton Grant Tripp Tower Harris McCormick Storer C. Francis Kerens Penfield
Republic of Austria (1921–1938, 1946–present)	Frazier Washburn Stockton Earle Messersmith Emmet Wiley Erhardt Donnelly Thompson Matthews Riddleberger MacArthur Humes Buchanan Wolf Kaiser Cummings von Damm Lauder Grunwald Huffington Hunt Hall Brown McCaw Girard-diCarlo Eacho Wesner Traina Kennedy

v t e Chairmen of the United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs
Russell Forsyth Everett Archer Wayne Mason Howard Pickens Cushing Adams Ingersoll T. Smith McClernand Bayly Pennington Clingman Hopkins Corwin Crittenden Davis Banks Myers Orth Swann Cox Williams Curtin Belmont McCreary Hitt Blount McCreary Hitt Cousins Perkins Foster Sulzer C. Smith Flood Porter Temple Linthicum McReynolds Bloom Eaton Bloom Kee Richards Chiperfield Richards Gordon Morgan Zablocki Fascell Hamilton Gilman Hyde Lantos Berman Ros-Lehtinen Royce Engel Meeks McCaul Mast (designate)

v t e Members of the U.S. House of Representatives from Indiana
1st district	Prince Call Boon Blake Boon Proffit R. Owen Embree Albertson Lockhart Miller Lockhart Niblack Law Niblack Fuller Heilman Kleiner Hovey Posey Parrett Taylor Hemenway Foster Boehne Sr. Lieb Denton Luhring W. Wilson Rowbottom Boehne Jr. Schulte Madden Benjamin Hall Visclosky Mrvan
2nd district	Jennings J. Carr Ewing J. W. Davis Ewing J. W. Davis Thompson Henley Dunham English Cravens Kerr Wolfe J. Williams Humphreys Cobb O'Neall Bretz Hardy Miers Chaney Cullop Bland Greenwood Durgan Halleck Landgrebe Fithian Sharp McIntosh M. Pence Chocola Donnelly Walorski Yakym
3rd district	Test O. Smith Test Carty J. Carr Graham J. Carr J. L. White T. Smith J. L. Robinson Dunham G. G. Dunn Hughes W. Dunn Harrington R. Hill Hunter Holman Kerr N. Carr Bicknell Stockslager Howard J. Brown Tracewell Zenor Cox Dunbar Gardner Dunbar Crowe Pettengill Grant Crook S. Crumpacker Nimtz Brademas Hiler Roemer Souder Stutzman Banks Stutzman (elect)
4th district	A. Lane G. H. Dunn T. Smith Cravens C. Smith Julian Parker J. Lane Cumback Foley Holman Farquhar Holman Julian Je. Wilson New Sexton New Holman Watson Holman Griffith Dixon Benham Canfield Farley Gillie Kruse Adair Roush Quayle Coats Long Souder Buyer Rokita Baird
5th district	McCarty Rariden Kennedy W. Brown Wick W. Brown Hendricks Parker Holloway Kilgore Julian Coburn Holman Browne Matson Cooper Overstreet Faris Holliday Moss Sanders N. Johnson Gillen Griswold Harness Walsh Beamer Roush Roudebush Hillis Jontz Buyer Burton Brooks Spartz
6th district	Kinnard Herod Wick Wallace J. W. Davis G. G. Dunn Gorman Hendricks Barbour Gregg Porter Dumont Coburn Voorhees Hunter M. Robinson W. Myers Browne H. Johnson Watson Barnard Gray Comstock Elliott Larrabee Jenckes N. Johnson Harden Wampler Roudebush Bray D. Evans Burton M. Pence Messer G. Pence Shreve (elect)
7th district	Hannegan A. White Howard H. S. Lane Wright McGaughey Thompson McGaughey J. G. Davis Scott J. G. Davis Voorhees Washburn Orth Manson Cason Landers Hanna Matyr Peelle English Bynum Henry Overstreet Korbly Moores Updike Ludlow Greenwood Landis Noland Bray J. Myers Pease Kerns J. Carson A. Carson
8th district	Pettit McDonald Mace Ja. Wilson A. White Orth Tyner Hunter Hostetler Peirce Lamb Johnston Brookshire Faris Henry Cromer Adair Vestal Boehne Jr. La Follette E. Mitchell Denton Merrill Denton Zion Hayes Cornwell Deckard McCloskey Hostettler Ellsworth Bucshon Messmer (elect)
9th district	Sample Cathcart Fitch Eddy Shanks Cason M. White Orth Doxey Ward Cheadle Waugh Hanly Landis Morrison Purnell Crowe E. Wilson Hogan E. Wilson L. Hamilton B. Hill Sodrel B. Hill Young Hollingsworth Houchin
10th district	Kennedy Rockhill Harlan Brenton Chamberlain Case W. Mitchell Edgerton Defrees W. Williams Sayler Haymond Calkins Motte T. Wood W. Owen Patton Hammond Hatch E. Crumpacker Peterson W. Wood Gray Springer Harvey Harmon Harvey Roudebush Dennis Sharp Jacobs Jr. J. Carson
11th district	Harlan Pettit Shanks McDowell Stilwell Shanks Packard J. Evans Cowgill Steele Martin Steele Landis Rauch Kraus Cook Hall Griswold Larrabee Ludlow Jacobs Sr. Brownson Barr Bruce Jacobs Jr. Hudnut Jacobs Jr.
12th district	A. Hamilton Colerick Lowry J. B. White McClellan McNagny Leighty J. M. Robinson Gilbert Gilhams Cline Fairfield Hogg Ludlow
13th district	Baker Calkins Shively Ford Shively Conn Royse Brick Barnhart Hickey Pettengill
At-large	Hendricks Jennings Packard / Orth / W. Williams
Territory	Parke Thomas Jennings

• 1817 births
• 1882 deaths
• 19th-century American diplomats
• Ambassadors of the United States to Austria-Hungary
• American people of German descent
• Indiana Know Nothings
• Indiana lawyers
• Indiana state senators
• Indiana Whigs
• Lieutenant governors of Indiana
• People from Lebanon, Pennsylvania
• Politicians from Lebanon County, Pennsylvania
• Union army officers
• 1848 United States presidential electors
• 19th-century American lawyers
• Military personnel from Pennsylvania
• Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Indiana
• 19th-century members of the United States House of Representatives