Francis Preston Blair, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

    

Francis Preston Blair

American newspaper editor and presidential advisor

Date of Birth: 12-Apr-1791

Place of Birth: Abingdon, Virginia, United States

Date of Death: 18-Oct-1876

Profession: politician, editor, journalist

Nationality: United States

Zodiac Sign: Aries


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About Francis Preston Blair

  • Francis Preston Blair Sr.
  • (April 12, 1791 – October 18, 1876) was an American journalist, newspaper editor, and influential figure in national politics advising several U.S.
  • presidents across the party lines. Blair was an early member of the Democratic Party, and a strong supporter of President Andrew Jackson, having helped him win Kentucky in the 1828 presidential election.
  • From 1831 to 1845, Blair worked as Editor-in-Chief of the Washington Globe, which served as the primary propaganda instrument for the Democratic Party, and was largely successful.
  • Blair was an influential advisor to President Jackson, and served prominently in a group of unofficial advisors and assistants known as the "Kitchen Cabinet". Blair, despite being a slaveholder from Kentucky, eventually came to oppose the expansion of slavery into western territories.
  • He supported the Free-Soil Party ticket of Martin Van Buren and Charles Francis Adams Sr.
  • in the 1848 presidential election.
  • In 1854, in opposition to the Kansas–Nebraska Act, he left the Democratic Party and helped establish the Republican Party.
  • Blair served as an advisor to President Abraham Lincoln during the American Civil War.
  • In 1861, he was sent by Lincoln to offer command of a large Union army to Colonel Robert E.
  • Lee, who declined, and instead joined the Confederacy.
  • Blair also helped organize the Hampton Roads Conference of 1865, a failed attempt to end the war. After the Union victory, Blair became disillusioned with Radical Reconstruction, a policy promoted by many members of the Republican Party.
  • He eventually left the party and rejoined the Democrats.
  • His son, Francis Preston Blair Jr., was the party's nominee for vice president on a losing ticket in the 1868 election.
  • Blair died in 1876 at age 85.

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