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Evans, Henry Clay, 1843-1921

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Commissioner of Pensions

Commissioner of Pensions

Commissioner of Pensions Henry Clay Evans’s retirement will not lessen the safeguards against fraud at the Pension Bureau. Evans has served for five years and President Roosevelt would be wise to convince Evans to serve for longer.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1902-04-03

A strange promotion

A strange promotion

Commissioner Henry Clay Evans is clearly resigning from the Pension Bureau due to pressure on President Roosevelt from the Grand Army of the Republic. This resignation is not complimentary to the “Roosevelt backbone.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1902-03-03

A tried watch-dog who will be retained

A tried watch-dog who will be retained

A man labeled “Pension Agent” holds a small club labeled “Fraudulent Claims” and shakes his fist at Henry Clay Evans shown as a watchdog wearing a collar labeled “Pension Commissioner Evans,” sitting in front of a building labeled “U.S. Treasury.”

comments and context

Comments and Context

For decades after the Civil War, the Pension Bureau, a necessary agency established to serve the inordinate number of wounded Union veterans, was also a controversial institution that allowed plunder on a large scale. The Grand Army of the Republic, predecessor of subsequent veterans and lobbying organizations, continually fought for greater benefits, fewer tests of legitimate claims, and against reforms and inquests. Politicians “waved the bloody shirt” (the phrase for appealing to veterans and their families) and funded the Pension Bureau extravagantly. President McKinley appointed Henry Clay Evans as commissioner in 1897, and as a reformer he served until 1902, when President Theodore Roosevelt appointed him Consul-General to Great Britain in 1902.

“Get out, Evans”

“Get out, Evans”

President Roosevelt walks with a man of the Grand Army of the Republic as Roosevelt points his finger at Henry Clay Evans. Caption: The president: Get out, Evans. “But have I not been a faithful officer?” “Yes, none better. But my dear old G.A.R. friend here does not like you.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1902-05-01