James A. McKenzie

For other people with the same name, see James Mackenzie (disambiguation).

James A. McKenzie
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Kentucky's 2nd district
In office March 4, 1877 – March 3, 1883
Preceded by	John Y. Brown
Succeeded by	James Franklin Clay
48th Secretary of State of Kentucky
In office September 5, 1883 – August 30, 1887
Governor	J. Proctor Knott
Preceded by	James W. Blackburn
Succeeded by	George Madison Adams
United States Ambassador to Peru
In office June 24, 1893 – April 13, 1897
Preceded by	John Hicks
Succeeded by	Irving B. Dudley
Member of the Kentucky House of Representatives
In office 1867–1871
Personal details
Born	(1840-08-01)August 1, 1840 Bennettstown, Kentucky
Died	June 25, 1904(1904-06-25) (aged 63) Oak Grove, Kentucky
Resting place	Fairview Cemetery
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Amelia C. Parish Blakey
Relations	Uncle of John McKenzie Moss
Alma mater	Centre College
Profession	Lawyer
Military service
Allegiance	United States Confederate States
Branch/service	Confederate States Army
Rank	Private
Battles/wars	American Civil War

James Andrew McKenzie (August 1, 1840 – June 25, 1904) was a U.S. Representative from Kentucky and uncle of John McKenzie Moss.

Born in Bennettstown, Kentucky, McKenzie attended the common schools of Christian County and Centre College, Danville, Kentucky. He studied law and admitted to the bar in 1861, and commenced practice in Hopkinsville, Kentucky. McKenzie also engaged in agricultural pursuits during this time.

During the Civil War he served as a private in the Confederate States Army.

Following the war, he served as member of the Kentucky House of Representatives from 1867 to 1871. McKenzie later was elected as a Democrat to the Forty-fifth, Forty-sixth, and Forty-seventh United States Congresses (March 4, 1877 – March 3, 1883). He was an unsuccessful candidate for renomination in 1882.

McKenzie then served as Secretary of State of Kentucky under Governor J. Proctor Knott from 1884 to 1888 and as commissioner from Kentucky to the World's Columbian Exposition at Chicago, Illinois in 1893. In that same year, he was appointed Minister to Peru by President Grover Cleveland.

He resigned and settled on his farm near Long View, Kentucky. He died at Oak Grove, Kentucky, on June 25, 1904. He was interred in Fairview Cemetery, Bowling Green, Kentucky.

Journalist and Toledo mayor Brand Whitlock described McKenzie as a colorful figure renowned for his flowery style of speaking:

He was tall and spare of frame, and his long moustache and goatee, and the great black slouch hat he wore made him in appearance the typical southerner of the popular imagination. **** He was fond of striking phrases; he it was who had referred to Blaine as a Florentine mosaic; and his reference to Mrs. Cleveland as “the uncrowned queen of America” had delighted the Democratic convention at St. Louis which renominated her husband for the presidency. And again at Chicago, on that memorable night of oratory in 1892 in seconding the nomination of Cleveland on behalf of Kentucky he stood on a chair and referred to his state as the commonwealth “in which, thank God, the damned lie is the first lick, where the women are so beautiful that the aurora borealis blushes with shame, where the whiskey is so good as to make intoxication a virtue, and the horses so fleet that lightning in comparison is but a puling paralytic.”

References

• United States Congress. "James A. McKenzie (id: M000505)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.

 This article incorporates public domain material from the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress