历届美国总统简介：本杰明·哈里森（在线收听）

本杰明·哈里森是美国第23任总统。他受到良好的教育，毕业于迈阿密大学，毕业后操律师业。南北战争期间参加联邦军，获将军衔。1881年，他成为参议员。1888年，他被共和党提名总统候选人并在竟选中获胜。上台时，美国工业化臻于完成，经济结构发生了历史性变革。哈里森顺应潮流，制定了旨在稳定局势、防止社会动荡的《谢尔曼反托拉斯法》。对外，哈里森积极扩大美国影响，组织召开了第一届泛美会议，成立泛美联盟。哈里森政府还与许多国家签订了贸易互惠协定。

Benjamin Harrison was the 23rd President of the United States, serving from 1889–1893. He was the grandson of the ninth President William Henry Harrison. He was born in 1833 in Cincinnati, Ohio. Harrison attended Miami University in Ohio and read law in Cincinnati. He moved to Indianapolis, where he practiced law and campaigned for the Republican Party. He married Caroline Lavinia Scott in 1853.

After the Civil War, Harrison was a Colonel of the 70th Volunteer Infantry. He became a pillar of Indianapolis business and society, enhancing his reputation as a brilliant lawyer. In the 1880's he served in the United States Senate, where he supported the causes of Native Americans, freed slaves and Civil War veterans. In particular, he campaigned for aid for the education of the children of slaves.

In the Presidential election, Harrison received 100,000 fewer popular votes than incumbent President Grover Cleveland. However, he carried the Electoral College 233 to 168 to return the Republicans to power. The biggest domestic problem Harrison faced was the tariff issue and the surplus of money in the Treasury. Democrats attacked his "Billion Dollar Congress" for wasting taxpayers’ money and hurting businesses.

Long before the end of the Harrison Administration, the Treasury surplus had evaporated, and the good times seemed about to disappear as well. Congressional elections in 1890 went against the Republicans, and party leaders decided to abandon President Harrison. He returned to legal practice. He represented Venezuela in a dispute with the United Kingdom. He died in 1901 aged 67.