John Addison Porter (Secretary to the President)

Porter attended Hopkins Grammar School and the Russell Military Academy at New Haven, and graduated from Yale College with an A.B. in 1878. As an undergraduate, he served on the sixth editorial board of The Yale Record."Record Editors". The Yale Banner. New Haven: Thomas Penney and G. D. Pettee. 1877. p. 182. He received an A.M. in American history from Yale in 1881. He studied law with his uncle, William Jarvis Boardman,Boardman was the husband of Porter's mother's sister, Florence Sheffield. in Cleveland, Ohio, but never practiced that profession.

In 1880 he joined the staff of the Hartford Observer. He was also a reporter for a brief time on the New Haven Daily Palladium and on the Hartford Courant. In 1882 he became literary editor of the New York Observer. Moving to Washington, D.C., he continued his newspaper work.

In 1884 he served as secretary to his uncle William Walter Phelps,Phelps was the husband of Porter's mother's sister, Ellen Maria Sheffield. a member of the House of Representatives, and also served as a clerk on the select Senate committee on Indian affairs.

Moving to Pomfret, Connecticut in 1886, he purchased a third interest in the Hartford Evening Post, and became managing editor and editor-in-chief. He sold the paper in 1899.

In 1886, he organized and ran the Oregon Publishing Company, which took over the Portland Evening Telegram newspaper{{citation needed|date=January 2015}} (founded 1877). The Telegram, a Republican-leaning newspaper, merged in 1931 with the Portland News, creating the Portland News-Telegram, which in turn ceased publishing in 1939.

In 1887 illness obliged him to spend the winter in the South; returning north he purchased an estate in Pomfret, Connecticut, which became his final home.

In 1891 he served as a representative from Pomfret in the Connecticut legislature. In 1892 he was a delegate to the Republican national convention in Minneapolis. In 1894, 1896 and 1898 he was considered as a Republican nominee for governor of Connecticut, but was ultimately not chosen. He was influential in persuading the Connecticut delegate to the St. Louis convention to cast their votes for William McKinley.

In 1893 he organized and became president of the McKinley Club of Hartford, the first McKinley club of the country.

McKinley appointed him Secretary to the President of the United States in February 1897. Illness, dating from about spring 1899, interfered with his duties, and he resigned the position on May 1, 1900.

He died of a malignant intestinal disease in December 1900 at age 44.

He was the author of:

• The Corporation of Yale College, 1885
• Origin and Administration of the City of Washington, 1885
• Sketches of Yale Life, 1886

John Addison Porter was the elder son of John Addison Porter, a professor of chemistry at Yale University, and his wife, née Josephine Earl Sheffield, daughter of Joseph Earl Sheffield, founder of Yale's Sheffield Scientific School.

In 1882 he married Amy Ellen Betts, granddaughter of Judge Samuel Betts of New York. In 1901 she founded the John Addison Porter Prize in American History at Yale University in memory of her husband.

The John Addison Porter Prize in American History for undergraduate history majors was established in 1901 by Mrs. Amy Betts Porter in memory of her husband.{{cite book |last= Stokes|first= Anson Phelps|date= 1917|title= Yale Endowments: A Description of the Various Gifts and Bequests Establishing Permanent University Funds |location= New Haven, Connecticut|publisher= Yale University|pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=gg84AAAAMAAJ&dq=john+addison+porter+prize&pg=PA114 114]–117|access-date= 4 November 2018|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gg84AAAAMAAJ&q=Yale+Endowments:+A+Description+of+the+Various+Gifts+and+Bequests+Establishing+Permanent}} There are two other Yale endowments that commemorate John Addison Porter. The first, the John Addison Porter Memorial Fellowship was established in 1901 by Mrs. Josephine S. Porter in memory of her husband and her son, both named John Addison Porter, and given for distinguished excellence and promise in the Department of English. The other is the John Addison Porter University Prize, established by the Kingsley Trust Association in 1901 in continuance of a prize offered by that society annually since 1872, open to all in the university, given in honor of the father, a founder of that society.

Winners of the undergraduate John Addison Porter Prize for outstanding senior essays or the John Addison Porter Prize for outstanding graduate dissertations have included:

• 1902: C. S. Thompson, for The Rise and Fall of the Congressional Caucus as a Machine for Nominating Candidates for the Presidency{{Cite book|last=Thompson|first=Charles Seymour|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xI0GAAAAMAAJ&q=john+addison+porter+prize&pg=PA1|title=An Essay on the Rise and Fall of the Congressional Caucus as a Machine for Nominating Candidates for the Presidency|date=1902|publisher=Yale University|language=en}}
• 1910: William S. Culbertson, for Alexander Hamilton: An Essay{{Cite book|last=Culbertson|first=William Smith|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MKQEAAAAYAAJ&pg=PP15|title=Alexander Hamilton: An Essay|date=1911|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=978-0-7222-9118-4|language=en|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=MKQEAAAAYAAJ&pg=PP15 title]}}
• 1918: Lawrence H. Gipson, for Jared Ingersoll: A Study of American Loyalism in Relation to British Colonial Government{{Cite book|last=Gipson|first=Lawrence Henry|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/2883502|title=Jared Ingersoll: A Study of American Loyalism in Relation to British Colonial Government|date=1920|publisher=Yale University Press|location=New Haven|language=en|oclc=2883502}}
• 1921: George Stewart, Jr., for A History of Religious Education in Connecticut to the Middle of the Nineteenth Century{{Cite book|last=Stewart, Jr.|first=George|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qri1AAAAIAAJ&pg=PP15|title=A History of Religious Education in Connecticut to the Middle of the Nineteenth Century|date=1924|publisher=Yale University Press|language=en|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=qri1AAAAIAAJ&pg=PP14 viii]}}
• 1923: Dumas Malone, for The Public Life of Thomas Cooper, 1783–1839{{Cite book|last1=Brennan|first1=Elizabeth A.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=63nvmt4HqTEC&q=john+addison+porter+prize&pg=PA312|title=Who's who of Pulitzer Prize Winners|last2=Clarage|first2=Elizabeth C.|date=1999|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=978-1-57356-111-2|language=en|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=63nvmt4HqTEC&dq=john+addison+porter+prize&pg=PA312 312]}}{{Cite book|last=Malone|first=Dumas|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/890754777|title=The public life of Thomas Cooper 1783–1839|date=1926|location=New Haven|language=en|oclc=890754777}}
• 1928: George Herbert Ryden, for The Foreign Policy of the United States in Relation to Samoa{{Cite thesis|title=The Foreign Policy of the United States in Relation to Samoa|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/6637017|publisher=Yale University Press; H. Milford, Oxford University Press|date=1933|place=New Haven; London|language=en|first=George Herbert|last=Ryden|oclc=6637017}}{{Cite news|date=1928-06-08|title=WINS YALE'S BIGGEST PRIZE.; Professor Ryden Gets the John Addison Porter Award.|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1928/06/08/archives/wins-yales-biggest-prize-professor-ryden-gets-the-john-addison.html|page=20 Col. 2|access-date=2020-12-25|issn=0362-4331}}
• 1929: Stanley McCrory Pargellis, for Lord Loudoun in North America {{Cite book|last=Pargellis|first=Stanley McCrory|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/918289622|title=Lord Loudoun in North America|date=1968|publisher=Archon Books|location=Hamden, Conn.|language=en|oclc=918289622}}
• 1934: Charles Roy Keller, for The Second Great Awakening in Connecticut{{Cite book|last1=Keller|first1=Charles Roy|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1247762|title=The second great awakening in Connecticut|last2=Yale University|last3=John Addison Porter prize|last4=Frederick John Kingsbury Memorial Fund|date=1942|publisher=Yale University Press; H. Milford, Oxford University Press|location=New Haven; London|language=en|oclc=1247762|quote=Prepared originally as a doctoral dissertation at Yale university [1934], this work, in somewhat different form, was awarded the John Addison Porter prize in June, 1934.}}
• 1937: Richard Irving Galland{{Cite book|last=Swaine|first=Robert T.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p8jmmSwD9KEC&q=June+10%2C+1939+john+addison+porter+prize&pg=RA2-PA159|title=The Cravath Firm and Its Predecessors, 1819–1947|date=2007|publisher=The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd.|isbn=978-1-58477-713-7|language=en|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=p8jmmSwD9KEC&dq=June+10%2C+1939+john+addison+porter+prize&pg=RA2-PA159 159]}}{{Cite web|title=Richard Galland Obituary (1916 - 2008)|url=https://obits.dallasnews.com/amp/obituaries/dallasmorningnews/120879422|access-date=2020-12-25|publisher=The Dallas Morning News|language=en}}
• 1940: Liston Pope, for Millhands & Preachers: A Study of Gastonia{{Cite book|last1=Pope|first1=Liston|url=http://catalog.hathitrust.org/api/volumes/oclc/1533661.html|title=Millhands & Preachers: A Study of Gastonia|last2=Yale University|series=Yale studies in religious education; 15|date=1942|publisher=Yale University Press; H. Milford, Oxford University Press|location=New Haven; London|language=en|oclc=1049631600}}
• 1983: Timothy Naftali{{cite web |url=https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/160354 |title= Timothy J. Naftali|publisher=History News Network|author= Bonnie Goodman |date=December 17, 2007|access-date=September 9, 2021}}
• 1985: Jeffrey A. Meyer, for Politics and Planning: Public Housing in Mount Vernon, New York{{Cite book|last=United States Congress Senate Committee on the Judiciary|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jewe20HRUeIC&q=%22Politics+and+Planning%3A+Public+Housing+in+Mount+Vernon%2C+New+York%E2%80%9D&pg=PA561|title=Confirmation Hearings on Federal Appointments: Hearings Before the Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate, One Hundred Thirteenth Congress, First Session|date=2013|publisher=U.S. Government Publishing Office|language=en|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=jewe20HRUeIC&dq=%22Politics+and+Planning%3A+Public+Housing+in+Mount+Vernon%2C+New+York%E2%80%9D&pg=PA561 561]}}
• 1989: Dale Carpenter{{cite web |url= http://www.law.umn.edu/facultyprofiles/carpenterd.html |title= Dale Carpenter |author= |website= University of Minnesota|publisher= University of Minnesota Law School|access-date=22 January 2015}}
• 2006: Stephen Butler{{cite web |url= http://www.kirkland.com/sitecontent.cfm?contentID=220&itemID=9782 |title= Stephen Butler – Partner|author= |website= Kirkland & Ellis LLP|access-date= 22 January 2015}}
• 2010: Philip Gant{{Cite web|title=Porter and Field Prize Winner History {{!}} Office of the Secretary and Vice President for University Life|url=https://secretary.yale.edu/services-resources/lectureships-fellowships-prizes/field-and-porter-winner-history|access-date=2020-12-25|publisher=Yale University|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200929035335/https://secretary.yale.edu/services-resources/lectureships-fellowships-prizes/field-and-porter-winner-history|archive-date=29 September 2020}}
• 2021: Kaley Pillinger and Keshav Raghavan{{Cite web|last=History Department|first=Yale University|title=Congratulations to our 2020–2021 prize-winning undergraduates {{!}} Department of History|url=https://history.yale.edu/news/congratulations-our-2020-2021-prize-winning-undergraduates|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210809183651/https://history.yale.edu/news/congratulations-our-2020-2021-prize-winning-undergraduates|archive-date=2021-08-09|access-date=2021-08-09|website=history.yale.edu}}{{Cite web|last=History Department|first=Yale University|title=Yale History Senior Essay Prize Day 2020–21|url=https://history.yale.edu/sites/default/files/files/Yale%20History%20Senior%20Essay%20Prize%20Day%202021.pdf|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210809183712/https://history.yale.edu/sites/default/files/files/Yale%20History%20Senior%20Essay%20Prize%20Day%202021.pdf|archive-date=9 August 2021|access-date=9 August 2021}}
• 2024: Rachel Bitutsky and Elisa Kravitz
• 2025: Carmen Lopez Villamil and Jenesis Nwainokpor

{{Reflist}}

• {{Find a Grave|147394658}}

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Category:19th-century American journalists

Category:American male journalists

Category:1856 births

Category:1900 deaths

Category:Yale College alumni

Category:People from Pomfret, Connecticut

Category:19th-century American male writers

Category:McKinley administration personnel