Thomas E. Watson

Thomas E. Watson was born September 5, 1856, two miles outside Thomson, Georgia. After attending Mercer and then reading law, Watson was admitted to the Bar and returned to Thomson in 1877 to begin a successful law practice. He served in the Georgia House of Representatives in 1882, the U.S. House of Representatives from 1890-1892 and the U.S. Senate from 1920 until his death in 1922.

Watson emerged as the leader of the Southern Populists soon after his election to Congress. He was nominated in 1896 for Vice President on the Populist Party ticket with William Jennings Bryan. He ran for President on the same ticket in 1904 and 1908.

Although Watson held political office for just five of his 66 years, he dominated Georgia’s political scene for more than 25 years. In addition to being a statesman and the premier trial lawyer of Georgia in his day, Watson was a prolific writer. He authored a two volume history of France, biographies of Napoleon, Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson, and numerous other books, pamphlets and published speeches. Watson published and edited his weekly newspaper, The Jeffersonian, and his monthly Watson’s Magazine for more than a decade.