A one-eyed, racist U.S. Senator once proposed prodding the President with a farming implement in order to provoke him to action. What was his name, and what was the nickname derived from that proposal?

zbeckabee

Benjamin Ryan Tillman (August 11, 1847 - July 3, 1918) was an American politician who served as governor of South Carolina, from 1890 to 1894, and as a United States Senator, from 1895 until his death. Tillman was a member of the Democratic Party. Tillman, of German descent, was born near Trenton, South Carolina. He left school in 1864 to join the Army of the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War, but was disabled by an illness that later caused the removal of his left eye. A hotheaded and intemperate debater, Tillman became known as "Pitchfork Ben" after a speech he made on the Senate floor in 1896. In this speech, Tillman made several references to pitchforks and threatened to go to the White House and "poke old Grover [Cleveland] with a pitchfork" to prod him into action. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Tillman Feb 03 08, 9:48 PM

queproblema

That's the guy, Zbeck! Here's a cartoon: http://projects.vassar.edu/1896/0319pa.html Feb 03 08, 10:29 PM

queproblema

And a statue. http://www.palmettoscoop.com/2008/01/22/stick-a-pitchfork-in-tillmans-statue/ Feb 03 08, 11:47 PM