Editing Charles J. McCarthy

{{short description|American politician}}
{{Other people|Charles McCarthy}}

{{Infobox officeholder
| name                = Charles James McCarthy
| image               = Charles J. McCarthy (vol. 2, 1921).jpg
| image_size          = 
| caption             = 
| office              = 5th [[Territorial Governor of Hawaii]]
| term_start          = April 18, 1918<ref name="A-I-HistSoc1921p192">{{Citation| last=Charles J.|first=C. J.| title =The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society, Volume XIX  | page = 192. | publisher = American-Irish Historical Society| location = New York, NY | year=1921}}</ref>
| term_end            = June 1, 1921<ref name="A-I-HistSoc1921p194"/>
| appointer           = [[Woodrow Wilson]]
| predecessor         = [[Lucius E. Pinkham]]
| successor           = [[Wallace Rider Farrington|Wallace R. Farrington]]
| office2             = Member of the<br>Senate of the<br>Territory of Hawai{{okina}}i<ref name="A-I-HistSoc1921p194">{{Citation| last=Charles J.|first=C. J.| title =The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society, Volume XIX  | page = 194. | publisher = American-Irish Historical Society| location = New York, NY | year=1921}}</ref>
| term_start2         = 1907
| term_end2           = 1912
| predecessor2        = 
| successor2          = 
| office3             = Member of the<br>House of Nobles of the<br>Kingdom of Hawai{{okina}}i<ref name="A-I-HistSoc1921p192"/>
| term_start3         = 1890
| term_end3           = 1890
| predecessor3        = 
| successor3          = 
| party               = [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]
| birth_date          = {{birth date|1861|8|4}}
| birth_place         = [[Boston|Boston, Massachusetts]]
| death_date          = {{death date and age|1929|11|26|1861|8|4}}
| death_place         = [[Honolulu]], [[Territory of Hawaii]]
| spouse              = Margaret Theresa Morgan<ref name="A-I-HistSoc1921p194"/>
| children            = 
| alma_mater          = 
| occupation          = 
| nickname            = 
| allegiance          = {{hlist|[[Kingdom of Hawaii]]|[[Republic of Hawaii]]}}
| branch              = {{hlist|[[Honolulu Rifles]]|[[Hawaii Army National Guard|National Guard of Hawaii]]}}
| serviceyears        = 1888-1902
| rank                = {{ubl|[[Captain (land)|Captain]] (Rifles)|[[Lieutenant Colonel]] (Guard)}}
| unit                = 
| commands            = 
| battles             = 
| awards              = 
| president           = [[Woodrow Wilson]] <br /> [[Warren G. Harding]]
}}

'''Charles James McCarthy''' (August 4, 1861 – November 26, 1929) was the fifth [[Governor of Hawaii|Territorial Governor of Hawaii]] and served from 1918 to 1921.<ref>{{cite web
  |title=Charles J. McCarthy - Hawaii History - Governors
  |publisher=Info Grafik Inc.
  |url=http://www.hawaiihistory.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=ig.page&PageID=411
  |access-date=2007-08-11 }}</ref>

McCarthy was born August 4, 1861, in [[Boston, Massachusetts]], to Charles McCarthy and Joana (McCarthy) McCarthy.<ref name="A-I-HistSoc1921p193"/>  McCarthy moved with his parents to [[San Francisco, California]], in 1866.<ref name="A-I-HistSoc1921p193">{{Citation| last=Charles J.|first=C. J.| title =The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society, Volume XIX  | page = 193. | publisher = American-Irish Historical Society| location = New York, NY | year=1921}}</ref> He was a marginal entrepreneur who came to Hawaii to manage the affairs of a wholesale fruit house. McCarthy owned a saloon and for a time bottled his own alcoholic beverages.

He was a member of the House of Nobles in 1890, supporter of [[Liliuokalani]] and ironically a captain in the pro-annexation Honolulu Rifles. He also was a territorial senator 1907-12 and treasurer 1912-14 before becoming chief executive.  He was co-founder of the [[Democratic Party of Hawaii|Hawai'i Democratic Party]].

He was appointed by [[President of the United States]] [[Woodrow Wilson]] to the office after the term of [[Lucius E. Pinkham]].  McCarthy believed Republicans were promoting immigration of Oriental laborers to manipulate Hawaii’s demographics to their advantage and served their own business interests, McCarthy was ardently anti-Asian. He appointed Charles Rice and Alfred Castle to lobby in favor of the Hawaiian Rehabilitation Bill which became the [[Hawaiian Homelands|Hawaiian Homes Commission Act]] . The omnibus bill also contained language that made it difficult for “Orientals” from winning homesteads, and barred them from federal jobs in favor of Hawaiians. McCarthy also proposed that the military replace self-government in order to negate possible bloc voting by the large Japanese population in Hawaii. When asked by a congressman if the Japanese would think the action was directed at them, McCarthy said, “Let them think so; what do we care?”

McCarthy also railed against the land policies of the [[Big Five (Hawaii)|Big Five]]  and was the first governor to advocate statehood for Hawaii. Annoyed by the policies of his Democratic administration, McCarthy was gently nudged out of politics by Republicans. In return, he was given a job as Washington representative of the Honolulu Chamber of Commerce, and later general manager of Hawaiian Dredging Co. during which he worked on the Waikiki Reclamation project which resulted in the construction of the [[Ala Wai Canal]]. He died in 1929 in [[Honolulu, Hawaii]].

==References==
{{Commons category}}
{{Reflist}}
*The Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society, Volume XIX (1921).
{{s-start}}
{{s-off}}
{{succession box|title=[[Governor of Hawaii|Territorial Governor of Hawaii]]|before=[[Lucius E. Pinkham]]|after=[[Wallace Rider Farrington|Wallace R. Farrington]]|years=April 18, 1918 - June 1, 1921}}
{{s-end}}
{{Governors of Hawaii}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:McCarthy, Charles J.}}
[[Category:1861 births]]
[[Category:1929 deaths]]
[[Category:Politicians from Boston]]
[[Category:Members of the Hawaiian Kingdom House of Nobles]]
[[Category:Members of the Hawaii Territorial Legislature]]
[[Category:Governors of the Territory of Hawaii]]
[[Category:Immigrants to the Hawaiian Kingdom]]
[[Category:20th-century Hawaii politicians]]