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→Early career: Loulie Hunter
==Early career==
==Early career==
Born to a wealthy Texas family with sugar and cotton plantations, House was educated in New England prep schools and went on to study at Cornell University in 1877, but was forced to drop out when his father died. Returning to Texas, House ran his family's business. He eventually sold the plantations, and invested in banking. In 1892 he had charge of the successful gubernatorial campaign of James Hogg, who rewarded him as "colonel" of the Texas militia. (House never saw military service.) House plunged into Texas politics as a [[Bourbon Democrat]] who favored conservative business and banking interests. He was a supporter of all the governors from 1894 to 1906 but moved to New York City about 1902. In 1912 House published anonymously a novel ''Philip Dru: Administrator,'' in which the title character leads the democratic western U.S. in a civil war against the plutocratic East, and becomes the dictator of America. Dru as dictator imposes a series of reforms that resemble the Bull Moose platform of 1912; the novel displays contempt for democratic processes, a taste for violence, and admiration for benevolent authoritarianism. No one suspected House was the author, but in his secret diary House repeatedly related the day's events to passages in the novel.<ref>Lash pp 230-35; Esposito (1988)</ref>
Born to a wealthy Texas family with sugar and cotton plantations, House was educated in New England prep schools and went on to study at Cornell University in 1877, but was forced to drop out when his father died. Returning to Texas, House ran his family's business. He eventually sold the plantations, and invested in banking. On August 4th, 1881, he married Loulie Hunter.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=4jcL20ZS_KUC&pg=PA23 Woodrow Wilson's Right Hand: The Life of Colonel Edward M. House]</ref>
House had used his family fortune to develop political contacts in Texas. During the 1890s, House became a tough political advisor for the state Democratic Party; by 1910 he was a friend of [[William Jennings Bryan]]. House enjoyed manipulating people and events, but he soon tired of provincial Texas politics and sought out the national level. House was a late-nineteenth century American gentleman, reticent, disciplined, with a strong sense of duty. Blessed with wealth, a happy family life, and many friends, he had a secure emotional base from which to pursue his ambitions.
In 1892 he had charge of the successful gubernatorial campaign of James Hogg, who rewarded him as "colonel" of the Texas militia. (House never saw military service.) House plunged into Texas politics as a [[Bourbon Democrat]] who favored conservative business and banking interests. He was a supporter of all the governors from 1894 to 1906 but moved to New York City about 1902. In 1912 House published anonymously a novel ''Philip Dru: Administrator,'' in which the title character leads the democratic western U.S. in a civil war against the plutocratic East, and becomes the dictator of America. Dru as dictator imposes a series of reforms that resemble the Bull Moose platform of 1912; the novel displays contempt for democratic processes, a taste for violence, and admiration for benevolent authoritarianism. No one suspected House was the author, but in his secret diary House repeatedly related the day's events to passages in the novel.<ref>Lash pp 230-35; Esposito (1988)</ref>
House had used his family fortune to develop political contacts in Texas. During the 1890s, House became a tough political advisor for the state Democratic Party; by 1910 he was a friend of [[William Jennings Bryan]]. House enjoyed manipulating people and events, but he soon tired of provincial Texas politics and sought out the national level. House was a late-nineteenth century American gentleman, reticent, disciplined, with a strong sense of duty. Blessed with wealth, a happy family life, and many friends, he had a secure emotional base from which to pursue his ambitions.
==Wilson Years, 1912-19==
==Wilson Years, 1912-19==