Becoming Vice President
By Richard Cashman
There’s a belief Roosevelt didn’t really want to become Vice President. Instead he was railroaded into the office by a Republican machine that wanted his brand of politics out of New York.
The Republicans originally asked Roosevelt to run for governor hoping he could get them out of a tough spot. Frank Black, the current Republican governor, had gotten himself into hot water. He'd been accused of mismanaging tax payer funds on a project to expand the Erie Canal. The party bosses thought it was a sticky situation that could prevent Black from being re-elected and why take the chance.
Their solution was to dump Black and recruit the country’s new war hero Theodore Roosevelt Colonel of the Rough Riders. They actually asked TR to run while he was still in Cuba. In a hard fought campaign Roosevelt barely defeated Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Augustus Van Wyck by just 17,786 votes; 1.3%.
Once in office Republican State Boss Thomas Collier Platt expected Roosevelt to do public relations and leave the heavy lifting to the GOP bosses.
Before the election TR promised Platt they’d meet before he made any final decisions. What TR didn’t promise was that he’d do what Platt told him to do.
After the election TR went on a tear. He signed over 1,000 bills including the Ford Franchise Tax Bill that taxed state created public franchises. That meant for the first time gas, water, electric and streetcar franchises were going to pay tax. To the party machine Roosevelt had become uncontrollable. Platt wanted TR out before he could do any more damage.
In Roosevelt’s world he wasn’t content making a career out of being governor. Since his days in the Bad Lands TR had his eyes set on the presidency. Cuba gave him national notoriety. It gave him his crowded hour, but it was all at risk of being wasted in Albany.
In 1899 Garrett Hobart, McKinley’s good friend and Vice President, passed away of heart failure. That meant in the upcoming 1900 presidential campaign the Republicans were short a vice presidential candidate.
There is the notion Platt saw that as an opening. to get rid of Roosevelt. What if TR became Vice President? That would put an end to all Platt's Roosevelt problems, but moving him to the Vice Presidency was no easy trick. While Platt was a king maker in New York he didn’t have the national political muscle to go up against Hanna.
Hanna was a friend and confident of McKinley’s and a powerful fund raiser. To get TR on the ticket Platt faced the impossible task of sidestepping Hanna who disliked Roosevelt as much as Platt. Why would Hanna let Platt' turn Roosevelt into McKinley's problem? In short, Hanna didn't want Roosevelt anywhere near the ticket. He saw TR as impulsive and unpredictable. He was too dangerous to be a heartbeat away from the presidency.
Platt had other problems. He had a reputation for scandal. In Albany in 1881 his political enemies rented the hotel room next to his and eavesdropped on a private romantic meeting with a professional lady of the night. His political foes reported the details of the affair to the newspapers.
The simple reality was it would have been much easier for Platt to get rid of Roosevelt in New York State rather than try his hand at going up against Hanna.
Roosevelt also knew first hand what the New York Republican Machine could do to destroy a career when they had the upper hand. There was family history between the two. During the Gilded Age the Republican Party was broken into two competing divisions: the Stalwarts and the Half Breeds. The Stalwarts were led by NY Senator Roscoe Conkling who believed in the spoil” system and the Half Breeds led by Rutherford B. Hayes, James Garfield and Maine Sen. James G. Blaine. The Half Breeds who were more in favor of a merit system.
In October 1877 Rutherford B. Hayes who supported the merit system nominated TR’s father to be Collector of Customs at the Port of New York that employed over 300 people. Hayes’ intention was to embarrass and challenge Conkling whose control over the patronage at the Custom House was absolute. All in all, 75% to 90% of all the imports that came into the country came through NYC. That made Conkling incredibly powerful.
Conkling wanted his good friend Chester A. Arthur re-nominated and gather his NY political support to prevent Theodore Roosevelt Sr from being appointment. In December 1877, two days after his appointment, TR’s father was formally rejected by a senate vote of 25 to 31. Conkling died in 1881 and was replaced by Thomas Platt as New York’s Republican King Maker. TR was all too familiar with the politics of New York and wasn’t going to let what happened to his father happen to him. He wasn’t going to give them the opportunity
Roosevelt understood his brand of leadership angered the New York Republican bosses. TR’s close friend and mentor Henry Cabot Lodge told Roosevelt he thought becoming vice president was TR’s best and safest bet to the White House.
Political insiders typically saw the vice presidency as a spare part, a political graveyard. Lodge saw it differently. Lodge believed Roosevelt faced a greater risk remaining governor.
Lodge realized if Roosevelt wanted to remain in office long enough to survive to the 1904 presidential campaign he’d have to be re-elected twice. At that time the term of office for NYS governor was 2 years. That meant TR would have to have been elected governor for three consecutive terms.
Historically no Republican governor had ever been elected for three consecutive terms and Roosevelt barely won his first election after returning from Cuba a hero with the full backing of the Republican Party.
His failure as a NYC Police Commissioner hurt him in his 1898 run even coming returning a hero from the Spanish American War. He only defeats Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Augustus Van Wyck by 18,000, less than 1.4%.
Having lost that support of the Republican machine the odds seemed stacked against him. If the GOP machine wanted TR out they could initiate a variety of political shenanigans. He realized if he didn't play his cards right he could wind up on the scrap heap with former Governor Black.
He also understood being Governor fighting the bosses at every turn wouldn’t be much different from being vice president, but as vice president he wouldn't have to win a second and third re-election.
If you were an oddsmaker TR’s prospects as governor didn't seem as favorable making it to the 1904 presidential election as they did being vice president. Lodge convinced Roosevelt there was more risk in going up against the Republican machine and the democratically controlled Tammany Hall than in being vice president.
Lodge also knew TR wouldn’t be your typical vice president. Roosevelt was an author, a war hero and a political personality. He was young, energetic, and charismatic with a reputation of being incorruptible. He had a young exciting family and he knew how to speak directly to the American people. Cartoonists loved Roosevelt. He was all eyeglasses, mustache and teeth. He made great copy.
In two years, McKinley would be a lame duck. That gave Roosevelt the chance to travel the country campaigning on his own behalf without being chained to the governor’s desk in Albany.
When his wife Edith and her sister Emily went to San Juan in the Spring to take a look at the hill her husband charged during his crowded hour, Roosevelt told the Republican Party he’d accept a Vice-Presidential Candidacy. However, in a practical sense Roosevelt's decision was politically meaningless. TR faced the same problem Platt faced, Hanna hated Roosevelt.
In Republican circles Matthew Stanley Quay was known as the Napoleon of politics. He was a Pennsylvania Senator and a National powerhouse. Theodore Roosevelt considered Quay a scholar. In his autobiography he admired Quay as a man of letters and the two kept in literary correspondence.
Quay always had his ear to the rail and he knew exactly what was happening behind the scenes between Roosevelt and Platt and he knew Roosevelt was ambitious.
Quay was actually the perfect choice to help both TR and Platt. Quay hated Hanna and agreed to help, if for no other reason than the enjoyment in being a thorn in Hanna’s side. His strategy was simple. He’d go after the southern delegation that made up about 25% of the nominating vote.
While black southern delegates were an influential voting block at the convention; they had difficulty in the Jim Crow south delivering votes in the general election. Quay argued the party was getting the short end of the stick.
Under the circumstances it was only fair the party reduce their financial support to more accurately reflect the value of their contribution. The delegates went crazy.
Quay then told the black southern delegation he wouldn’t propose any changes if the delegates all agreed to nominate Roosevelt for Vice President. It was unanimous. The south and the convention was now in it for Roosevelt.
Hanna thought the delegates had gone crazy. Who'd ever want Roosevelt a heartbeat away from the presidency? It was too late. Roosevelt was nominated on the first ballot. The only one who didn’t vote for Roosevelt was Roosevelt. This was at a time when the office sought the man, the man didn’t seek the office. T.R. played it perfectly. What could Hanna say?
The Vice Presidency was a position that would bore TR, but it was the smart political move.
Roosevelt on the ticket was good for McKinley who’s style was to campaign from his front porch in Canton, Ohio. He'd speak to audiences of one to two thousand delivering speeches that were crafted to be printed word for word in newspapers across the country.
William Jennings Bryan had a different style. He was the first to travel the country by rail speaking to audiences one town after another. He went over 18,000 miles and delivered over 600 speeches speaking to voter's face to face.
Now with Roosevelt McKinley had an answer to Bryan. TR could travel the heartland and match Bryan step for step, speech for speech. On election day McKinley defeated Bryan by 137 electoral votes.
In looking back at the 1900 Republican convention you could say everyone but Hanna got what they wanted. Platt was happy Roosevelt was on the National ticket. Roosevelt was happy he had protected his career from a political disaster in his home state and Quay was happy leaving Hanna twisting in the wind.
Deep down McKinley may have also been privately content with the result. The convention had handed him a candidate he could never have picked on his own without going up against his good fried Hanna.
The convention handed their nominee a great campaigner who could whistle stop across the country matching Bryan’s energy and exceeding his result. When it came to their relationship McKinley knew all about Roosevelt from the days he was Assistant Secretary to the Navy under John Long.
Then, in a weird twist of fate in Buffalo on Saturday September 14th 1901 McKinley died after having been shot by an assassin. Hannah’s great fear had come true. Theodore Roosevelt, that wild eyed, unpredictable cowboy was now president.
Some hold the notion TR was hoodwinked into becoming Vice President as if Roosevelt's personality would let him sit on the sidelines while others controlled his destiny. Some believe Platt and Quay worked together to destroy Roosevelt's career. making him vice president. If Roosevelt believed that he would never have spoken to Quay ever again.
Roosevelt was a man who knew how to hold a grudge. When William Long wrote a series of children's books that gave animals human characteristics Roosevelt hit the ceiling. TR felt he was misrepresenting their actual behavior and wanted all of Long’s books removed from children’s libraries. When Long tried to meet Roosevelt TR ignored his invitations.
However, TR's friendship with Quay never faltered. When Quay was near death he sent word to TR he had something to say to the president and while he couldn't walk on his own, he could arrange to be carried to the White House.
Roosevelt told Quay to stay at home and that he’d call on him on his way back from church. When Roosevelt arrived, Quay thanked him for coming to his house and told him he was about to leave Washington for the last time. sure that death was just around the corner. He wanted to see TR to get his personal promise he’d look after the interests of the Delaware Indians.
Quay's great-great-grandmother was a Delaware and he worried for the tribe's future. TR said anytime the Indians came to Washington they'd always want to see Quay. He was their friend. In his visit Theodore Roosevelt assured Quay he'd personally see to it that no injustice was done to the Delaware. Roosevelt’s assurances to Quay was an act of pure friendship. If Roosevelt knew Quay had sided with Platt to end his career by maneuvering him into the vice presidency he would never have gone to see Quay.
In truth Quay may have been the only man in the country able to hand TR the vice presidential nomination. Quay was perhaps the only man who could outwit Hanna and make TR vice president. Ultimately he owed his presidency to Quay.
After his death Roosevelt said Quay was a kind man whose deeds were not publicized. Many of them became known only after his death.
