The Everything Theodore Roosevelt Book (11 page)

In the mid-1880s, aldermen in New York City had the power of confirmation over the mayor’s appointments. The real power lay in the hands of the ward bosses, who controlled the aldermen. TR and his allies in the Assembly believed that if they could reduce the aldermen’s power, they would eliminate a critical step in the appointment process and give ordinary citizens a stronger voice.

Take That, Mr. Young

The appointment to the Cities Committee opened the door for him to pursue the reform he thought was so badly needed in New York City. The 1884 session had no sooner started than TR introduced three bills into the Assembly: one to raise liquor license fees by a large margin, one to weaken the city’s borrowing power, and another to increase the mayor’s authority and accountability.

The first one was a throwback to his first campaign visit to Valentine Young’s saloon on Sixth Street, which had ended so badly; it failed. The second one passed. The third created a controversy when he introduced it, and it got TR and Governor Cleveland into hot water again—on the same side.

The Reform Charter Bill, as it was called, upset the political machine leaders in New York City because its intent was to weaken them and to increase citizens’ chances of electing a reform mayor. That intrigued Governor Cleveland, who had been elected largely on his strength as a reformer. His support of TR’s bill drew the ire of Tammany Hall, which supported aldermanic chicanery. The battle lines were drawn once again.

There was a definite need for aldermanic reform in 1884. Several members of the Board of Aldermen were involved in a scheme to help entrepreneur Jake Sharp acquire a Broadway railroad franchise at a noncompetitive price. In exchange, they received kickbacks (called “boodles”) and acquired the nickname “The Boodle Board.”

TR delivered an eloquent speech to support passage of the Reform Charter Bill that drew praise from almost every newspaper in New York. The bill passed, and he and Governor Cleveland became Tammany Hall’s “Co-Enemies Number One.” That did not bother either man. It simply demonstrated that they were accomplishing what they were elected to do: enact civil reform.

One More Controversy

As TR’s third term in office ended, he became embroiled in one more controversy that involved Grover Cleveland indirectly and the 1884 presidential election. Again, he did not endear himself to his party.

TR was selected as a delegate to the Republican National Convention in Chicago in 1884. The party nominated James G. Blaine as its candidate. TR opposed the nomination, as did many other Republicans. One of them was George William Curtis, an ardent reformer of the civil service at the federal level, who noted in a statement after the convention ended that TR would play a major role in politics in the future.

James G. Blaine was the leader of the “Half Breed” faction of the Republican Party in 1884. He was accused of graft and corruption in the granting of railroad charters in the late 1800s, which earned him nicknames like “The Continental Liar from the State of Maine” and “Slippery Jim.” He won the nomination but lost the election.

A faction pushed for the party to back the Democrat candidate, Grover Cleveland. TR refused their entreaties to join them. As much as he had enjoyed working with Cleveland in New York, he could not break from his party. The incident shook his idealism in the political process.

Disillusionment with Politics

The prescient Curtis had this to say about the young Theodore Roosevelt:

Later the nation will be criticizing or praising him. While respectful to the gray hairs and experience of his elders, none of them can move him an iota from convictions as to men and measures once formed and rooted. He has integrity, courage, fair scholarship, a love for public life, a comfortable amount of money, honorable descent, the good word of the honest. He will not truckle nor cringe, he seems to court opposition to the point of being somewhat pugnacious. His political life will probably be a turbulent one, but he will be a figure, not a figurehead, in future development—or, if not, it will be because he gives up politics altogether
.

Curtis was right on all points. Despite his success as an assemblyman, TR grew disillusioned with politics and changed career paths, albeit temporarily. It was another two years before he ran for office again. The choice to step aside was not of his own making.

TR’s decision to take some time off from politics was not due entirely to his experiences in the Legislature or at Chicago. His self-imposed respite was hastened by a personal tragedy: the death of his wife, Alice Hathaway Lee, on February 14, 1884.

QUIZ

4-1 TR admired Alexander Hamilton because they both:

A. lived in New York at one time.

B. believed in a strong central government.

C. enjoyed Beethoven symphonies.

D. fought duels with men named Burr.

4-2 A ward boss in New York City:

A. ran the emergency ward at Bellevue Hospital.

B. was in charge of children at the city’s orphanage.

C. warded off the evil spirits often found at City Hall.

D. gathered votes and handed out patronage positions in the city’s voting districts.

4-3 A “boodle” is a:

A. child’s stocking

B. breed of dog

C. Dutch word for bribe money

D. slang term to describe a proposed law

4-4 Labor unions were strongly in favor of TR during his three terms as a New York state assemblyman:

A. True

B. False

4-5 An assemblyman in the New York Legislature in the 1880s was allowed to vote only for bills that affected his district:

A. True

B. False

4-6 TR represented the Twenty-First District of New York City. Which of the following statements is not true about the district:

A. It was the richest district in New York City.

B. It was called the “brownstone district.”

C. It had a maximum age restriction on elected state representatives.

D. TR was the youngest assemblyman ever elected from the Twenty-First District.

4-7 Samuel Gompers was born in which country:

A. England

B. Ireland

C. United States

D. Hungary

4-8 Tammany Hall was:

A. a political organization.

B. a nightclub singer in New York City.

C. a building where the New York assemblymen met in the 1870s.

D. the mayor of Peekskill, New York, when TR was police commissioner.

ANSWERS

4-1. B

4-2. D

4-3. C: The term was applied often in New York City in the 1800s, most often to the 1884 Board of Aldermen, which was particularly susceptible to bribes.

4-4. True: According to a union report, he voted for twenty important labor issues as an assemblyman.

4-5. False: They could vote on every bill that was presented.

4-6. C: There was no maximum age limit in any district of the city.

4-7. A: Gompers was born in London, England, on January 27, 1850.

4-8. A: The Tammany Society began as a patriotic and charitable organization in New York City in 1789. In 1798, Aaron Burr transformed it into a political organization. Eventually, Irish immigrants seized control, and trading votes for benefits became a standard practice. When William Tweed took over in 1868, he began a statewide reign of extreme corruption that lasted into the early 1900s.

CHAPTER 5

A Significant Person Exits Theodore’s Life

“The light has gone out of my life.”

TR met the first love of his life, Alice Hathaway Lee, in October 1878 while he was a junior at Harvard. She delayed their marriage plans, at least until he graduated. But the star-crossed lovers married on October 27, 1880. The happy couple moved to New York City, where they lived while he started his career and won a seat as a New York state assemblyman. Sadly, Alice died after giving birth to their daughter. Her death sent him into a deep depression, and instigated a major life change.

Thank You, Richard Saltonstall

Near the beginning of his junior year at Harvard, TR visited the home of his classmate Richard Saltonstall in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. He always remembered the exact date: October 18, 1878. Saltonstall’s cousin and next-door neighbor, Alice Hathaway Lee, was there. Later, TR wrote, “As long as I live, I shall never forget how sweetly she looked, and how prettily she greeted me.” This love was a new experience for him.

Their meeting would change his life dramatically. It affected everything he did from then on—at least for the next four years.

Alice Hathaway Lee

What caught TR’s eye was a statuesque young lady about five feet seven inches tall, an inch or so shorter than him, with light brown hair and blue eyes. She had barely turned seventeen when they first met. Within a month of meeting Alice, TR decided he was going to marry her.

Alice Hathaway Lee Roosevelt

Alice possessed both inner and outer beauty and intelligence to match. Her nickname, “Sunshine,” captured her demeanor perfectly as far as TR was concerned. She certainly brought a lot of sunshine into his life.

Like TR, Alice came from a large family. She was the second of six children. The first five were girls. Her only brother, George Jr., was not born until 1871. (He, too, graduated from Harvard, with the class of 1894.) TR and Alice Lee had anything but a whirlwind courtship. She dragged it out much longer than TR preferred.

A Long Courtship

Although TR had fallen in love immediately, Alice took her time deciding how she felt about him. It may have been because of her youth. He was almost three years older than Alice. Or it might have been because of his somewhat odd appearance at the time. He was thin, pale, sported long hair and a mustache, and wore eyeglasses.

The real reason she demurred is anyone’s guess. But, while she “shined,” he pined.