Murphy, Charles Francis, 1858-1924

Milton B. Goodkind is glad he amused Theodore Roosevelt with is last letter. He hopes to speak in person with Roosevelt soon, but discusses possible Democratic presidential candidates. In response to Roosevelt’s article “Whats the Matter with Business,” Goodkind list several things that are wrong with business and why things are so broken and why promises will no longer be enough for American’s.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-12-12

William Stephen Devery and a saloon known as “the pump” have returned to the Democratic party with fanfare. Although the article points out that Devery had previously been removed from the Democratic party, his return has been greeted warmly by high-ranking party officials including Thomas Taggart and Norman Edward Mack. Other articles on this page include commentary on vice presidential candidate Henry Gassaway Davis’s age, the delay in the opening of the subway system, and the inspection of the boat, the Grand Republic.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-08-03

President Roosevelt is pleased to be of assistance to William Dudley Foulke. Roosevelt is having a difficult time getting Governor Charles Evans Hughes renominated in New York, as Hughes has insulted working politicians for positive press from The Evening Post and its crowd and now requires outside interference to succeed. People have accused Roosevelt of having dictated the nomination of William H. Taft for president, but Roosevelt says that he has been working harder for Hughes than he did for Taft.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-09-14

Surveyor James Sullivan Clarkson tells William Loeb about a secret movement in Tammany Hall to put General Ulysses S. Grant’s son, Jesse Root Grant, on the democratic ticket for 1908. All the states involved in organizing the movement so far are in the West and Northwest, and the idea is to “head off” William Jennings Bryan and William Randolph Hearst. Clarkson thinks it is “a pretty smart game” and emphasizes how important it is to keep it from going public.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-01-24

Several Democratic Party leaders ride on a train together, including August Belmont, Patrick Henry McCarren, David B. Hill, Charles Francis Murphy, Henry Gassaway Davis, Thomas Taggart, William F. Sheehan, and William Jennings Bryan. Alton B. Parker wears several bandages, including a “$50,000 law job from Belmont” around his head and a “Solid South” bandage on his hand.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-11-09

The author argues that Charles Francis Murphy and Senator Patrick Henry McCarren are not “fit for decent political society” and that they are machine organizers. The author believes that Judge Alton B. Parker needs to secure the independent vote to be elected.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-08-19

Theodore Roosevelt writes to his son Kermit about the libel suit brought against him by William Barnes. He wishes it were a criminal instead of civil suit because he would much prefer to go to jail than to take back what he said. Roosevelt has been staying with Horace S. Wilkinson, whom he describes at length, during the trial. Edith is at Sagamore Hill recovering from her surgery.

Collection

Harvard College Library

Creation Date

1915-05-08

President Roosevelt writes his son Kermit about his visit to see Archie at Harvard and the clubs and places they visited. The Progressive Party has essentially disappeared and Roosevelt truly believes President Wilson and Secretary of State Bryan are the worst men to ever manage foreign affairs. Roosevelt adds that he received letters from the King of the Belgians, Albert I, and the King of Norway, Haakon VII, and that Ethel is out of the hospital.

Collection

Harvard College Library

Creation Date

1915-01-16

Charles M. Pepper reports on the political situation in New York, specifically focusing on the upstate region. Overall indications are that the Republicans will be very successful in the state, with the Democrat Alton B. Parker failing to inspire support in rural voters there. It is likely that Elihu Root will be nominated as the Republican gubernatorial candidate, although he has expressed that he is not interested in the nomination.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-08-14

John A. Hennessy writes to Henry L. Stoddard to make plans to visit a mutual friend. Hennessy discusses the current attitude towards Theodore Roosevelt in the press and proposes political strategies to defeat William Barnes and Charles Francis Murphy in the elections. Hennessy maintains that criticism of the national government needs to be left out of their campaign platform. Though Roosevelt has excellent judgment, he is “out of touch with public sentiment” and his criticism of President Wilson will not help them defeat Barnes and Murphy.

Collection

Harvard College Library

Creation Date

1914-07-06

Theodore Roosevelt informs Henry L. Stoddard that he will not run for Governor. Roosevelt has a responsibility to the national Progressive Party and cannot separate himself from national issues. He mentions John A. Hennessy as a candidate for Governor on a third party ticket.

Collection

Harvard College Library

Creation Date

1914-07-08

William Travers Jerome, District Attorney for the State of New York, defends a bridge that leads to “Honest Government” against a group of men led by Benjamin B. Odell, with “Big Tim, Little Tim, Abe Gruber, [and Charles F.] Murphy” among his followers. Caption: “Now, who will stand at my right hand and keep the bridge with me?”

comments and context

Comments and Context

Timothy Daniel “Big Tim” Sullivan, the “Boss of the Bowery,” controlled everything — voters and voting, the police, dives, opium dens, and prostitution — in lower Manhattan below Union Square. He was killed when run over by a train (and his body unidentified for weeks) at only 52 years old. Ge might have risen to be the next boss of Tammany Hall but for his death and an apparent case of advanced syphilis.

A towering figure with three heads – of Charles F. Murphy, Michael “Hinky Dink” Kenna, and Israel W. Durham, political bosses respectively of New York City, Chicago, and Philadelphia – places a medal labeled “Bossism” around its large neck. Papers sticking out of Murphy’s pockets are labeled “Patronage, Contracts, Graft, [and] Jobs.” Caption: Are we ready for it?

comments and context

Comments and Context

The point of J. S. Pughe’s cover cartoon in Puck is not the mere corruption that surrounded big-city political bosses in 1905. The bosses’ venality was a given.

A frenzy of activity is underway as many politicians and capitalists join the labor forces to construct the Panama Canal. Theodore P. Shonts, chairman of the Isthmian Canal Commission, is standing on the right, holding a whip, and directing the laborers. In the background, large groups of men labeled “Order of Walking Delegates, The Idle Rich, Amalgamated Aldermen, [and] Insurance Presidents Union No. 6” are waiting, with tools, to be called into action. Caption: Let our superfluous citizens do the work.

comments and context

Comments and Context

S. D. Ehrhart’s expansive cartoon in Puck seized upon the news of labor challenges in the Culebra Cut portion of the Panama Canal construction, and built an elaborate cartoon-fantasy about people in politics, the social world, and finance being put to work at manual labor.

Democrats and Republicans, capitalists, social reformers, political symbols, and others enjoy a summer outing at a park.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1904-08-17

President Roosevelt sits on a fence on a hill, flying a kite labeled “Popularity.” Below are several potential Democratic presidential candidates, all of whom are having difficulty flying their kites. From left to right are William Jennings Bryan labeled “W.J.B.” holding a bellows labeled “Moral Issue” and blowing on his tattered kite labeled “1896” and “1900” with ribbons on the tail labeled “Free Silver, Populism, Anti-imperialism, [and] Free Riot.” Next is David B. Hill holding a kite labeled “Parker Boom,” then Charles Francis Murphy holding a kite under his arm labeled “McClellan Boom,” followed by Grover Cleveland, then Richard Olney holding the string to a kite labeled “Past Record” lying on the ground, with ribbons labeled “1884” and “1892,” “Tariff Reform, Independent Vote, [and] Personal Popularity,” and then Arthur P. Gorman whose kite is tangled on a tree branch labeled “Panama Blunder.” In the center is a little yellow child labeled “Willie” who is all tangled up in his own kite string. The kite, lying on the ground, is labeled “Yellow Journalism” and the string spells “McKinley Slanders.”

comments and context

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

New York City Mayor George B. McClellan and Police Commissioner William McAdoo are pictured washing the Tammany Tiger labeled “Corruption” and “Graft.” In the background, Tammany Hall boss Charles F. Murphy is posting a notice for the “Democratic Convention” on July 6 in Saint Louis, Missouri.

comments and context

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

New York City mayor Seth Low, as a lion tamer holding a whip, stands next to the Tammany Tiger which is bound in ribbons labeled “Civic Honesty, Fusion, Decent Government, Municipal Reforms, [and] Local Improvements.” Standing in the background is Charles F. Murphy, Tammany Hall boss, holding a large pair of scissors labeled “Election 1903.” Later in the year, Low would lose the election for mayor to George B. McClellan Jr.

comments and context

Comments and Context

Seth Low was identified with reform and efficient administration his whole career, as mayor of Brooklyn, mayor New York City (Brooklyn and the City merged in 1897 as “Greater New York”), and as president of Columbia University. His political activities were allied with the Republican Party and various reform groups like the Fusion Party and the Citizens Union.

Theodore Roosevelt contends that support for Woodrow Wilson as the presidential candidate in order to defeat William Barnes and Charles Francis Murphy will not work. Rather, Roosevelt asserts the need for a Progressive ticket.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1912-07-17

Theodore Roosevelt praises Eugene Thwing’s letter to Governor Chase S. Osborn and discusses his campaign to win the Republican nomination. Roosevelt references the presidential race fought by Woodrow Wilson and Grover Cleveland, contending that although Cleveland was a stronger candidate, Hill and Tammany won the State of New York. Roosevelt parallels this race to that of his own against Charles Francis Murphy, Thomas Taggart, and Timothy Daniel Sullivan. Roosevelt concludes by referencing his Progressive, “anti-boss” platform.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1912-07-16