Alton B Parker

[Manuntius]

I am trying to find out more about the life of Alton B Parker, The Democratic Loser to Theodore Roosevelt in 1904.  I think he must be the least written about major party candidate for the presidency ever.  Does anyone know where his papers are housed, or perhaps a book or article on him?  Even books about TR barely mention him.  I know he was born and buried in Kingston New York, but the only other office he held I can find is NY state supreme court Judge and Court of appeals Judge.

[The Dowager Mod]

Alton B. Parker

born May 14, 1852, Cortland, N.Y., U.S.
died May 10, 1926, New York, N.Y.


U.S. jurist.

He practiced law in Kingston, N.Y., and was elected surrogate of Ulster county in 1877 and 1883. He was appointed to the New York Supreme Court in 1885, the state Appeals Court in 1889, and the appellate division of the state Supreme Court in 1896. From 1898 to 1904 he was chief justice of the New York court of appeals. On the bench, he was noted for upholding the rights of labour. As the Democratic Party presidential candidate in 1904, he represented the eastern, pro-gold-standard wing of the party. Soundly defeated by Pres. Theodore Roosevelt, he resumed his law practice.


about all there is in brittanica.

[PBrunsel]

What I know about him:

Alton Brooks Parker (May 14, 1852 – May 10, 1926) was an American lawyer and judge and a U.S. presidential candidate in the 1904 elections. He defeated W

Parker was born in Cortland, New York and practiced law in Kingston, New York. He served as Parker served as a justice of the Supreme Court of New York from 1885 to 1889. He later served as chief judge of New York Court of Appeals from 1897 to 1904.

Parker resigned as chief judge after receiving the 1904 Democratic Party nomination for the U.S. presidency. Division within his party over currency issues and the popularity of incumbent Theodore Roosevelt led to Parker's landslide defeat.

More will come...

[PBrunsel]

In 1904 Conservative "gold" Democrats would not nominate William J. Bryan in 1904. The Democratic Conservatives wanted to move the Democratic Party away from the dead issue of free silver and return it to the pro-business philosophy and urban-North/rural-South base of former president Grover Cleveland. In 1904 former President Cleveland was the candidate the Conservativesd wanted. He rejected to run once again for the Democratic Party.

Another pro-business, anti-impearialist candidate was Senator Arthur P. Gorman of Maryland.White southerners appreciatively remembered Gorman’s opposition to the Republican Federal Election Bill ( aka "Force Bill") of 1890. The Maryland senator miscalculated his ability to influence his party on the issue and the intensity of support for a Panamanian Canal in the American South. When the Senate ratified the Panama Canal treaty on February 23, 1904, nearly half the Democrats joined the Republicans to vote in the affirmative. Gorman ended his presidential bid shortly afterward.

A small number of Conservative Democrats supported Cleveland's Attorney General from 1893-1897 Richard Olney. As Olney had done in 1896 and 1900, Olney refused.

With Gorman, Cleveland, and Olman out of the race and facing certain defeat from the popular President Theodore Roosevelt, no more nationaly known Democrats entered the race for prtesident. Alton B. Parker had managed David B. Hill's successfull run for New York Governor in 1885. Governor Hill then appointed Parker to the New York State Suprme Court. Parker soon gained a reputation among lawyers and fellow judges for fairness, competence, and courtesy, and quickly climbed New York's judicial ladder. In 1897, he won a landslide victory as chief justice of the New York Court of Appeals, the state's highest court. Parker turned down runs for New York Governro and Senator becuase he wanted to be a Supreme Court Justice. In 1903 Governor Hill told Parker to test the presidential waters by starting a speaking tour in the South. He appealed to the Democratic white base by not attacking anti-black voting laws or lynching. After the tour, Governor Hill began to organize his campaign for president. Parker fit the conservative Democratic profile of a presidential candidate: he supported the gold standard and tariff reform, opposed an expansionist foreign policy and federal protection of voting rights, and his judicial record evidenced both deference to legislative acts and recognition of labor rights. Unlike other pro-gold standard Democrats, he had loyally supported Bryan in 1896 and had not been involved in intraparty skirmishes.

William J. Bryan did not want Judge Parker to be the nominee. His pro-business backings led Bryan to call him, "The Muzzled Candidate of Wall Street." Bryan supported the rform Mayor of Cleveland Tom Johnson. After Johnson lost the Democratic Gubernatorial Primary in Ohio he dropped out of the race for President. Bryan promoted several Populist Candidates, witch led the Conservative Democrats to call them, "Bryan's Little Unknowns from Nowhere." Finnaly Bryan supported Senator Francis Cockrell of Missouri, a 69-year old former Confederate General.

Taking up the Bryan Banner, without Bryan's support, was William Randolf Hearst, the millionaire owner of the San Francico Examiner and New York Journal. Hearst was considered a Socialist. Hearst advocated government-ownership of railroads and public utilities, a graduated income tax, an eight-hour workday, antitrust legislation, and the rights of labor unions. His momentum for the Democratic Nomination was durring the Winter of 1903-1904. Hearst was endorsed by over 400 Million newspapers by March 1904, but his views were too extreme for the Democratic Party and the nation., Despite spending $1.2 million ($25.4 million in 2004 Dollars) Hearst would not be the nominee.
On July 8th, 1904, Alton B. Parker was nominated for president on the first ballot with a vote of:

Parker: 679
Hearst: 181
Cockrell: 42

Former West Virginia Senator Henry Davis, at age 80 the oldest Vice Presidential nominee in U.S. History, was nominated for vice president.
Alton Parker ran a front porch campaign in 1904 instead of touring the nation like Byan in 1896 and 1900. Parker supported the gold standard and he had sent "The Gold Telegram" stating this. "Bury Bryan" forces rejoiced at his stand for the gold standard. Due to Roosevelt's popularity the Democrats felt they could only win the Solid South. Because of Parker's support of the Gold Standard he had lost support in the Western U.S. His opponent, the charismatic Teddy Roosevelt, was well liked in the West and viewed as a cowboy and Rough Rider.

One reason for the nomination of Senator Davis for Vice President was his money. He would give $185,000 to the Parker for President Campaign. Thomas Fortune Ryan contributed $250,000 of the less than $500,000 ($10 million in 2004 dollars) raised for the Democratic campaign.
Toward the last weeks of the campaign Parker traveled the nation. He said that big business, witch were the wheels of the Roosevelt Campaign, would demand political favors after the election. He said that big business was blackmailing the Republican Party. Such rumors had been circulating among Democrats since mid-summer and had surfaced in the Democratic press and even the Republican New York Times in September. The charges had little effect because no evidence was produced and Parker himself was closer to wealthy businessmen, such as Ryan and August Belmont Jr., than Roosevelt was.

[Manuntius]

PBrunsel,

I salute a true professional.  TY.

[PBrunsel]

PBrunsel,

I salute a true professional.  TY.

Thank you.

[Schmitz in 1972]

David B. Hill?
Every source I've seen lists Alton Parker's Vice-Presidential candidate as Henry Davis (also of West Virginia) Did Hill die from age and get replaced by Davis or what?

[PBrunsel]

David B. Hill?
Every source I've seen lists Alton Parker's Vice-Presidential candidate as Henry Davis (also of West Virginia) Did Hill die from age and get replaced by Davis or what?

Sory, I confused Parker campaign manager Hill with Davis.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

I think he must be the least written about major party candidate for the presidency ever.

You don't hear much about Dukakis anymore.

[ATFFL]

I think he must be the least written about major party candidate for the presidency ever.

You don't hear much about Dukakis anymore.

Other than in jokes.

You will in the coming months.  Rove will compare Kerry to his former boss.

[minionofmidas]

I'm bewildered.
I'd never heard of Hearst's run, let alone of his positions. I just knew him as a millionaire newspaper owner and as (in slight exaggeration) the man behind the Spanish-American War.
I doubt he was endorsed by "400 Million Newspapers" though. I guess you meant 400 Newspapers.
On teh subject of Davis: While he had been a Senator several decades previously (as a Unionist, if I remember correctly), he was better known as a railroad millionaire.

[Bunnybrit]

The following about the 1904 election comes from James McPherson`s brilliant  book "To the Best Of My Ability" a History of the Presidency.

"Despite some misgivings about Roosevelt`s Progressive leanings, the Republicans weren`t eager to dump an incumbent President, so they nominated him unanimously for another term. The Dems, having lost the last two elections with William Jennings Bryan- who declined to run this time, decided to play it "safe and sane" themselves with Alton B. Parker Chief Justice of the New York Court of Appeals.
Parker railed against "Rooseveltism" calling it "Volcanic, eruptive and reckless", but voters liked Roosevelt`s Square Deal for the common man, and Parker never understood the depth of affection that most Americans had for the President.
Roosevelt was apparently oblivious as well. Cooped up in his Saganore Hill retreat on Long Island and frustrated by the custom that barred incumbents from campaigning for themselves, the President wrote letters telling his Cabinet Secretaries to "Attack Parker" whom TR called "the most formidable man the Democrats could have nominated". Why Roosevelt feared Parker is more a matter of psychology than politics, but it mattered not. The candidates argued about Panama, protectionism, and labor relations, but the election turned on personality. TR won by a landslide, the largest since the government began counting the popular vote in 1824."

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Is 1904 the only election where the 2 main candidates were from the same state?

[PBrunsel]

Is 1904 the only election where the 2 main candidates were from the same state?

No:

1860: Lincoln and Douglas from Illinois

1920: Cox and Harding from Ohio

1940: Wilkie and Roosevelt from New York

1944: Dewey and Roosevelt from New York

[ijohn57s]

I think he must be the least written about major party candidate for the presidency ever.

You don't hear much about Dukakis anymore.

You may not hear much about him, but you never hear about Parker.