Polarized Times: The Presidential Election of 1884
The 1884 election was a vicious one in which each party launched attacks on the personal character of the other party's candidate. Maine Senator James G. Blaine had won his party's nomination after having failed to do so in the two previous elections. He came to the nomination with some baggage. Firstly, he had been the leader of one of two opposing factions within the Republican Party (known as the "half-breeds") with the other faction known as the "Stalwarts".
Blaine had been prevented from getting the Republican presidential nomination during the previous two elections because of the something known as the "Mulligan letters". In 1876, a Boston bookkeeper named James Mulligan had located some letters showing that Blaine had sold his influence in Congress to various businesses. One such letter ended with the phrase "burn this letter". In the 1884 election, the Democratic Party resurrected the scandal of the Mulligan letters. A popular chant among Democrat supporters at their rallies was "Burn, burn, burn this letter!" Democrats alleged that Blaine had received $110,150 from the Little Rock and Fort Smith Railroad for securing a federal land grant. Democrat received support from anti-Blaine Republicans and both attacked the Republican candidate on the question of his integrity.
Democrats contrasted Blaine with their candidate, New York Governor Grover Cleveland, who was known as "Grover the Good". In just three years he had become successively the mayor of Buffalo, New York, and then the governor of the state of New York, and he was credited with cleaning up much of the corruption associated with Tammany Hall. Republicans needed a strategy to counter this disparity in the reputation of their candidates and in July they found a skeleton in Cleveland's closet. An opportunistic preacher from Buffalo named George H. Ball charged that Cleveland had fathered an illegitimate child while he was a lawyer in that city. They confronted Cleveland with the scandal.
Cleveland is reported to have told his supporters, "Above all, tell the truth." Cleveland admitted to paying child support in 1874 to Maria Crofts Halpin, the woman who claimed he fathered her child. The child was named Oscar Folsom Cleveland. Halpin was reportedly involved with several men at the time, including Cleveland's friend and law partner, Oscar Folsom, for whom the child was named. Cleveland claimed that he did not know which man was the father and said that he assumed responsibility for supporting the child because he was the only bachelor among the group.
That October, shortly before election day, the Republicans published an affidavit from Halpin in which she stated that until she met Cleveland her "life was pure and spotless", and "there is not, and never was, a doubt as to the paternity of our child, and the attempt of Grover Cleveland, or his friends, to couple the name of Oscar Folsom, or any one else, with that boy, for that purpose is simply infamous and false." Cleveland's campaign stated that there was no proof that Cleveland was the father, and claimed that, by assuming responsibility and finding a home for the child, he was acting charitably. They also said that Halpin was not forced into an asylum; her whereabouts were unknown.
Blaine's supporters mocked Cleveland and at their rallies, they chanted "Ma, Ma, Where's my Pa?" (After Cleveland's victory, Cleveland supporters would add to the taunt: "Gone to the White House, Ha, Ha, Ha.")
As Election Day approached, it was a question as to which of the two negatives would affect voters more. The Cleveland campaign's damage control worked well enough to keep the race very close through Election Day. But Blaine still faced oppositions from within his own party. A group of Republican reformers called the "Mugwumps" were more angry at Blaine's corruption than at Cleveland's private affairs.
In the final week of the campaign, the Blaine campaign suffered a catastrophic October surprise. At a Republican meeting attended by Blaine, a group of New York preachers criticized the Mugwumps. Their spokesman, Reverend Dr. Samuel Burchard, made a remark that was later used against Blaine. He said: "We are Republicans, and don't propose to leave our party and identify ourselves with the party whose antecedents have been rum, Romanism, and rebellion."
This anti-Catholic slur was picked up by a Democratic operative who was present. Cleveland's campaign managers made sure that it was widely publicized in national newspapers. The statement angered Irish and Catholic voters, especially in New York City and it mobilized them to vote heavily against Blaine. This gaffe was said to cost Blaine New York state and the election by the narrowest of margins. New York state decided the election. Cleveland won the state's 36 electors by a margin of just 1,047 votes out of 1,171,312 cast. Cleveland ended up with 219 electoral votes, compared to 182 for Blaine. Cleveland won 20 states, Blaine won 18. In the popular vote it was 4,914,482 (48.9%) for Cleveland, to 4,856,905 (48.3%) for Blaine.
The story of the 1884 election is the subject of Mark Wahlgren Summers' book Rum Romanism and Rebellion: The Making of A President, 1884.
Blaine had been prevented from getting the Republican presidential nomination during the previous two elections because of the something known as the "Mulligan letters". In 1876, a Boston bookkeeper named James Mulligan had located some letters showing that Blaine had sold his influence in Congress to various businesses. One such letter ended with the phrase "burn this letter". In the 1884 election, the Democratic Party resurrected the scandal of the Mulligan letters. A popular chant among Democrat supporters at their rallies was "Burn, burn, burn this letter!" Democrats alleged that Blaine had received $110,150 from the Little Rock and Fort Smith Railroad for securing a federal land grant. Democrat received support from anti-Blaine Republicans and both attacked the Republican candidate on the question of his integrity.
Democrats contrasted Blaine with their candidate, New York Governor Grover Cleveland, who was known as "Grover the Good". In just three years he had become successively the mayor of Buffalo, New York, and then the governor of the state of New York, and he was credited with cleaning up much of the corruption associated with Tammany Hall. Republicans needed a strategy to counter this disparity in the reputation of their candidates and in July they found a skeleton in Cleveland's closet. An opportunistic preacher from Buffalo named George H. Ball charged that Cleveland had fathered an illegitimate child while he was a lawyer in that city. They confronted Cleveland with the scandal.
Cleveland is reported to have told his supporters, "Above all, tell the truth." Cleveland admitted to paying child support in 1874 to Maria Crofts Halpin, the woman who claimed he fathered her child. The child was named Oscar Folsom Cleveland. Halpin was reportedly involved with several men at the time, including Cleveland's friend and law partner, Oscar Folsom, for whom the child was named. Cleveland claimed that he did not know which man was the father and said that he assumed responsibility for supporting the child because he was the only bachelor among the group.
That October, shortly before election day, the Republicans published an affidavit from Halpin in which she stated that until she met Cleveland her "life was pure and spotless", and "there is not, and never was, a doubt as to the paternity of our child, and the attempt of Grover Cleveland, or his friends, to couple the name of Oscar Folsom, or any one else, with that boy, for that purpose is simply infamous and false." Cleveland's campaign stated that there was no proof that Cleveland was the father, and claimed that, by assuming responsibility and finding a home for the child, he was acting charitably. They also said that Halpin was not forced into an asylum; her whereabouts were unknown.
Blaine's supporters mocked Cleveland and at their rallies, they chanted "Ma, Ma, Where's my Pa?" (After Cleveland's victory, Cleveland supporters would add to the taunt: "Gone to the White House, Ha, Ha, Ha.")
As Election Day approached, it was a question as to which of the two negatives would affect voters more. The Cleveland campaign's damage control worked well enough to keep the race very close through Election Day. But Blaine still faced oppositions from within his own party. A group of Republican reformers called the "Mugwumps" were more angry at Blaine's corruption than at Cleveland's private affairs.
In the final week of the campaign, the Blaine campaign suffered a catastrophic October surprise. At a Republican meeting attended by Blaine, a group of New York preachers criticized the Mugwumps. Their spokesman, Reverend Dr. Samuel Burchard, made a remark that was later used against Blaine. He said: "We are Republicans, and don't propose to leave our party and identify ourselves with the party whose antecedents have been rum, Romanism, and rebellion."
This anti-Catholic slur was picked up by a Democratic operative who was present. Cleveland's campaign managers made sure that it was widely publicized in national newspapers. The statement angered Irish and Catholic voters, especially in New York City and it mobilized them to vote heavily against Blaine. This gaffe was said to cost Blaine New York state and the election by the narrowest of margins. New York state decided the election. Cleveland won the state's 36 electors by a margin of just 1,047 votes out of 1,171,312 cast. Cleveland ended up with 219 electoral votes, compared to 182 for Blaine. Cleveland won 20 states, Blaine won 18. In the popular vote it was 4,914,482 (48.9%) for Cleveland, to 4,856,905 (48.3%) for Blaine.
The story of the 1884 election is the subject of Mark Wahlgren Summers' book Rum Romanism and Rebellion: The Making of A President, 1884.