Ohio History Journal

LEONARD SCHLUP

The Sage of Athens: Charles H.

Grosvenor and Presidential Politics in

Ohio in 1908

 

 

 

Now largely forgotten by Ohioans, Charles H. Grosvenor (1833-1917) was

an important political figure in Ohio during the late nineteenth and early

twentieth centuries. An Athens lawyer and veteran of the Civil War,

Grosvenor entered state politics in 1873 upon his election to the Ohio House

of Representatives, where he served as speaker from 1876 to 1878. He

reached the pinnacle of his political prominence as a member of the United

States House of Representatives from 1885 to 1891 and again from 1893 to

1907, representing the Eleventh District. A strongly partisan Republican

known for his conservatism and sharp debating skills, Grosvenor achieved a

national reputation as a formidable speaker, entertaining Chautauqua audi-

ences. Representative Champ Clark, a Missouri Democrat who later became

speaker of the House of Representatives, referred to Grosvenor as "a capital

debater, quick at repartee-sometimes as savage as a meat-ax, sometimes as

bitter as gall."^l Grosvenor also presented a striking and somewhat awesome

appearance with his thick white hair and exceptionally long snowy whiskers.

A number of Grosvenor's Ohio contemporaries, such as President William

McKinley and Senator Joseph Benson Foraker, have been the subjects of ex-

cellent studies, and various memoirs and autobiographies of Ohioans have

helped to illuminate certain personalities and events of the period.² Yet

Grosvenor's political career has received comparatively little notice. In the

accounts of his contemporaries, he appears in scattered references to isolated

fragments of his life, while the general surveys of Ohio history either ignore

him or mention him only briefly. He deserves better treatment. This essay

sketches his role in the presidential campaign of 1908 in Ohio by examining

his letters to William Howard Taft, the Republican presidential nominee that

 

 

Leonard Schlup is a librarian in the Language, Literature, and History Division of the Akron-

Summit County Public Library in Ohio.

 

1. Champ Clark, My Quarter Century of American Politics (2 vols.; New York, 1920), II,

320.

2. For President Hayes's opinion of Grosvenor, see Rutherford B. Hayes to James A.

Garfield, January 13, 1881, in Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, ed. Charles

Richard Williams (5 vols.; Columbus, 1924), 111, 637. A recent biography of Hayes is Ari

Hoogenboom, Rutherford B. Hayes: Warrior and President (Lawrence, 1995).

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146                                                           OHIO HISTORY

 

year.

Gosvenor has remained an enigma to historians primarily because of the

paucity of his political letters and the difficulty of locating his papers.³

Those pieces that do exist reveal several qualities about the Ohio politician

and provide scholars with a wealth of material to add to his speeches in the

Congressional Record. His letters to Taft merit recognition not only because

they help historians interpret the noteworthy career of a public figure but also

because they reveal the part that he played in the campaign of 1908.

Nicknamed "Old Figgers" because of his penchant for making arithmetical

prognostications of election results, Grosvenor was active in Republican pres-

idential politics prior to his support of Taft in 1908. He had endorsed

Rutherford B. Hayes for president in 1876 and James A. Garfield for president

in 1880. In 1884, he favored James G. Blaine for the presidential nomina-

tion. Four years later, Grosvenor was the Ohio leader of the presidential

boom for Senator John Sherman, who lost the nomination in 1888 to

Benjamin Harrison. Grosvenor joined the Cleveland industrialist Mark Hanna

in 1896 in promoting the presidential nomination and election of former Ohio

Governor William McKinley. During that campaign, he became the official

statistician of the party, issuing detailed statements of McKinley's strength in

each state and forecasting results. By 1908, Grosvenor was eager to assist yet

another native Ohioan in a presidential campaign.⁴

The letters which follow have not previously been published and apparently

have been overlooked by historians who have written on Taft's 1908 canvass.

They bring to light certain dimensions and characteristics of Grosvenor as a

loyal Republican and political leader, demonstrating his thorough knowledge

of Ohio politics while revealing his tactics as a politicians as well as his

friendship for Taft, to whom he freely offered advice. These letters show

clearly that Grosvenor wholeheartedly accepted Secretary of War Taft as

President Theodore Roosevelt's anointed heir.⁵

 

 

3. A small collection of Grosvenor's letters, including photographs, genealogies, and miscel-

laneous documents, are located in the Archives and Special Collections Department, Alden

Library, Ohio University, Athens. Some letters are in the manuscript collections of his contem-

poraries, including William B. Allison and Albert B. Cummins (State Historical Society of Iowa

at Des Moines); Joseph Benson Foraker (Historical and Philosophical Society of Ohio at

Cincinnati); Charles Dick (Ohio Historical Society at Columbus); and John Sherman, James A.

Garfield, Benjamin Harrison, William McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt, and William Howard

Taft (Division of Manuscripts, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.).

4. Born in Cincinnati in 1857, Taft had been a Cincinnati lawyer, assistant prosecuting attor-

ney, assistant city solicitor, judge, and dean of the University of Cincinnati Law School before

securing presidential appointments as governor-general of the Philippine Islands and provi-

sional governor of Cuba. He served as secretary of war from 1904 to 1908 under President

Theodore Roosevelt. The best biography of Taft is Henry F. Pringle, The Life and Times of

William Howard Taft (2 vols.; New York, 1939).

5. Grosvenor disapproved of Senator Joseph B. Foraker's presidential ambitions in 1908.

Foraker had lost Grosvenor's friendship in 1888 when, as head of the Ohio delegation that year

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The Sage of Athens: Charles H. Grosvenor                          147

Grosvenor's correspondence with Taft in 1908 began in January, and by February the two men were exchanging views on Ohio political affairs. Having retired from Congress, Grosvenor was practicing law with Evan J. Jones and Lawrence G. Worstell in Athens that year when his attention once again turned to presidential politics. "I congratulate you upon the situation       to the Republican National Convention, he only half-heartedly supported Grosvenor's choice, Senator John Sherman, for the presidential nomination. Information about Foraker and the 1908 presidential contest is in Joseph Benson Foraker, Notes of a Busy Life (2 vols.; Cincinnati, 1916), 11, 373-97; Everett Walters, Joseph Benson Foraker: An Uncompromising Republican (Columbus, 1948), 258-72; Cincinnati Enquirer, January 3, 15, 23, February 9, 11, 24, March 4, 5, 28, June 19, July 3, 18, August 8, 21, September 5, 1908; and Warren G. Harding to Joseph B. Foraker, January 28, 1908, William S. Cappeller to Foraker, March 7, 1908, Foraker to Charles Dick, August 27, 1908, and J. H. Hoyt to Foraker, September 12, 1908, Foraker Papers. Also, Earl Ray Beck, "The Political Career of Joseph Benson Foraker" (Ph.D. dissertation, The Ohio State University, 1942).

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148                                                        OHIO HISTORY

 

out here," Grosvenor wrote to Taft on February 4. "You are going to have a

united delegation from Ohio, in my judgment, and I hope it will be a delega-

tion made up of the best men, as doubtless it will be. There is every indica-

tion, to my mind, of your triumphant nomination and I hope that you will be

as successful in the election as you seem to be in the nomination."⁶

On June 18, Taft was nominated for president on the first ballot at the

Republican National Convention in Chicago. He garnered forty-two of

Ohio's forty-six votes.⁷ Although he remained in Athens, Grosvenor was

cognizant of developments in Chicago. He quickly dispatched a congratula-

tory letter to Taft on June 19.

 

Nobody enjoys the situation better than I do. I rejoice with joy unspeakable

that the nomination has been made and that we can now all stand together for one

grand pull for a successful outcome. I do not doubt the result.

At the proper time I propose to point out, following my old habits, the impos-

sibility of Bryan's election.⁸

I trembled a little for your platform, as it was being made, but I heartily endorse

it. We can all stand upon it.

With best wishes.⁹

 

Of Taft's several political forays into Ohio that year, Grosvenor was partic-

ularly interested in arranging for the presidential nominee to visit Athens.

Working with the Ohio Republican State Executive Committee, headquartered

at the New First National Bank Building in Columbus, Grosvenor finalized

plans for Taft's journey to southern Ohio. He outlined the itinerary of the

trip in a letter to Taft on July 30.

 

After the few words that I had with you with reference to the Athens affair, I had a

longer and fuller talk with Mr. Vorys.10 The celebration here will be on Friday and

Saturday, the 28th and 29th days of August. Your presence on either day would be

just as satisfactory....

You could make this look like an incident, rather than a deliberate prearranged

affair. That is to say, you need not put yourself in the attitude of having come here

for the express purpose of making a speech, but you could make it seem incidental.

We will have here all the old soldiers in southern Ohio and we will have a gala day

with all the leading miners in this section. Four of the biggest coal mining com-

binations in Ohio are located within a few miles of Athens now .... Here will be

the center of a great deal of political activity and your coming here to a soldiers'

reunion, which will take in the soldiers more or less from half a dozen counties,

 

 

6. Charles H. Grosvenor to William Howard Taft, February 4, 1908, Taft Papers.

7. Official Report of the Proceedings of the Fourteenth Republican National Convention

(Columbus, 1908), 182. Also, Akron Beacon Journal, June 19, 1908.

8. William Jennings Bryan was the Democratic presidential nominee in 1908.

9. Grosvenor to Taft, June 19, 1908, Taft Papers.

10. Arthur I. Vorys, a Lancaster lawyer and insurance executive, was a member of the

Republican National Committee from 1908 to 1912. A delegate-at-large from Ohio to the 1908

Republican National Convention, he supported Taft for the presidential nomination.

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The Sage of Athens: Charles H. Grosvenor                                   149

 

will be a very fine event and will work well in the right direction.

If you will give me the information which I seek, that you will come, we will

handle it in such a discrete way that it will be beneficial and satisfactory. I think

that General Corbin 11 will come here and I know he will if you do. In that way we

will start the matter among the soldiers in this section of Ohio in very great

shape.

I congratulate you especially upon the strong and satisfactory speech you made

at Cincinnati and the reception that it has had throughout the country thus far.¹²

 

The following day Grosvenor's enthusiasm for Taft's proposed visit com-

pelled him to send still another letter to the nominee and to comment on re-

cent political developments.

 

The more I think about it, the more I am anxious that you shall come to our Re-

union. If you will send me a letter saying that you will come and follow it later

with such limitations as to time . . . we will faithfully carry out your suggestions.

But we are determined to make the affair one of the most important that we have

ever had here and in order to do it the sooner we get word from you the better it will

be for us. We are getting ready for a decided effort in the way of advertising.

The action of the Democrats of West Virginia yesterday has added enormously to

our prospects. 13 I was one of those who had some fears in regard to the colored

man, but there is no colored man, in my judgment, who has intelligence enough¹4

to fully understand the injury which it is claimed was done to him in the

Brownsville¹⁵ affair, who has not sense enough to see that the action of the W.

 

 

11. Bom in Clermont County, Ohio, Henry C. Corbin was a distinguished Civil War general

who also served in the Spanish-American War of 1898. He was with President James A.

Garfield at the time the chief executive was shot in 1881.

12. Grosvenor to Taft, July 30, 1908, Taft Papers.

13. Convening in Charleston at the end of July for their state convention, West Virginia

Democrats approved two platform planks that dealt with the disfranchisement of African-

Americans and the use of separate cars and coaches on public conveyances for whites and

blacks. Although former Governor William A. MacCorkle warned his colleagues about the

consequences of their actions, cheering delegates voted decisively for the incorporation into

the platform of these discriminatory measures. Four years earlier, West Virginia Democrats

had unsuccessfully sponsored a state constitutional amendment making payment of a poll tax a

prerequisite for voting. In his letter to Taft, Grosvenor was referring to the "Jim Crow" fea-

tures of the 1908 West Virginia Democratic platform as well as to the protracted contest in

Charleston for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination between Adam B. Littlepage and

Louis Bennett, who eventually obtained the nomination. This intraparty strife contributed to

Republican William E. Glasscock's victory in 1908 as governor of West Virginia at a time

when Republican reform programs in the state were enjoying increasing popularity with the

electorate. See The Charleston Gazette, July 30, 31, 1908.

14. Grosvenor's statement reflected the commonly held prejudices of his time. The

Republican party's national platform of 1908 demanded equal justice for all people and con-

demned black disfranchisement.

15. On August 3, 1906, a small group of African-American soldiers from the 25th U.S.

Infantry, upset by the treatment accorded them by the citizens of Brownsville, Texas, engaged

in a shooting sortie in that town, killing one resident. Because nobody admitted guilt, President

Theodore Roosevelt discharged without honor every man in the company, 167 in all, resulting

in the loss of their pensions and the inference of guilt by association. The political implications

were enormous. Roosevelt's actions met with general approval from the South and criticism

from the North, where the black vote was strongly Republican. Senator Foraker vehemently

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150                                                          OHIO HISTORY

 

Va. Democrats was conclusive of any hope they might have of any benefit to be

derived from Democratic success. General Grant's¹⁶ proposition never fails of

verification that some time and in some way the Democratic party will always help

us out. I have not felt so confident of success during the campaign as I do now.¹⁷

 

After Taft consented to visit Athens, Grosvenor took charge of making of-

ficial preparations and handling the arrangements. These included advertising,

railroad routes and departure times, speakers, flags, and luncheon festivities at

Grosvenor's home. He dutifully reported these plans in a letter to Taft on

August 24.

 

The escort will bring you direct from the depot to my house. It is no use to pa-

rade you around the town, because you go through the principal part of it on the

road. The boys will be out on horses, etc., and they must have an opportunity to

escort you over there. Then I think we will arrange for you to have an interview

with the political committee at some point near my house . . . and have that all

over by twelve o'clock. Then luncheon and be at the speaking place, which is

close to my house, at one o'clock. Then you will have two full hours for speaking

and shaking hands and all that sort of thing. I think this will be a good arrange-

ment and I hope it will be satisfactory to you.

Mrs. Taft and the boy, by all means the boy,¹⁸ will be at my house and of course

come to the ground close by to hear your speech. Some ladies will call to pay their

respects to Mrs. Taft.¹⁹

I look for a pleasant time and I look for it to be exceedingly valuable to the na-

tional, state and local tickets.²⁰

 

In a follow-up letter to Taft two days later, Grosvenor confirmed the sched-

ule and reiterated information about the escort, luncheon, and final arrange-

ments, which he believed would be to Taft's satisfaction. "Everything seems

all right here," he assured Taft, adding that the speaker's platform was just "a

 

 

 

attacked the president for his handling of the affair, but Taft and Grosvenor supported

Roosevelt, an action that further strained the tenuous relationship between Grosvenor and

Foraker The Senate Military Affairs Committee investigated the incident, which was still un-

resolved at the time of the 1908 campaign. This committee reaffirmed the guilt of the soldiers

and approved the appointment of a military court of inquiry, which confirmed the original ver-

dict. Ultimately, Roosevelt allowed the re-enlistment of fourteen men who had not taken part

in the raid. The Brownsville affair was finally closed in 1972 when the Pentagon announced as

contrary to army policy the concept of mass punishment. The Brownsville soldiers were par-

doned in 1972, and their discharges were changed to honorable. See George E. Mowry, The

Era of Theodore Roosevelt, 1900-1912 (New York, 1958), 212-13; Theodore Roosevelt to

Albert J. Beveridge, January 27, 1907, Albert J. Beveridge Papers, Division of Manuscripts,

Library of Congress; Herbert Parsons to Taft, November 17, 1906, Taft Papers; and Foraker to

Judge D. Davis, May 18, 1908, Foraker Papers.

16. Ulysses S. Grant, a native Ohioan and Republican, served as president of the United

States from 1869 to 1877.

17. Grosvenor to Taft, July 31, 1908, Taft Papers.

18. Taft's son, Charles Phelps Taft (1897-1983), accompanied his father to Athens.

19. Taft married Helen Herron in 1886 in Cincinnati.

20. Grosvenor to Taft, August 24, 1908, Taft Papers.

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The Sage of Athens: Charles H. Grosvenor                          151

few rods from my house." Grosvenor also revealed that two or three Catholic priests wished to meet Taft in Athens. "While it may not have been exactly the best thing to have them come," confessed Grosvenor, "it would have been a much worse thing to have them refuse the privilege of coming.21 So inas- much as this is a soldier reunion, there will be no trouble about them."22 Leaving his retreat in Hot Springs, Virginia, Taft boarded the Baltimore and       21. When Taft, a Unitarian, was civil governor of the Philippine Islands, he arranged with Pope Leo XIII for the purchase of Roman Catholic lands in the Philippines. To negotiate the resolution of the Friar Lands, areas formerly held by Spanish friars, Taft visited the Vatican in 1902. Many people concluded from this episode that he was favorable to Catholicism, and the issue surfaced in the campaign of 1908. See Edgar Albert Homig, "The Religious Issue in the Taft-Bryan Duel of 1908," Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, CV (December, 1961), 530-37; Roosevelt to St. Clair McKelway, April, 1902, Roosevelt Papers; William Jennings Bryan to Henry Watterson, August 17, 1908, Henry Watterson Papers, Division of Manuscripts, Library of Congress; Taft to Roosevelt, November 17, 1908, Taft Papers; C. S. Starr to Bryan, November 6, 1908, William Jennings Bryan Papers, Division of Manuscripts, Library of Congress; and Walter Wellman, "The Management of the Taft Campaign," The American Monthly Review of Reviews, XXXVIII (November, 1908), 432-38. Additional information on the campaign of 1908 may be mined from the Charles D. Hilles Papers, Yale University Library, New Haven, Connecticut. 22. Grosvenor to Taft, August 26, 1908, Taft Papers.

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152                                                     OHIO HISTORY

 

Ohio train for his journey to southern Ohio. He arrived in Athens as sched-

uled on August 29. The city, dressed in gala attire, warmly welcomed the

Republican presidential nominee. Special trains had brought thousands of

cheering spectators, who lined the streets. Met at the depot at noon by

Grosvenor and other officials, Taft and his entourage entered the waiting car-

riages. The open carriage at the head of the long procession contained Taft,

Grosvenor, and Corbin. The route took them up Dean Avenue to West State,

along Court Street to Park Place, and then to Grosvenor's home on

University Terrace. The air was crisp and cool under a cloudless sky as the

Tafts accompanied by the Grosvenors entered the latter's home for lunch.

There many local Republican leaders met the presidential contender. Upon

finishing lunch, Grosvenor and his guests went to the campus of Ohio

University, where Grosvenor, permanent chairman of the event, introduced

Taft to the enthusiastic crowd. After concluding his speech, in which he de-

fended the Roosevelt administration and discussed the Republican platform

and campaign issues, Taft waved to the crowd, thanked Grosvenor for a de-

lightful day, and boarded the train, headed for Middle Bass Island, Ohio.²³

Exhausted form the many weeks of preparing for Taft's visit, Grosvenor es-

caped to Au Sable, Michigan, for a vacation. There on September 2, using

paper bearing a House of Representatives letterhead rather than writing on his

usual law office stationary, Grosvenor reviewed the Athens visit and presented

his conclusions in a letter to Taft.

I have had a fairly good opportunity to talk with the people, and I want to say to

you that in my judgment you accomplished a vast amount of good work on last

Saturday. You did not surprise me any, but you did surprise a great many people.

The bold, straightforward, semi-defiant manner in which you placed yourself in

line of battle upon some the questions has made a wonderfully good effect upon the

country, and among none more distinctly than the laboring people. I need not

elaborate, because you know yourself how strongly and yet how plainly and dis-

tinctly you put those issues.

It has been a source of serious disappointment to the Democrats that you did not

trim a little more, and explain away a little more, and apologize a little. I believe,

and that is what I write to you for, that the more you speak to the public upon these

issues that are being pressed by Bryan, the better it will be for us. It comes with-

out discount from you.... I do not give any advice as to whether your speaking

should be by traveling from place to place or whether it should be done as has been

suggested, from Cincinnati; but I am very decidedly of the opinion that it would be

more effective if you could be seen and heard, as well as to read your speeches. I

hope we may be able to keep up the gait which you set on Saturday, which is a gait

of victory, of triumph, and it should be increased rather than decreased.

So much for my views, which I give for what they are worth. It was very pleas-

ant indeed to me for you to come to Athens and to meet you at my home.²⁴

 

 

 

23. The Athens Daily Messenger, August 29, 1908; The New York Times, August 10, 30, 1908.

24. Grosvenor to Taft, September 2, 1908, Taft Papers.

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The Sage of Athens: Charles H. Grosvenor                        153

Returning to Athens in mid-September, Grosvenor again contacted Taft re- garding the campaign. In a letter dated September 17, he outlined the politi- cal situation in Michigan, concluding that it looked favorable to Republican success and that Taft need not devote any special attention to the state. "I have followed your movements with great satisfaction and while some things might look better, in the main, I am very well satisfied with it," he ex- plained.25 The next day Grosvenor seemed more apprehensive. He notified Taft, then in Cincinnati, that he would campaign for Republicans in West Virginia and other places. He added:   I feel anxious about the campaign. The mighty interests involved worry me. Think of Bryan appointing three or four justices of the Supreme court. But we can only peg away. There is no trouble on you in this section of Ohio and I will stand guard over any sign of deflection. I believe things will brighten up when you get under way. Bryan's recklessness, it seems to me, will react. I am going to try my hand on a picture of Bryan at the hour of the passage of the Wilson tariff bill, when he voted for the gag rule that forced a vote en bloc on 600 amendments made     25. Grosvenor to Taft, September 17, 1908, Taft Papers.

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154                                                        OHIO HISTORY

 

by the Senate after a debate of only a few minutes and then his wild and insane ju-

bilation over the final passage of the Wilson bill.²⁶ It illustrates his hypocrisy

when he talks about gag rule in the House and when he disclaims responsibility for

hard times in 1893 to 1897.27

I go to Indiana in the second week of October.

I have got some letters from Tennessee that I can hardly rely upon but if they are

true, there is a possibility in Tennessee. They urge me to come to Nashville and to

Chattanooga, but of course I shall not do that under this sort of invitation.

God bless you and keep you sound in body and clear headed, and you are going to

win.²⁸

 

Grosvenor's cautious optimism gave way to plaguing pessimism by the

end of September. He felt compelled in a letter to confront Taft with these

worries.

 

Things are not looking very well. You had noticed that before I made the sug-

gestion. They don't look any worse than matters looked in 1896, considerably

later in the season, than today. At that time I about gave up the ship that

McKinley²⁹ was going to be defeated. Things do not look worse than they did in

1880, when Garfield³⁰ lost Maine. I had telegraphed to him on the Friday before

the election from Waterville that the State was against him.... I know the curi-

ous politics of that remarkable State. I have made eighty odd political speeches in

as many different localities in Maine.

I don't write to advise you what to do, but I want to encourage you not to overes-

timate the ugly outlook of the present situation. I very much fear that we are

reaching a point where we must have New York or defeat and then the question

comes, will our New York friends take hold of that State and carry it? They can do

it if they want to. They can do it if they will quit fighting with each other. They

will do it if they will put the management of the State campaign into wise control.

I don't say they have not, but I do say, that is the important consideration. I

should feel as if my country was on the road to ruin, although I know that is fool-

ish, if Bryan should be elected. He won't be elected, in my judgment, unless he

can carry New York. If he can carry New York it is an ugly situation.

Don't spend your time answering this letter. I may write you more and tell you a

whole lot of things to do and you need not do them at all, unless you want to. But I

feel so anxious that I cannot help talking occasionally about the situation.31

 

On election day, November 3, Grosvenor summarized the campaign in a fi-

nal pre-election letter to Taft. Unlike his earlier days when he gained fame for

his precise mathematical predictions of election results, Grosvenor avoided

 

 

26. Grosvenor was referring to the Wilson-Gorman Tariff of 1894.

27. The nation suffered a serious economic depression during the second presidential admin-

istration of Grover Cleveland from 1893 to 1897.

28. Grosvenor to Taft, September 18, 1908, Taft Papers.

29. A Canton lawyer and former Republican Ohio governor and congressman, William

McKinley was elected president in 1896.

30. Congressman James A. Garfield, an Ohio Republican from Mentor, was elected presi-

dent in 1880.

31. Grosvenor to Taft, September 21, 1908, Taft Papers.

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The Sage of Athens: Charles H. Grosvenor                            155

 

making a calculation in 1908. Either he had grown too cautious in his older

years or he truly doubted the outcome that year. In any event, he expressed

his feelings in a written message to Taft in Cincinnati.

 

I write just as the storm of ballots is breaking over our heads. I cannot say what

the result is going to be and it's wholly useless to any longer make figures.

I write only to congratulate you upon the magnificent campaign you made.

Whatever may be the result you made the best campaign that has been made by a

candidate for President since I was old enough to vote, and that has been a long

time. I felt all the time that no one could make your campaign for you as well as

you could make it for yourself and my opinion was justified as soon as you got

into the fight. You made more votes for the party ticket than any other man made.

You made more votes for the party ticket than any ten men made, and the beauty of

it to me is, that you never lost a vote. It is difficult for a candidate to go through a

fight like that and not make any mistakes.

As I said, I believe you will be elected. You ought to be elected, for plenty of

reasons, one of which is, that you deserve to be elected.³²

 

On November 4, 1908, Taft was elected president of the United States. He

carried twenty-nine states totaling 321 electoral votes to Bryan's seventeen

states with 162 electoral votes. Taft won Ohio with 51 percent of the popu-

lar vote (572,312 to 502, 721).³³     This was considerably less than

Roosevelt's nearly sixty percent of the popular vote in Ohio in 1904.

Nevertheless, a delighted Grosvenor immediately forwarded a congratulatory

letter to the president-elect on November 5.

 

I did not telegraph you yesterday, for I had already expressed my views in a letter

of the day before.

Your election is a wonderful triumph.  It may be a great triumph to the

Republican party in view of its history and career; it is. But it is the greatest per-

sonal triumph ever won by a man in American politics.

I congratulate you most heartily upon this phase of the transaction. You inter-

fered with the tide when it was running against you. You checked it, you turned it

the other way and made it run with an unheard of velocity your way, and in all that

you never made a mistake. That is the wonder of the campaign and all else is the

glory of it.³⁴

 

Grosvenor, who did not seek an administrative appointment, continued to

correspond with Taft during the latter's presidency and thereafter. He lived to

see Taft's defeat for re-election in 1912 but died four years before his friend

became chief justice of the United States Supreme Court. Their relationship

in 1908 was both a personal and political association that brought satisfaction

and success to the two Ohioans.

 

 

32. Grosvenor to Taft, November 3, 1908, Taft Papers.

33. Carolyn Goldinger (ed.), Presidential Elections Since 1789 (4th ed.,: Washington, D.C.,

1987), 113. Taft had never before run on a statewide ballot in Ohio.

34. Grosvenor to Taft, November 5, 1908, Taft Papers.

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156                                                      OHIO HISTORY

 

For several decades Grosvenor was a prominent figure in politics, locally in

Ohio and nationally. He was a good orator, a tireless campaign speaker, a

formidable opponent, and at one time dean of the Ohio delegation to

Congress. In 1908, he opposed the presidential ambitions of Senator Foraker

and enlisted instead in the Taft camp, thereby following the lead of Theodore

Roosevelt and his own conscience. Having known Taft for years, Grosvenor

put his faith in the judge's ability to win the nomination and the election and

ably serve the nation as president. The two leaders shared much in com-

mon.³⁵

The exchange of letters in 1908 between Grosvenor and Taft testified to

their personal friendship and political alliance. Grosvenor never hesitated to

advise Taft on issues, and he worked diligently to persuade the nominee to

visit Athens.  Grosvenor's detestation of Bryan and endorsement of

Republican principles clearly permeated his letters. An astute observer of the

political scene, Grosvenor correctly gauged most campaigns. In 1908, he ap-

peared at times to be needlessly worried that Taft might lose. Perhaps swayed

by what he perceived to be the dangers of a Bryan presidency, he entertained

doubts about the electorate's judgment. Still he proved to be a master orga-

nizer and loyal ally. Grosvenor's relationship with Taft in 1908 constituted

one important part in the life of a fascinating figure in Ohio history.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

35. The Athens Daily Messenger, October 30, 1917; William A. Taylor, Ohio in Congress

from 1803 to 1901 (Columbus, 1900), 284. For examples of Grosvenor's letters to other presi-

dents, see Grosvenor to Benjamin Harrison, June 25, 1888, August 29, 1892, Harrison Papers;

Grosvenor to William McKinley, February 19, 1896, October 8, 1900; and Grosvenor to

Roosevelt, April 30, 1904, September 15, 1906, Roosevelt Papers. Grosvenor's brief obituary

is in The New York Times, October 31, 1917.

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