James G. Blaine

Now, that's nowhere near as nasty as the election of 1884, and I've always loved this story.

Not far from my house, down in, in Washington at Dupont Circle, which is a very fashionable nei- neighborhood, there's a mansion right on the circle, and that's the house where former Secretary of State and Republican presidential nominee James Blair resided.

There's even a little historical marker outside the house, and it tells really what is the most famous story of James Blair.

James Blair ran for president in 1884 against Grover Cleveland, and, um, Blair learned that Cleveland had fathered an illegitimate child.

I mean, no child's illegitimate, but he had illegitimately fathered a child with a woman from Buffalo, New York.

And so Blair started this chant that his supporters would shout at Grover Cleveland's political rallies, and the chant was, "Ma, Ma, where's my pa?" And it was supposed to insult Grover Cleveland for having a child out of wedlock.

The opportune moment for them came in 1884, when a number of circumstances favored their aspirations.

The Republicans, leaving the Ohio Valley in search of a candidate, nominated James G. Blaine of Maine, a vigorous and popular leader, but a man under fire from the Reformers in his own party.

The Democrats, on their side, were able to find at this juncture an able candidate who had no political enemies in the sphere of national politics, Grover Cleveland, then governor of New York and widely celebrated as a man of sterling honesty.

At the same time, a number of dissatisfied Republicans openly espoused the Democratic cause, among them Carl Schurz, George William Curtis, Henry Ward Beecher, and William Everett, men of fine ideals and undoubted integrity.

The Specie Problem The Parity of Gold and Silver defeated in their efforts to stop the present suicidal and destructive policy of contraction the advocates of an abundant currency demanded an increase in the volume of silver in circulation this precipitated one of the sharpest political battles in american history the issue turned on legal as well as economic points The Constitution gave Congress the power to coin money, and it forbade the states to make anything but gold and silver legal tender in the payment of debts.

It evidently contemplated the use of both metals in the currency system.

Such, at least, was the view of many eminent statesmen, including no less a personage than James G. Blaine.

The difficulty, however, lay in maintaining gold and silver coins on a level which would permit them to circulate with equal facility.

The devotion of all connected with the household excited the sympathy of all, and there was not a dry eye to be seen.

The pallbearers, Senator William B. Allison, Senator James G. Blaine, Senator David Davis, Senator Daniel Voorhees, Representative James A. Garfield, Senator A.S. Paddock, Representative Thomas Q. Boyd of Illinois, the Honorable Ward H. Lamon, ex-Congressman Jerry Wilson, and Representative Adlai E. Stevenson of Illinois then bore the remains to the hearse, and the lengthy cortege proceeded to the Oak Hill Cemetery, where the remains were interred in the presence of the family and friends without further ceremony.

End quote.

The Tribute Quote Dear friends, I am going to do that which the dead oft promised he would do for me.

The opportune moment for them came in 1884, when a number of circumstances favored their aspirations.

The Republicans, leaving the Ohio Valley in search of a candidate, nominated James G. Blaine of Maine, a vigorous and popular leader, but a man under fire from the Reformers in his own party.

The Democrats, on their side, were able to find at this juncture an able candidate who had no political enemies in the sphere of national politics, Grover Cleveland, then governor of New York and widely celebrated as a man of sterling honesty.

At the same time, a number of dissatisfied Republicans openly espoused the Democratic cause, among them Carl Schurz, George William Curtis, Henry Ward Beecher, and William Everett, men of fine ideals and undoubted integrity.

The Specie Problem The Parity of Gold and Silver defeated in their efforts to stop the present suicidal and destructive policy of contraction the advocates of an abundant currency demanded an increase in the volume of silver in circulation this precipitated one of the sharpest political battles in american history the issue turned on legal as well as economic points The Constitution gave Congress the power to coin money, and it forbade the states to make anything but gold and silver legal tender in the payment of debts.

It evidently contemplated the use of both metals in the currency system.

Such, at least, was the view of many eminent statesmen, including no less a personage than James G. Blaine.

The difficulty, however, lay in maintaining gold and silver coins on a level which would permit them to circulate with equal facility.

I fairly threw the tin cover off my typewriter onto the floor, and sitting down, began to pound out a dispatch to the Washington Department of State, my idea being to finish it up and then give it to the minister to send by cable.

To the Honorable James G. Blaine, Secretary of State, Washington, USA, from the American minister in Lima, Peru.

A revolution broke out at five this morning, and nobody knows what it is about.

The streets run with blood, the populace cry, save us, save us, while the soldiers run them through with bayonets.

The Monroe Doctrine, you know, was signed in 1823.

That same year, Secretary of State John Quincy Adams says Cuba has become an object of transcendent importance to our union.

The annexation of Cuba to our federal republic will be indispensable.

So you can see, like, this, this...

The way they've been talking about taking, uh, this island.

There was another one in 1881, the US Secretary of State at the time, James Blaine, "This rich island, the key to the Gulf of Mexico, and the field of our most extended trade in the Western Hemisphere, although it's in the hands of Spain, is part of the American commercial system.

If it ever ceases to be Spanish, Cuba must necessarily become American." So you can see the American ruling class, they saw this colony that Spain occupied as something that belonged in their sphere of influence, and they were willing to wait for their opportunity to take it.

And when they say commercial system, they're talking about capitalism.

I didn't know that such a man existed in New York, and yet I couldn't decide whether his habitat should be Arizona or Cape Cod.

Enderby and Uncle Ford were deep in a discussion of the statesmanship of James G. Blaine when a waiter summoned my uncle to the telephone.

I neglected to state that my uncle, in his prosaic hours, is a physician, and this was a call.

I knew it the moment I saw the waiter approaching.

Henry Flagler's interest in Florida began with a visit to Jacksonville in 1878.

Over the next seven years, Flagler experienced what we might call a midlife crisis, as both his personal and business life underwent profound changes, the death of his first wife and remarriage, creation and investigation of the Standard Oil Trust, and political pushback against his involvement in the 1884 presidential campaign of James G. Blaine.

Together, these events encouraged Flagler to seek a new direction.

An 1885 visit to St. Augustine, quote, "...launched his initial phase of activities in Florida, determined to make the city the Newport of the South," end quote.