Woodrow Wilson as I Know HimTumulty, Joseph P. (Joseph Patrick)
History
Woodrow Wilson as I Know Him
Tumulty, Joseph P. (Joseph Patrick)
Presidents -- United States -- Biography; Wilson, Woodrow, 1856-1924
While I opposed Senator Smith in this contest there was nothing personally
antagonistic in my attitude. We were, I hope, friends throughout the
conflict, and many times since then we have discussed the events leading
up to Martine's election to the United States Senate. It was only a few
months ago, while seated at a table at the Shoreham Hotel in Washington,
that the old Senator, genial and debonair as ever, was discussing the
fights of the old days, and particularly the events leading up to his
defeat for the United States senatorship. In discussing the New Jersey
campaign, he told me of the use that had been made by "someone" in the
Wilson ranks of his Senate speech on the Hay-Pauncefote Treaty. He said
that his reason for making this speech was his sincere desire as an Irish-
American to bring about more amicable relations between the United States
and England, and as I listened to this frank recital I felt that, although
the use I had made of his speech was legitimate in the circumstances,
there was nothing to be proud of in having exploited the Senator's really
fine speech for political purposes.
The State House at Trenton on the night previous to the balloting for the
senatorship was a place of feverish activity. The Essex ex-Chieftain,
Smith, kept "open house" in the then famous Room 100 of the Trenton House.
The Governor-elect, calm and apparently undisturbed, but anxious and ready
for a contest, quietly moved about the Executive offices attending to
official matters.
We felt confident of the result of the vote if the members of the
Legislature were left free, but we were certain that every kind of
pressure would be put upon them to change the votes of the wobblers in our
ranks. All night long and until four or five o'clock in the morning the
Governor-elect and I remained in the Executive office, keeping in close
contact with our friends both by telephone and personal conference.
Senator Smith never knew it, but some of the men close to him and
participating in his own conferences on this fateful night hourly brought
to us information as to what would be the real line-up of his forces on
the day set for balloting. We found a spy in our own ranks—a leading
lawyer and politician from, my own county—who, while pretending to be our
friend, was supplying the enemy with what he thought was useful
information. We, however, were already aware of this gentleman's duplicity
and, although he never suspected it, whenever he left the Executive office
he was followed by a professional detective, who heard and reported to us
every bit of information he had supplied to our political foes.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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