Theodore Rex - Edmund Morris [214]
Roosevelt was not soothed. One needed to be more than a detail man to see that winning the White House was not enough: it had to be won in such a way that state houses were won, too—at least those vital to one’s future executive effectiveness. Cortelyou did not seem to “grasp” the necessity of a Republican victory in New York’s gubernatorial contest.
After Elihu Root’s refusal to run, the state GOP had compromised by nominating Lieutenant Governor Frank W. Higgins. Unfortunately, Higgins was a listless candidate whose first reaction to being dubbed “Odell’s stooge” had been to stop campaigning and sulk. The Democratic National Committee, sensing weakness, had begun to lavish money on its own local ticket. If Cortelyou—or someone more forceful—did not immediately kick some fight into Higgins, the second Roosevelt Administration might have to deal with a broken Odell machine and a Tammany Hall governor.
An even worse scenario, not inconceivable in the event of a foreign emergency or major scandal, was that Roosevelt’s current popularity could decline nationwide, to the point that defeat in New York might cost him his Presidency. “Pray get out and put yourself into the canvass at the earliest possible moment,” Roosevelt wrote Higgins. “You and I are in the same boat. We shall sink or swim together.”
Higgins continued to sulk. By the second week of October, gloom over his candidacy was so great that contributions to both the presidential and gubernatorial campaigns dwindled further. “The drift here seems to be against us,” William Dudley Foulke wrote Roosevelt.
At 1 Madison Avenue, the telephone rang for Cortelyou. He was out. Staff rushed in search of Bliss: it was the President calling. But the treasurer was out, too. Senator Scott came on the line.
ROOSEVELT Who is this?
SCOTT Mr. Scott.
ROOSEVELT What is this I hear about Higgins? I hear there is some danger of his being defeated.
SCOTT Well, if the election was now, I fear he would be defeated.
ROOSEVELT What is the trouble?
SCOTT The [state] committee claim that they have no funds.…
ROOSEVELT Well, can’t Mr. Bliss settle that … can’t the state committee raise the funds?
Scott explained that Bliss and Cortelyou had budgeted a quarter of a million dollars for the gubernatorial campaign. Now, just when Odell needed to bolster Higgins’s sagging ratings, the campaign was in default. The President exploded.
ROOSEVELT I would rather lose the election in the country than be defeated in my own state.
SCOTT There is no danger, Mr. President, … no danger whatever of your not carrying the state. If the funds were furnished … I have no doubt we can elect Mr. Higgins.
ROOSEVELT I will send for Mr. Harriman.
E. H. Harriman was a heavy investor in the New York State Republican organization, and therefore wanted to avoid a Higgins defeat. He was also, according to rumor, keen to see his good friend Benjamin B. Odell in the United States Senate. Roosevelt needed to harness the energies of all three men: financier, candidate, and boss.
“In view of the trouble over the State ticket in New York, I should much like to have a few words with you,” he wrote Harriman on 10 October. “Do you think you can get down here within a few days and take either lunch or dinner with me?” Harriman accepted the invitation, but found that his schedule would not allow him to come south in less than a week.
The President detected a whiff of coquettishness, and turned coy himself. “Now, my dear sir, you and I are practical men,” he wrote again. “If you think there is any danger of your visit to me causing trouble, or if you think there is nothing special I should be informed about … why of course give up the visit for the time being.”
Harriman was thus put in the awkward position of having to push for