When TR campaigned in Monroe

Editor's note: With the presidential election upon us, Monroe Town Historian James Nelson shared the following information and photo when Theodore Roosevelt made a campaign stop in Monroe.

MONROE — In the fall of 1898, Teddy Roosevelt was running for governor of New York State. He faced a popular Democrat, Judge Augustus van Wyck, the candidate of Tammany Hall, which ruled New York City through power and corruption.
Oct. 24, 1898, Roosevelt started a week's campaign, speaking first in Suffern and Hillburn in Rockland County and then went on to Monroe, Middletown and Port Jervis in Orange County.

'You people of Monroe'

About 200 people assembled in Monroe to hear Col. Roosevelt who was introduced by Chauncey M. Depew.
"You people of Monroe have to consider whether you desire to be placed under the domination of the people of the people who run affairs in the City of New York," Roosevelt told the crowd in Monroe. "In other words whether you desire to be tammanyized by that organization that does not hesitate even to debauch the Judiciary."
Col. Roosevelt's speech was greatly appreciated and when he departed the old Monroe cannon was fired in salute.
As much as the Monroe cheered the candidate, the people of Goshen felt snubbed by Roosevelt.
According to a report in the Independent Republican: "There was a rumble and a roar in Goshen about ten o'clock yesterday morning, a swift moving train flashed quickly by, a gleam of white teeth and polished glasses and Roosevelt and come and gone."
Teddy Roosevelt's next stop would be at Middletown, he would continue on his trip through the state, ending that evening in Elmira.
His train would continue on a few more days stopping at many more towns, and finally returning to New York City on the 29th.

94 votes in Monroe

Roosevelt was elected governor by a plurality of about 20,000 votes. The vote was heavy throughout the state; the Republican victory was gained in the strictly rural districts rather than the cities. The plurality for Van Wyck in Greater New York was 84,000.
According to a Nov. 10, 1898, article from the Goshen Democrat, Roosevelt carried Goshen by 317, showing what little effect his not stopping there had on the vote it that village.
The newspaper did show exact election results. It said Roosevelt received 94 votes in Monroe, but did not show how many Van Wyck got. The story said he did carry Orange County by 2,724 votes.

Falling out with state GOP

As it turned out, the state Republican Party did not trust Roosevelt after he would not appoint party regulars to various patronage jobs in Albany.
So party leaders urged Roosevelt to run for a Vice President of the United States, a post they felt he would have little to do in that office.
Roosevelt would run with President William McKinley and campaigned vigorously across the country helping them to be elected by a landslide victory.
McKinley would be assassinated in Buffalo in September 1901 and Teddy Roosevelt would assume the presidency.
The rest, as it is said, is history.
Next week: The 1908 campaign of William Jennings Bryan.