Claude A. Swanson of Virginia: a Political Biography
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University of Kentucky UKnowledge Political History History 1985 Claude A. Swanson of Virginia: A Political Biography Henry C. Ferrell Jr. East Carolina University Click here to let us know how access to this document benefits ou.y Thanks to the University of Kentucky Libraries and the University Press of Kentucky, this book is freely available to current faculty, students, and staff at the University of Kentucky. Find other University of Kentucky Books at uknowledge.uky.edu/upk. For more information, please contact UKnowledge at [email protected]. Recommended Citation Ferrell, Henry C. Jr., "Claude A. Swanson of Virginia: A Political Biography" (1985). Political History. 14. https://uknowledge.uky.edu/upk_political_history/14 Claude A. Swanson Claude A. Swanson of Virginia A Political Biography HENRY C. FERRELL, Jr. THE UNIVERSITY PRESS OF KENTUCKY Publication of this book has been assisted by a grant from East Carolina University Copyright© 1985 by The University Press of Kentucky Scholarly publisher for the Commonwealth, serving Bellarmine College, Berea College, Centre College of Kentucky, Eastern Kentucky University, The Filson Club, Georgetown College, Kentucky Historical Society, Kentucky State University, Morehead State University, Murray State University, Northern Kentucky University, Transylvania University, University of Kentucky, University of Louisville, and Western Kentucky University. Editorial and Sales Offices: Lexington, Kentucky 40506-0024 Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Ferrell, Henry C., 1934- Claude A. Swanson of Virginia. Bibliography: p. Includes index. I. Swanson, Claude Augustus, 1862-1939. 2. Legislators -United States-Biography. 3. United States. Congress Biography. 4. Virginia---Governors-Biography. I. Title. E748.S92F47 1985 975.5'042'0924 [B] 84-27031 ISBN: 978-0-8131-5243-1 To Martha This page intentionally left blank Contents Illustrations and Photo Credits vm Preface 1x 1. Rising Young Politician: 1862-1892 20 Faith with the People: 1893-1898 19 3 0 Platform Democrat: 1893-1903 37 40 Middle of the Road and Stepping High: 1901-1906 53 50 Concur and Cooperate: 1906-1910 70 60 The Latest Successful Comeback: 1906-1911 86 70 Both Ears to the Ground: 1910-1917 100 80 Neither Hesitate nor Halt: 1917-1921 119 9 0 The Principle of Local Self-Government: 1920-1930 131 100 Hares and Hounds: 1921-1932 151 11. Prodigious Shadow: 1921-1932 166 120 The Wise Thing to Do: 1929-1933 183 130 Second to None: 1933-1939 200 140 Epilogue: The Red Oak Breaks 219 Notes 222 Bibliographic Essay 273 Index 277 Illustrations and Photo Credits Frontispiece: Claude A. Swanson as governor of Virginia ( 1906-1910). Portrait by Harry Franklin Waltman. Virginia State Library. Text Illustrations "As the Game Is Being Played in Virginia" (p. 59). Washington Post "The Latest Successful 'Come Back'" (p. 94). Washington Post 'The American Delegation Crosses Lake Geneva" (p. 188). From Alois Derso and Imre Kelen, Pages Glorieuses-Days of Hope and Glory (!Paris'l] ca. 1933) Following Page 150 Claude A. Swanson as freshman senator. Library of Congress Swanson as Fifth District congressman. William R. Perkins Library, Duke University Governor Swanson at the Jamestown Tercentennial. Virginia State Library Thomas Staples Martin. Library of Congress John W. Daniel. "190 I Virginia Constitutional Convention Album" ( #7373 ), Manu- scripts Department, University of Virginia Library Rorer A. James. Danville Register Westmoreland Davis. Virginia State Library Andrew 1. Montague. Virginia State Library Carter Glass. "190 I Virginia Constitutional Convention Album" ( #7373 ). Manuscripts Department, University of Virginia Library Henry D. Flood. "1901 Virginia Constitutional Convention Album" ( #7373), Manu scripts Department, University of Virginia Library Walter A. Watson." 190 I Virginia Constitutional Convention Album," (#7373), Manu- scripts Department, University of Virginia Library Richard E. Byrd. Virginia State Library Harry F. Byrd, Sr. Manuscripts Department, University of Virginia Library Swanson and Ray Stannard Baker. Library of Congress Franklin D. Roosevelt and his first Cabinet. Wide World Photos, Inc., courtesy of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library Swanson, Roosevelt, and Josephus Daniels. Copyright 1934, New York News, Inc. Reprinted by permission. Courtesy of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library Swanson at Pearl Harbor. National Archives Swanson as Secretary of the Navy. Photo by D.W. Miller, courtesy of the U.S. Naval Historical Center Preface Covering most of the years of the one-party South, Claude Augustus Swanson's public career as congressman, governor, senator, and secretary of the navy spanned from Grover Cleveland's administration to that of Franklin D. Roose velt. In Virginia, he perfected political skills and acquired a world view that led him to become a dominant figure in the state's leadership. His accomplish ments, when carefully assessed, raise serious questions concerning previous interpretations of Virginia politics between 1892 and 1932 that feature a powerful Democratic "organization" dispersing would-be reformers in its ea gerness to placate corporate oligarchs. Swanson had a penchant for finding the sources of power. Enmeshed in the challenges of the day, he was too involved in resolving divisive class and partisan conflicts to compose many introspective statements. An evaluation of his actions and decisions presents, however, an extraordinary political person ality. At the state level, his effectiveness and achievements were equaled by few Virginia chief executives. Nationally, he was an insider, treating with the sinew and structure of the Democratic party, sectional competition, economic inter ests, presidential authority, and untoward events that give a political era shape and substance. From the 1890s through the inauguration of Franklin Roosevelt, an investigation of Swanson's political career furnishes insight into regional and national politics. Delineation of his service as secretary of the navy reveal's additional contours of the New Deal. During the years of research and preparation of this study, I have been assisted by many persons. A complete list would consume many columns of print. Three professional historians must be cited: William B. Hamilton, for introducing me to the complexities of history; Richard L. Watson, Jr., for perceptively guiding me into advanced research; and, most important, Edward E. Younger, for his dedication to Virginia history which inspired me and a generation of graduate students at the University of Virginia. The professional staffs of a host of libraries have been true to their craft in aiding my efforts. I especially appreciate the contributions of Edmund Berkeley, Jr. and his past and present colleagues in the Manuscripts Department of the University of Virginia Library and those of Mary Frances Morris and her fellow reference librarians of Joyner Library at East Carolina University. The University's Research Commit tee furnished several stipends to help defray research expenses and the work X Preface would not have been completed without funds from the East Carolina University Foundation. Beyond these and other contributions, to my wife Martha Smith Ferrell, who hunted with me in the faded papers of many collections and who under stood the need to keep at it, I give my lasting gratitude. n______ _ Rising Young Politician 1862-1892 A few weeks before the Second World War ignited Europe, Time reviewed the life of a "lank, long-nosed Southern politician," Claude Augustus Swanson, late secretary of the navy in Franklin D. Roosevelt's cabinet. Noting that the former congressman, governor, senator, and cabinet minister was "no mediocrity, but a shrewd, hard-working careerist," the article surmised that Swanson, who held "his job for reasons of political expediency was one of the best secretaries of the Navy the U.S. ever had." Lacking wide perspective, the summary illumined but one aspect of a multifaceted, seventy-seven--year career politician whose fore bears lived among the southern Virginia hills and waterways. 1 Under the patronage of John Dennis, indentured Englishman Robert Swan son settled in 1643 near the Wicomico River and established the Virginia Swansons. His descendants tied their future to land acquisition, moved south of the Appomattox trading posts, and eventually reached present day Franklin, Henry, and Pittsylvania counties. Cathedral forests, interspersed with savannahs and riding slopes between high ground, awed early English visitors. Great Bermuda rain systems watered these natural farm sites and spawned dozens of creeks and runs. The primary river, the Dan, received its name from William Byrd and his wrangling crew of surveyors, sighting a boundary between Virginia and North Carolina in October 1728. Blinded partially by the descend ing sun, they imagined they saw gold dust littering the river bottom but discovered instead "small flakes of isinglass." Silica deposits would combine, however, with gray, sterile soil to grow pungent stands of tobacco, generating wealth that transformed the river basin. 2 The economy and culture of the great rural colony encouraged restless seventeen-year-old William Swanson I to settle in Goochland in 1747 and to speculate in land. He bought and sold two thousand acres in ten years and, by 1762, secured title to six hundred more in Bedford near the Blue Ridge Mountains. He turned southward and, in 1768, held five hundred acres in modern Franklin County. In September 1777,