Free Roosevelt by James MacGregor Burns

Tammanyite, who in seven terms ofoffice had shown himself a dexterous, trigger-swift legislator, became majority leader in the assembly. The method of party control was simple. The Democrats commanded a majority in each chamber. Tammany commanded a majority of the Democrats. Thus, if all went according to party custom, a minority of Tammanyites could control the whole legislature, including the election of a United States senator.
    During early January rumblings of opposition to Sheehan reached Murphy’s ears. His response was in character: no patronage or committee appointments would be given out until the Democrats toed the line. This was too much for a small group of assemblymen led by Edmund R. Terry of Brooklyn. They decided to boycott the caucus in order not to be bound by the caucus decision; by joining with the Republicans they could deny Tammany the necessary votes for Sheehan’s election.
    Roosevelt got wind of this development and immediately joined the rebel group. On the night of January 16, while most of the Democrats went to their caucus to choose Sheehan, Roosevelt and Terry met in their headquarters. Both were nervous. Murphy was bringing pressure on the rebels, and Governor Dix was standing by the Tammany boss. Slowly the rest of the Insurgents, as they were called, arrived, and it became clear that the Democratic caucus could not command enough votes to put Sheehan over. Hopefully the rebels waited for a truce offer from Tammany, but none came. Murphy had only begun to fight.
    Schooled in the politics of the Gas House district of New York City, Murphy had fought his way up through the Tammany hierarchy with his fists and wits. A big, glum, taciturn man who liked to receive his satraps at Delmonico’s, he was used to rebellions and he knew how to handle them. His moves against the Insurgents were ingenious and ruthless. From Boss William Barnes, who was delighted at the rupture in Democratic ranks, he got a promise that the Republicans would stand firm for their own man, incumbent Senator Chauncey M. Depew, until Murphy could overcome the rebels. He lined up state committeemen in the Insurgents’ districts to exert pressure on their most vulnerable flank: the next election. Insurgents’ appointees in government jobs were fired, their law firms boycotted, and other reprisals were threatened. Finally—and most harassing of all—Tammany whispered that the attack on Sheehan was simply an attack on Catholics and Irishmen. “Every conceivable form of pressure” had been brought to bear on the group, Roosevelt told the press with some exaggeration.
    Although not the initiator of the revolt, Roosevelt gradually became its leader. He was informally chosen chairman at an early meeting and he usually spoke for the group. Acting essentially as apresiding officer rather than a dominant chieftain, he conducted diplomatic negotiations with the Tammany forces. His leadership was partly due to the proximity of his home, and to the fact that he was a senator and the others virtually all assemblymen. It was also due to his resoluteness, good humor, and resourcefulness.
    As the struggle deepened the Insurgents won nationwide attention. The fight against bossism struck a popular note. Progressives had long denounced the United States Senate as a “millionaires’ club” packed with hirelings of the trusts. The national Senate was under a drumfire of criticism for holding up a proposed constitutional amendment to require direct election of senators. Woodrow Wilson, just installed in the governor’s mansion in Trenton, was battling a move in the New Jersey legislature to send a noted boss to the Senate, and Theodore Roosevelt, who had come out in 1910 for direct primaries, seemed to favor popular election of senators. These changes, along with the initiative and referendum, were key parts of the Progressives’ apparatus of reform.
    Newspapers throughout the country featured the fight that this new Roosevelt was making