You are looking at some of the images from the 1884 president ial election and listening to songs in support of the republican candidate, james g. Blaine. We are live from the blaine house. We are here with the sitting governor. This house is filled with blaine memorabilia. Do you have a sense of the man while you are here . Absolutely. Welcome to the house. Mr. Blaine is here every day and we hear his spirit every evening. The house was built many years ago. And what have you come to learn about the man by living in his house . He not only was a very strong supporter and founder of the Republican Party in maine, but also a National Leader and he started maine on its course to where we are now. He was very influential in the State Government and federal government. He was a powerhouse. A big tank powerhouse on a massive scale. A bigtime power house. I am very honored to be a stored of the house. You probably have the best commute in america because this is right across the street from the capitol building. Thats correct. Theres maybe better air conditioning. We are pleased to be here tonight to learn more about james g. Blaine. For many people, he has faded into the pages of history but tonight we will learn about the republican members of the state and your state. Thank you for having us. Welcome to the state of maine and to the peoples house. We will be life for the next hour and half and learning more americaames g. Blaines and the Republican Party. Two guests are waiting for me in the Reception Room and they will be my guess throughout the program. I will show you a clip from a round table discussion that we hosted. They discuss james g. Blaine and his time. 1884 against cleveland. Ironically, in 1876, it was b laine who prevented Ulysses Grant from making a comeback and winning a third term. Besides being secretary of state for James Garfield and Chester Arthur he was secretary of state under three president s. What else did he do . He was a speaker of the house. He was a governor. He changed some of the rules in the house. The speakers are always changing the rules somewhat to their advantage is. This was after the civil war when congress was much more central, much more potent than it had been. Their reaction against the strong executive said in. To be the secret the speaker of the house, to be a power in congress meant a lot more fun than it would today. Do you have anything to say . What do you think would have happened if he won . I think he would be regarded as the best president between lincoln and tr. He was assertive, he had intellectual capacity. He had a lot of talent. I think that once he had actually achieved it people lost after the president s. This is a distorted malignancy that they suffer from. If they survive it and they win the office. I think that belaying is someone like clay. They have a great deal uncommon. I think that baline someone like clay. As promised, we are in the Reception Room. Let me introduce you to our guests. Were joined by 80 state historian and the chair of the History Department at colby college. We are joined by the state historian. Let me have you set the stage for us, the mid 1880s in america. We are 20 years passed the civil war. What was the country like going into this election in which he was a contender . We are a long way past the civil war in many ways and it is indicated by the fact that there will be a democratic president that is elected that year and that would have been unthinkable just a short time before that. Why was it unthinkable . Because the republicans were the winners of the war and they had controlled the governor for a long time cost the government for a long time. It felt they had controlled the government for a long time. Talk to me about north and south america parts of the country come excuse me. The civil war crushed economy in the south so one of the goals of reconstruction was to get the south up and running again but this is on the southern terms. James g. Blaine was a powerhouse by 1884. Maine had been originally part of massachusetts since the colonial times and became a state in 1820. We went into the union as a 23rd state. We were part of the missouri compromise. By the post civil war, maine had initially suffered a bit of a setback during the civil war which sent about 70,000 men to the war. 10,000 had been lost. Our population in the decade of the 1860s did not grow. By 1884, maine was getting back on its feet. Maine has had a wonderful Resource Based Industries and so we had ice, granite, lumber, we also had textiles, shoes. Blaine was a part and a beneficiary of this very robust economy at the time. He contended against democrat Grover Cleveland who won. The Republican Party that nominated him, this was his third try for the white house, he was unsuccessful the two times earlier. What was the key to getting the nomination in 1884 . Persistence is part of this. He continued to try and he was recognized as a leading figure in the Republican Party, there is no question. One of his many nicknames was mr. Republican and he was certainly a leading figure. He had some great enemies at the time who tried to deny him the nomination. Explain the spit in this split in the Republican Party. There was a group of moderates called the mugwumps. They were the intelligence tip from boston, philadelphia, new york. They were folks that believed that blaine was a very corrupt individual. You think of henry adams who wrote democracy. he did have very strong enemies even within his party. Ultimately, this is a very close election. Will you tell me about the result . He loses by 30 or 40 votes. The actual vote, he loses by 25,000 votes nationally. The key to the loss is the loss of new york state. New york state was the place where Theodore Roosevelt was beginning to make his presence known. Was he an influence . No, he was considered a mugwump, one of the liberals. That is a trend that began his career in that direction at least into the 1890s. What is interesting about the 1884 election is that was highly personal. Highly personal. We usually dont think that they were but they were very personal, especially starting with andrew jackson. This is really a fight about blaine as a corrupt politician and cleveland had a child out of wedlock somewhere in the country. They are slinging nasty mud at each other. There are two phrases that most High School Students study in their High School Books that are from this campaign, the first is rome, romanism, and rebellion. Where did this come from . That was a minister and about a week before the election, he gave a talk that blaine was party to in which he denounced the Democratic Party as the party of rum, romanism, and rebellion. Rome, rum, prohibition, romanism, the catholic church. This is one of the phrases that apparently contributed to blaines loss. He did not denounce it. Many people thought that he had said it. It is just that he did not denounce it. Also the new York Catholic vote. Was there an anti catholic mood in the country in some sectors . Certainly, even still. There had been from the 1840s when the irish were emigrating in large numbers. Also the prohibitionists and the temperance movement. The second phrase is what was that all about . That is about this accusation that cleveland had a child out of wedlock somewhere and in fact that he was not the moral upstanding man that could be set to challenge the corrupt and devious blaine. He chose a tactic which i read which was not to deny. Also to pay child support, pay for the child at the orphanage. A lesson perhaps for modern politicians. [laughter] i have a book here. The newspapers were reporting on him at the time. This is the book that james g. Blaine wrote which helped to set the stage for his campaign. The first volume he began to write it in 1881. The first volume was published in 1884, maybe just in time for the campaign. The second volume did not appear until 1886. However, it was a highly popular twovolume best seller. It was his personal account of his experiences in washington from the time of the civil war to the early 1880s. He made a lot of money from this. He did indeed. Was he able to buy his house . Yes, i think it contributed to it. Not this house. This goes back much earlier. In 1862, which is a critical year for him. He is speaker of the maine house of representatives and at the same time he is running for congress. It is in 1862 that he buys this house for 5,000 and he and his wife moved in with their family. This house had been built just a few years before in the 1830s by a retired sea captain. If this became his great Political Center for the rest of his life. He hosted many dignitaries here. What you bear in mind that in 1859, he becomes the chair of the Republican Party in maine and this is a post that he holds until he becomes secretary of state. In the 20 years or so, this house is a lecture and central for the Republican Party in maine as well as a springboard for his national campaign. If people could see that the capital is right outside of the window. This is a strategic decision to acquire this house. Ulysses grant stayed here. He did. We are going to invite you in a little bit on the conversation. We are looking at 14 men and they are men given the president ial election process in this country, who were candidates for president in their time and not succeed for their bid for the white house. James g. Blaine was someone who was known internationally. We will spend some time tonight digging into what made him so well known and why he ended up failing in his bid for the white house. Our phone lines will be open and we will take phone calls at about 20 minutes past the hour and we welcome your comments and questions about the gilded age in america and the burgeoning Republican Party. I mentioned that we are going to be talking about some of his other campaigns and i wanted to start and go back to 1876 which is the first time he ran for the white house. He was nominated at that time. Do you know about the person who nominated him and the speech . This is a defense of blaine against accusations of corruption in connection with the railroad industry. Not everyone believed that he was as corrupt as some people think that he did. Why did the phrase steak . He seems to have been the kind of person who had great admirers and tremendous enemies and detractors. It was a label that stuck because in the cartoons of the day, the plumed knight was a wonderful image. There was a lot of interest in romantic literature. He was shown in the elizabethan costume or a knight in shining armor. This was a perfect kind of image of him. How important were political cartoons in affecting the electorate . They were tremendously important. This was a time in which a victorian publications of founded in america for the first time. They were very widespread. They were easily produced. In the case of the political journals, you have a judge which was pro republican and another who was pro democratic. The one that comes from the judge, which shows blaine as the elder statesmen in his elizabethan costume. All around him are letters from states all over the country begging him to become president. This is the definitely a Perot Campaign cartoon. Tell us about the mugwumps in 1884. This is definitely a pro campaign carton. That have breeze were those that did not support Ulysses Grant and the stalwarts for those who did. The half breeds were those that did not support Ulysses Grant. What happened in the convention that he did not get the nomination . Shortly before, some letters or a field which traded a big scandal for him. They involve some very questionable stock deals involving the railroads. Some letters were revealed which created a big scandal for him. Blaine recognized this was happening at the convention. In 76, it went to hayes. He ran again in 1880. Where the half breeds and the stalwarts active in the party by then . I am not sure that they had those terms anymore. There was still divisions within the party. That year, James Garfield did get the nomination thanks to blaine in many ways. Blaine wanted that nomination himself that it came after many many balance. Ballots. He threw his votes to garfield. What happened to him after that . He became secretary of state. Garfield was struck by an assassins bullet. Blaine was actually with him in the train station. Yes, he was. They were walking arm in arm peridot they were very good friends. They were walking arm in arm. They were very good friends. They were on their way to give some speeches. We will spend a little bit more time before we get some calls about these characters. We have heard about the suggestions of corruption. If he were to walk into this room today, what would he look like, what did he sound like . What are some of the things that you know from your studies of the man . He was considered very handsome, very welldressed, extremely well spoken. Beginning in the late 1850s, he started out his career here in a gust up as a newspaper editor in augusta as a newspaper editor. He had lots of experience in stump speaking. That really gave him a lot of practice towards being able to articulate his ideas as he emerged as a national figure. Charismatic, magnetism was another word attached to him. My understanding is that he had a terrific memory for peoples names so he was the kind of politician who could make you feel like he knew who you are and what your concerns war and so on. There is a story told when he is in the 1884 campaign, he is on a train and he recognized a man who he had met as a wounded soldier in a Military Hospital 20 years before. That was the kind of memory he had four faces. What a gift for a politician, to be able to memorize names and recall them. He was a great politician. [laughter] not just in that and in his mastery of political tactics. Mastery of tactics, mastery of leading his party. There is this sense of when he was in congress during those years that he wrote about, which were critical year for the nation, he had a way to smooth over the differences between the sections. Also to include the south. Some of the references that i read about him more material, a hypochondriac, prone to depression. He was constantly complaining about his health. In the last few months of his life, he was truly ill. He was also relentlessly ambitious and i know that i read some where that said that there was no one who yearned for hundred for the presidency more than james g. Blaine. Throughout his years, the charges of corruption from his days of promoting the railroad, lobby for Congress Stuck with him. We have another one of these cartoons. This refers to the charges against him. Will you tell us about this episode . This is from the election in 1884. This is a tremendously powerful image in that election in that it is recognized as one of the factors that helped to defeat blaine. Blaine is shown as a roman senator in the senate and his toga is being lifted from his body. Underneath are tattooed his various political themes. The senators are looking aghast at his political misdeeds being revealed. In the midst of that crowd is his running mate and also a young Teddy Roosevelt. And the letters that were his defense. Does history record whether or not he was corrupt . The mulligan letters were the accusation as opposed to being his defense and he tried very hard to make them seem as though they had no value. I read something about him slamming them down on the desk and daring people to read them. Then he stole them from whoever had them. He went to the hotel and then he disappeared with them and he never returned them. He tried to use them as a way to protect himself. I dont think that theres any clarity that he was not guilty. Some called him jay goulds handyman or busboys are something to that effect. They continue to dog him. In the eighth 84 campaign, someone publish what was believed to be a version of the mulliken letters and a pamphlet. Mulligan letters and a pamphlet. We will involve some of our viewers in the discussion. Our first caller is from atlanta. Caller hello, how are you tonight . Great, thank you. Caller i just finished reading the biography of speaker read. They seem in the same place. Is that true . Is that just a feature of the biography . No, i think you are correct. Your mentioning thomas reed who was born in portland. He was just a little bit younger than blaine. He spent his entire public life as a congressman. He rose to be speaker, like blaine was also speaker. Reed served in the late 1880s and into the 1890s. The corruption was never a question in relation to reed. Reed was a totally honest and forthright individual, a person of great integrity. In addition to that, reed is described as a towering figure in the history of the development of the congress. He is considered to be one of the most influential speakers of the house in the history of the house. His rules, his reform of the house. The recognition that the majority rule had to be counted and had to be taken into account. Our next caller is watching us in san francisco. Caller i think you are right on the major issues here. It seems to me that the country was going through a major transition from the old money having formalized their ethical values and then there transition with the roads in two Big Industrial corporations and raising money for corporations. Very different sets of values. The question is, how could someone who was busy making all of the deals and representing wall street maintain any kind reputation in this situation . One answer to that would be that there was a great recognition of his sheer power. Because he was so powerful and to do so much for the party and for the other goals, people could set aside his appearance apparent relationship with the railroads and the industry. Next is a call from portland, new york. Caller i would like to thank c span for bringing this wonderful series. Is mr. Blain making money before he went into politics or did he have money