Youre looking at some of the images from the 1884 election and listening to songs in support of james g. Blaine of maine and his running mate, john logan. Tonight our series continues and were live in the home of james g. Blaine, and since 1920, the official residence of maines governor. Were inside the blaine house with maines sitting governor. Do you have a sense of the man while youre here . Absolutely. Welcome to maine and welcome to the peoples house. Mr. Blaine is here every day and we see his spirit every evening, because we always say good night to him. What is your sense of living the house was built many years ago, many people have lived in it over the years, but he really is president in a lot of ways. What have you come to learn about the man by living in his midst . He not only was a very strong supporter and founder of the Republican Party in maine but a national leader, and started maine on its course to where we are now. And very, very influential both in the press, in state government, federal government. The man was a powerhouse, bigtime powerhouse on a National Scale and very proud to be honored to be allowed to stay here and be a steward of the house for the next four years. As governors grow, you probably have the best commute in america because its right across the street from the capital building. Its great. If he was here today, i would ask him to put a tunnel under the road. And maybe better airconditioning. Were pleased to be here tonight to learn more about james g. Blaine. I know for many people he has really faded into the pages of history, but were going to learn more about the man who brought the Republican Party to your state, and your state. Thanks for hosting us. Thank you. Again, welcome to the state of maine and to the peoples house. Thank you. Were going to learn more about james g. Blaines america and about the Republican Party he was so influential in bringing to this state. Were going to be moving into the Reception Room here at the Governors Mansion. Two guests are waiting for me and they will be my guests throughout the program. While were getting set up in there, ill show you a clip from a roundtable discussion that cspan hosted. Richard smith talks about james g. Blaine and his times. Well see you in just a minute or so. 1884 against cleveland. And before that, he ran for the republican nomination. Ironically, in 1876, it was blaine who prevented Ulysses Grant from coming back or 1880, it was blaine who prevented Ulysses Grant coming back for a second term. Besides being secretary of state for James Garfield and Chester Arthur and Benjamin Harrison. He was secretary of state under three president s. What else did he do . He was in congress, he was speaker of the house, he was a very effective, ironwilled speaker. He changed some of the rules in the house. Im not sure exactly which rules they are. It seems to me speaker of the house are always changing rules somewhat to their advantage. But a smart, capable guy but corrupt, probably. Remember, this was the period after the civil war when congress was much more central, much more potent than it had been. The reaction against the strong executive set in. To be a speaker of the house, to be a power of congress in the 1870s, 1880s meant a lot more than it perhaps would today. Do you have anything to say about mr. Blaine . If he had run, how would things have changed . I think he would be regarded as the best president between lynn son and t. R. Why . He was assertive. He had intellectual heft. He had a lot of talent. And i think once he had actually achieved people are consumed by they lust after the presidency. Its a distorting, warping malignancy that they suffer from. If they survive it and they win the office, i think blaine is someone like clay clay and blaine have a great deal in common. They were both charismatic, polarizing figures who i think in office would have distinguished themselves. And, as promised, we are in the Reception Room at the blaine house. Let me introduce you to our two special guests who would be with us for this program. Earl is maines state historian, and the director of maines Historic Preservation. Elizabeth leonard is the chair of the History Department and is an expert on the civil war region era of history. Let me have you set the stage for us about mid1880s america. Were 20 years past the civil war. What was the country like at that time as were going into this election in which he was a contender . I would start by saying that were a long ways past the civil war in many ways, and i think thats indicated by the fact that there is going to be a democratic president that is elected that year. And that would have been unthinkable just a short time before that. So thats one thing to say. Why would it have been unthinkable . Because the republicans were the winners of the war and they had controlled the government for a long time, and they had controlled reconstruction, and it feels to many people like a handoff to the south to let the democrats come into the white house. Im going to stay with you for a second because maine is your expertise. Talk to me about north and south america excuse me, northern and Southern States and the difference between the economies. The civil war had, of course, crushed the economy in the south, so one of the key goals of reconstruction was to get the economy up and running again, and that was largely on the way to success certainly by the mid1880s. But it is, i would say, very much on northern terms how the south is being rebuilt. James g. Blaine was a powerhouse. By 1884 he is known internationally as well as nationally. But maine hadnt been in the union all that long. Maine had originally been part of massachusetts since the colonial times, became a state in 1820. We went into the union as the 23rd state. We were part of the missouri compromise. Missouri was enslaved, maine was free. By the post civil war period, maine had initially suffered a bit of a setback during the civil war. We sent about 70,000 men to the war. About 10,000 had been lost and our population in that decade of the 1860s actually did not grow. But by the period of the 1884 election, maine was really getting back on its feet. Maine has always had wonderful resourcebased industries, so we had ice, we had granite, we had textiles, we had shoes, and blaine really was a part of and a beneficiary of this very robust economy at the time. He contended against the democrat over cleveland who won later on. The Republican Party that nominated him, this was his third try for the white house, unsuccessful to get even a nomination two times earlier. What was the key to his success in securing the nomination in 1884 . Well, persistence always is part of the story, i suppose, and to continue to try as he did, and he was certainly recognized as a leading, 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. So that would be part of the story. He also had some great enemies at the time who were trying to deny him the nomination, so if you could explain the split in the Republican Party, if you will, please. There were a group of moderates. They were called in 1884 the mud lumps, and they were in many cases the intelligence from boston, from new york, from philadelphia. These were folks who believed that blaine was a very corrupt individual. You think, for example, of henry adams who wrote democracy and the senator in democracy who is a dark figure is james g. Blaine and modelled upon him. Obviously this was a very close election. Will you tell me about the results . I think he only loses by 30 or 40 electoral votes, is that correct . Yes. And the actual vote itself, 10 Million People vote and he loses the election by 25,000 votes nationally, and the key to the loss is the loss of new york state, about a thousand votes. And new york state was also the place where a rising young star, theodore roosevelt, was beginning to make his presence known. Was he an influence in the outcome of the election . He was considered one of the liberals, and indeed thats a trend that began his career in that direction at least into the 1890s. Whats interesting about the 1884 election that has some he can echoes today is they were highly personal. In a way we often today dont think 19th century politics were, but they were very personal. Especially with andrew jackson, i would say things get really personal. Its a fight about blaine as a corrupt politician, but perhaps cleveland had a child out of wedlock somewhere in the country and theyre slinging nasty mud at each other. Theres two phrases that Even High School students study in their history books that are from this campaign. First is the title of rum, romanism and rebellion. Who said it and why was it so important in the campaign . That was a minister named bouchard, 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. Rum, prohibition. Romanism, the Roman Catholic church, and rebellion, the south. That phrase was carried quickly by the telegraph and the newspapers all over the country, and its one of the phrases that apparently contributed to blaines loss. Wasmany people actually thought that he had said it is what i understood. That is right. And rather it is just that he did not denounce it. And effected the new York Catholic vote in the end . Very much so. Absolutely. Was there an anti catholic mood in the country in some sectors . Certainly, even still. There had been since the 1840s when the irish first were immigrating in such large numbers and some would say that anti catholic sentiment went further back than that. But yes, and i think that persisted too and the prohibitionists, the Temperance Movement was also rubbing up against that as well. The second phrase and you eluded to this on grover clevlands side is ma ma wheres my pa . The rejoined of that is gone to the white house ha, ha, ha. 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 up to challenge the corrupt and devious blaine. He chose a tactic, as i read, which was not to deny. Right and apparently to pay child support, to find the child and pay for its orphan, pay for the child and the orphanage. A lesson perhaps for modern politicians is come right at it head on. Just come out and admit it. I also have a book here because obviously the media, the newspapers were partisan at the time. This is a book that james g. Blaine wrote, 20 years of congress which helped set the stage for his campaign i understand. This was very well recieved. Yes, the first volume he began to write it in 1881. I think shortly after he was secretary of state for the first time. 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. Apparently sold tens of thousands of copies. 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 it one of the reasons he was he able to buy this house . Do you now . Yes, i think it contributed to that. Well not this house though. The house we are now in actually 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 also running for congress for the firs time. It is in 1862 that he buys this house for 5,000 and he and his wife, harriet move in with their family. This house had been built just a few years before in the 1830s by a retired sea captain. And this became his great Political Center for the rest of his life. In other words, he hosted many dignitaries here, had lots of meetings here . What you have to bear in mind is that in 1859, blaine becomes the chair of the Republican Party in maine and it is a post he holds until he becomes secretary of state in 1881. In that 20 or so year period, this house is Election Central for the Republican Party in maine as well as the springboard for his national campaign. If people could see, the the capital is right outside our windows here. Yes. The parking lot is across the street from the State Capitol building. This was a very strategic decision to acquire this house in the location that it is in. And i believe Ulysses Grant visted here, isnt that correct . He did indeed. He stayed here. He stayed here for a couple of days. Well i want to tell our viewers that we are going to invite you in a little bit in our conversation here. In our contenders series, we are looking at 14 men and they are all men given the president ial election process in this country, who were candidates for president in their time, did not succeed in the quest for the white house but still had an outsize influence on American History. James g. Blaine, someone who was, as i mentioned at the outset, really known internationally but has really fallen behind in the history books. So we are going to spend some time tonight digging into what made him so well known and really why he ended up failing in his bid for the white house. Our phone lines will be open and we will take calls probably about 20 minutes past the hour and we welcome your questions, or your comments or your additions to our discussion of history of the gilded age in america and the burgeoning Republican Party and its influence in american life. I mentioned that we are going to be talking about some of his other campaigns and i wanted to start withgo back to 1876 which is the first time he ran for the white house. He was nominated at that time, at the convention, by someone who coined the term the plumed knight. Gentleman by the name of robert ingersoll. Do you know any more about ingersoll and about that speech and why the phrase stuck . My understanding of that speech is that it is a defense of blaine against accusations of corruption in connection with the Railroad Industry. And that that was how ingersoll wanted to introduce him to demonstrate that not everybody believed that he was as corrupt as some people had come to think he was. Why did the phrase stick . Did it speak to some about james g. Blaine . I suspect it spokehe seems to have been a kind of person who really had great admirers and tremendous enemies and detractors. And i think his admirers thought he was a great hero. I think also it was kind a label that stuck because in the cartoons of the day, both pro and con, the plumed knight was a wonderful image to create. I mean there was a lot of interest still in romantic literature, in old english literature. And he was often shown in an elizabethan costume or a knight in shining armor. It was a perfect kind of image for him. And we are looking at one of the political cartoons you brought along. How important were political cartoons in affecting the electorate in that age . They were tremendously important. This was a time in which a pictorial publications of founded in america for the first time. They were very widespread. They were very easily produced. In the case of the political journals, you have a judge which was pro republican and another who was pro democratic. In the pages of those magazines, 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. Include a halfbreeds. He halfbreeds referring to those who did not support alescis grant and the stalwarts for those who did. If im not mistaken. Which faction was james g playing a part of . The halfbreeds. What happened to the convention that he was not successful in getting the nomination . Well essentially a short time before, the mulligan letters were revealed and that created a big scandal for him the letters involved a very questionable stock deal involving one of the railroads and that clouded the picture for him in 1876. The nomination went to . I want to garfield. Plane recognize that this was happening at the convention. He actually was im sorry, in 78 went to hayes. 80 was garfield. He ran again in 1880. Where the half breeds and the stalwarts still very 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 way. Blaine wanted that nomination himself that it came after many many ballots. He threw his votes to garfield. What happened to him after that . He became secretary of state in 1881. Garfield was struck by an assassins bullet in 1881. I read that james g. Blaine was actually with him in the train station. Yes, he was. They were walking arm in arm peridot they were very good friends. I remember reading something that garfield never just their friendship. They were good friends and were together at that point. They were setting off the train to head north, i believe, to give some speeches. That is right. We are going to spend a little bit of time before we get to calls and warblings character. We have alluded to some of the suggestions about corruption and alike. Before we get to, that if you were to walk into this room today, what did he look like, what did he sound like, what was some of the things you know from your study of the man . Well i think he was considered very handsome man, very well dressed, extremely well spoken. Beginning in the late 18 fifties, because he started his career in augusta as a new space editor, by the political bug, by the late 18 fifties