COLONEL HARVEY
Upon the completion of the legislative work of the first session of the
New Jersey Legislature the name of Woodrow Wilson quickly forged to the
front as a strong Presidential possibility. Intimate friends, including
Walter Hines Page, afterward United States Ambassador to Great Britain;
Cleveland H. Dodge and Robert Bridges, the two latter old friends and
classmates of the Governor in the famous class of '79 at Princeton, set
about by conferences to launch the Presidential boom of their friend, and
selected for the task of the actual management of the campaign the young
Princetonian, William F. McCombs, then an active and rising young lawyer
of New York. These gentlemen, and other devoted friends and advisers of
the Governor, made up the first Wilson contingent, and at once initiated a
plan of publicity and organization throughout the country. They arranged
to have the New Jersey Governor visit strategic points in the country to
make addresses on a variety of public questions. Whether Colonel Harvey
was behind the scenes as the adviser of this little group I have never
ascertained, but _Harper's Weekly_, then edited by the Colonel, was his
leading supporter in the magazine world, carrying the name of the
Princetonian at its mast-head as a candidate for the Presidency. There
were frequent conferences between the Colonel and the Governor at the
Executive offices, and as a result of these conferences the Wilson boom
soon became a thing to be reckoned with by the Old Guard in control of
party affairs in the nation.
Wilson stock from the moment of the adjournment of the Legislature began
to rise, and his candidacy spread with great rapidity, until in nearly
every state in the Union "Wilson Clubs" were being established. The New
Jersey primaries, where again he met and defeated the Smith forces; the
Ohio primaries, where he split the delegates with the favourite son,
Governor Harmon, a distinguished Democrat; and the Wisconsin primaries, at
which he swept the state, gave a tremendous impetus to the already growing
movement for the "Reform" Governor of New Jersey.
Everything was serenely moving in the Wilson camp, when like a thunderclap
out of a clear sky broke the story of the disagreement between Colonel
Harvey, Marse Henry Watterson, and the Governor of New Jersey. I recall my
conversation with Governor Wilson on the day following the Harvey-
Watterson conference at a New York club. As private secretary to the
Governor, I always made it a rule to keep in close touch with every
conference then being held regarding the political situation, and in this
way I first learned about the Harvey-Watterson meeting which for a few
weeks threatened to destroy all the lines of support that had been built
up throughout the past months of diligent work and organization.
The Governor and I were seated in a trolley car on our way from the State
Capitol to the railroad station in Trenton when he informed me, in the
most casual way and without seeming to understand the possible damage he
had done his own cause, of what followed the conference the previous day.
It was like this: the conference had ended and they were leaving the room
when Colonel Harvey put his hand on Woodrow Wilson's shoulder and said:
"Governor, I want to ask you a frank question, and I want you to give me a
frank answer. In your opinion is the support of _Harper's Weekly_ helping
or hurting you?" In telling me of it Woodrow Wilson said: "I was most
embarrassed, and replied: 'Colonel, I wish you had not asked me that
question.' 'Well, what is the answer?' Colonel Harvey insisted pleasantly.
'Why, Colonel, some of my friends tell me it is not helping me in the
West.' Colonel Harvey said: I was afraid you might feel that way about it,
and we shall have to soft-pedal a bit'." Mr. Wilson was so serenely
unconscious that any offence had been taken that when informed by me a
little later that his name had disappeared from the head of the editorial
column of _Harper's Weekly_ he did not connect this with the interview.
"Was Colonel Harvey offended?" I asked. "He didn't seem to be," was the
Governor's answer.
I immediately scented the danger of the situation and the possibilities of
disaster to his political fortunes that lay in his reply, and I told him
very frankly that I was afraid he had deeply wounded Colonel Harvey and
that it might result in a serious break in their relations. The Governor
seemed grieved at this and said that he hoped such was not the case; that
even after he had expressed himself so freely, Colonel Harvey had been
most kind and agreeable to him and that they had continued to discuss in
the most friendly way the plans for the campaign and that the little
conference had ended without apparent evidence that anything untoward had
happened that might lead to a break in their relations. We then discussed
at length the seriousness of the situation, and as a result of our talk
the Governor wrote Colonel Harvey and endeavoured to make clear what he
had in mind when he answered the question put to him by the Colonel at the
club conference a few days before, not, indeed, by way of apology, but
simply by way of explanation. This letter to the Colonel and a subsequent
one went a long way toward softening the unfortunate impression that had
been created by the publication of the Harvey-Watterson correspondence.
The letters are as follows:
(Personal)
University Club
Fifth Avenue and Fifty-Fourth Street
December 21, 1911.
MY DEAR COLONEL:
Every day I am confirmed in the judgment that my mind is a one-track
road and can run only one train of thought at a time! A long time
after that interview with you and Marse Henry at the Manhattan Club it
came over me that when (at the close of the interview) you asked me
that question about the _Weekly_ I answered it simply as a matter of
fact and of business, and said never a word of my sincere gratitude to
you for all your generous support, or of my hope that it might be
continued. Forgive me, and forget my manners!
Faithfully, yours,
WOODROW WILSON.
To which letter Colonel Harvey sent the following reply:
(Personal)
Franklin Square
New York, January 4, 1912.
MY DEAR WILSON:
Replying to your note from the University Club, I think it should get
without saying that no purely personal issue could arise between you
and me. Whatever anybody else may surmise, you surely must know that
in trying to arouse and further your political aspirations during the
past few years I have been actuated solely by the belief that I was
rendering a distinct public service.
The real point at the time of our interview was, as you aptly put it,
one simply "of fact and of business," and when you stated the fact to
be that my support was hurting your candidacy, and that you were
experiencing difficulty in finding a way to counteract its harmful
effect, the only thing possible for me to do, in simple fairness to
you, no less than in consideration of my own self-respect, was to
relieve you of your embarrassment so far as it lay within my power to
do so, by ceasing to advocate your nomination. That, I think, was
fully understood between us at the time, and, acting accordingly, I
took down your name from the head of the _Weekly's_ editorial page
some days before your letter was written. That seems to be all there
is to it. Whatever little hurt I may have felt as a consequence of the
unexpected peremptoriness of your attitude toward me is, of course,
wholly eliminated by your gracious words.
Very truly yours,
GEORGE HARVEY.
To Colonel Harvey's letter Governor Wilson replied as follows:
(Personal)
Hotel Astor
New York, January 11, 1912.
MY DEAR COL. HARVEY:
Generous and cordial as was your letter written in reply to my note
from the University Club, it has left me uneasy, because, in its
perfect frankness, it shows that I did hurt you by what I so
tactlessly said at the Knickerbocker Club. I am very much ashamed of
myself, for there is nothing I am more ashamed of than hurting a true
friend, however unintentional the hurt may have been. I wanted very
much to see you in Washington, but was absolutely captured by callers
every minute I was in my rooms, and when I was not there was
fulfilling public engagements. I saw you at the dinner but could not
get at you, and after the dinner was surrounded and prevented from
getting at you. I am in town to day, to speak this evening, and came
in early in the hope of catching you at your office.
For I owe it to you and to my own thought and feeling to tell you how
grateful I am for all your generous praise and support of me (no one
has described me more nearly as I would like myself to be than you
have); how I have admired you for the independence and unhesitating
courage and individuality of your course; and how far I was from
desiring that you should cease your support of me in the _Weekly_. You
will think me very stupid--but I did not think of that as the result
of my blunt answer to your question. I thought only of the means of
convincing people of the real independence of the _Weekly's_ position.
You will remember that that was what we discussed. And now that I have
unintentionally put you in a false and embarrassing position you heap
coals of fire on my head by continuing to give out interviews
favourable to my candidacy!
All that I can say is that you have proved yourself very big, and that
I wish I might have an early opportunity to tell you face to face how
I really feel about it all. With warm regard,
Cordially and faithfully, yours,
WOODROW WILSON.
For a while it seemed as if the old relations between the Colonel and the
New Jersey Governor would be resumed, but some unfriendly influence, bent
upon the Governor's undoing, thrust itself into the affair, and soon the
story of the Manhattan Club incident broke about the Princetonian's head
with a fury and bitterness that deeply distressed many of Mr. Wilson's
friends throughout the country. The immediate effect upon his candidacy
was almost disastrous. Charges of ingratitude to the "original Wilson man"
flew thick and fast. Mr. Wilson's enemies throughout the country took up
the charge of ingratitude and soon the stock of the New Jersey man began
to fall, until his immediate friends almost lost heart. The bad effect of
the publication of the Harvey-Watterson correspondence and the bitter
attacks upon the sincerity of the New Jersey Governor were soon
perceptible in the falling away of contributions so necessary to keep
alive the campaign then being carried on throughout the country. The
"band-wagon" crowd began to leave us and jump aboard the Clark, Underwood,
and Harmon booms.
Suddenly, as if over night, a reaction in favour of Governor Wilson began
to set in. The continued pounding and attacks of the reactionary press
soon convinced the progressives in the ranks of the Democratic party that
Wilson was being unjustly condemned, because he had courageously spoken
what many believed to be the truth. At this critical stage of affairs a
thing happened which, routed his enemies. One of the leading publicity men
of the Wilson forces in Washington, realizing the damage that was being
done his chief, inspired a story, through his Washington newspaper
friends, that Wilson was being gibbeted because he refused to accept the
support of Wall Street interests which Harvey and Watterson had offered
him, and that his refusal to accept their offer was the real cause of the
break. This new angle of the Harvey-Watterson episode worked a complete
reversal of opinion.
The clever work of this publicity man in turning the light on what he
conceived to be the real purpose of the Harvey-Watterson conference
probably did injustice to these two gentlemen, but at all events it gave
weight to the impression in the minds of many people throughout the
country that the real reason for the break was Mr. Wilson's refusal to bow
the knee to certain eastern financial interests that were understood to be
behind _Harper's Weekly_. The tide quickly turned against Colonel Harvey
and Marse Henry Watterson. Marse Henry, alone in his suite at the New
Willard Hotel at Washington, and the Colonel away off in his tower at
Deal, New Jersey, were busily engaged in explaining to the public and
attempting, in heroic fashion, to extricate themselves from the
unfortunate implications created by the story of the Wilson publicity man.
What appeared at first blush to be a thing that would destroy the
candidacy of the New Jersey Governor had been, by clever newspaper
manipulation, turned to his advantage and aid.
When the bitterness and rancour caused by this unfortunate incident had
happily passed away Colonel Watterson and I met at a delightful dinner at
Harvey's Restaurant in Washington and discussed the "old fight." The young
fellow who had inspired the story which so grievously distressed Marse
Henry and Colonel Harvey was present at this dinner. Marse Henry was in
fine spirits, and without showing the slightest trace of the old
bitterness, rehearsed the details of this now-famous incident in a witty,
sportsmanlike, and good-natured way, and at its conclusion he turned to my
newspaper friend and laughingly said: "You damn rascal, you are the
scoundrel who sent out the story that Harvey and I were trying to force
Wall Street money on Wilson. However, old man, it did the trick. If it had
not been for the clever use you made of this incident, Wilson never would
have been President."
In a beautiful letter addressed to the President by Marse Henry on
September 24, 1914, conveying his expressions of regret at the death of
the President's first wife, appears the following statement with reference
to the famous Harvey-Watterson controversy:
I hope that hereafter you and I will better understand one another; in
any event that the single disagreeable episode will vanish and never
be thought of more. In Paris last winter I went over the whole matter
with Mr. McCombs and we quite settled and blotted out our end of it. I
very much regret the use of any rude word--too much the characteristic
of our rough-and-tumble political combats--and can truly say that I
have not only earnestly wished the success of your administration but
have sought to find points of agreement, not of disagreement.
I am writing as an old man--old enough to be your father--who has the
claim upon your consideration that all his life he has pursued the
ends you yourself have aimed at, if at times too zealously and
exactingly, yet without self-seeking or rancor.
Your friend,
HENRY WATTERSON.
The President's acknowledgment of this letter is as follows:
September 28, 1914.
MY DEAR COLONEL WATTERSON:
Your kind letter has gratified me very deeply. You may be sure that
any feeling I may have had has long since disappeared and that I feel
only gratified that you should again and again have come to my support
in the columns of the _Courier-Journal_. The whole thing was a great
misunderstanding.
Sincerely yours,
WOODROW WILSON.
While the Harvey-Watterson episode ended as above related, there is no
doubt that Woodrow Wilson deeply regretted the whole matter, and, so far
as he was concerned, there was no feeling on his part of unfriendliness or
bitterness toward Colonel Harvey. Indeed, he felt that Colonel Harvey had
unselfishly devoted himself to his cause in the early and trying days of
his candidacy, and that Harvey's support of him was untouched by selfish
interests of any kind. In every way he tried to soften the unfortunate
impression that had been made on the country by what many thought was an
abrupt, ungracious way of treating a friend. An incident in connection
with this matter is worth relating:
One day at the conclusion of the regular Tuesday cabinet meeting the
President and I lingered at the table, as was our custom, and gossiped
about the affairs of the Administration and the country. These discussions
were intimate and frank in every way.
A note in the social column of one of the leading papers of Washington
carried the story that Colonel Harvey's daughter, Miss Dorothy Harvey, was
in town and was a guest at the home of Mrs. Champ Clark. I took occasion
to mention this to the President, suggesting that it would be a gracious
thing on his part and on the part of Mrs. Wilson to invite Miss Harvey to
the Sayre-Wilson wedding which was scheduled to take place a few days
later, hoping that in this way an opening might be made for the resumption
of the old relationship between the Colonel and Mr. Wilson. The President
appeared greatly interested in the suggestion, saying that he would take
it up with Mrs. Wilson at once, assuring me that it could be arranged.
When I saw how readily he acted upon this suggestion, I felt that this was
an opening for a full, frank discussion of his relations with Colonel
Harvey. I approached the subject in this way: "For a long time I have
wanted to discuss Colonel Harvey with you. There is no doubt, Governor,
that this unfortunate episode did not sit well on the stomachs of the
American people. Whether you believe it or not, the country resented your
attitude toward your old friend, and out of this incident an impression
has grown which is becoming stronger with each day, that you pay little
regard to friendship and the obligations that grow out of it. I have been
hoping that in some way the old relationship could be resumed and that you
would feel free at some time in a public way to attest your real feeling
for Colonel Harvey, at least by way of reciprocation for the genuine way
he stood by you in the old days in New Jersey." The President looked at me
in the most serious way, apparently weighing every word I had uttered, and
said: "You are right, Tumulty; unfortunate impressions have been created.
What can I do for Colonel Harvey to attest in some public way my
appreciation of what he did for me in the old days?" I asked why, inasmuch
as McCombs had declined the French Ambassadorship, this post might not be
offered to Colonel Harvey, adding that I believed he coveted and would
appreciate such an appointment. The President said that this was an
admirable suggestion and authorized me to get in touch with Colonel Harvey
at once and make him the offer of the French post.
While my relations with Colonel Harvey were at no time strained, and, in
fact, up to this day our friendship has been uninterrupted, I thought it
would be more tactful if I should approach him through the junior senator
from New York, James O'Gorman. Immediately upon leaving the President I
went to the Army and Navy Club, where Senator O'Gorman was living, and
told him of my conversation with the President in reference to Colonel
Harvey. He was enthusiastic and immediately got in touch with Colonel
Harvey at his home at Deal, New Jersey, told him of the President's offer,
and asked for a conference. Then a thing happened which completely
destroyed these plans for a reconciliation. The following Sunday an
interview signed by Colonel Harvey, bitterly assailing the President,
appeared in the New York _Times_. The fat was in the fire. Senator
O'Gorman and I were silenced. When I approached the President on Monday
morning to discuss further the matter with him, he said: "I greatly regret
this interview of Colonel Harvey. How can I now with propriety offer him
any post? Knowing Harvey as I do, he would be reluctant to take it, for
the country might be of the opinion that he had yielded in his criticism
of me by the offer of this appointment, and I could not in honour make the
appointment now, for it might appear to the country that by this method I
was trying to purchase the silence of the Colonel. I am very sorry,
indeed, that the plan we discussed has fallen to the ground."
And thus the efforts of Mr. Wilson to bring about a reconciliation with
his old friend ended in dismal failure.