William Jay Gaynor | |
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| 94thMayor of New York City | |
| In office January 1, 1910 – September 10, 1913 | |
| Preceded by | George B. McClellan Jr. |
| Succeeded by | Ardolph Loges Kline |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1849-02-02)February 2, 1849 Oriskany, New York, U.S. |
| Died | September 10, 1913(1913-09-10) (aged 64) On theAtlantic Ocean |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouses | |
| Children | 8 |
William Jay Gaynor (February 2, 1849 – September 10, 1913) was an American politician fromNew York City, associated with theTammany Hallpolitical machine. He served as the 94thmayor of the City of New York from 1910 to 1913, and previously as aNew York Supreme Court Justice from 1893 to 1909. As mayor he was noted as a reformer who broke ranks and refused to take orders from the Tammany bossCharles Francis Murphy.
Gaynor was born inOriskany, New York, on February 2, 1849,[1] baptized as William James.[2][3][4] His parents were Keiron K. Gaynor, an Irish-born farmer and blacksmith and Elizabeth (Handwright) Gaynor.[5][6][7] He grew up on a farm with seven siblings. As a boy, he developed an interest in wandering the countryside where they lived, exploring nature and trying to figure out why things were the way they were.
He was a studious boy, a trait which his father encouraged. As he was on the clumsy side, when it came to farmwork, his brother Tom usually took on the heavier chores. For his education, he first attended the local public school, then was sent to the WhiteboroSeminary. The Gaynor family wereIrish and devout Catholics, thus, when weather permitted, on Sundays they would head to the nearby city ofUtica to attendMass at St. John's Church on Bleecker Street. As William entered his teenage years, he began to show a religious fervor that led his parents to think that he might have avocation to the Church. Both to test this, and for reasons of affordability, he was enrolled in the Assumption Academy in Utica. This was staffed by theBrothers of the Christian Schools. William flourished in that school, and soon decided that he did indeed wish to become a member of theirreligious congregation.
In December 1863, he was sent to New York City to enter thenovitiate of the congregation. This was located at 44 East 2nd Street. The date of birth he gave at his admission was February 2, 1848, thus he was still fifteen at the time he was received. He was given thehabit of the institute, and named Brother Adrian Denys. He spent the next four years in this house, both in training and soon in teaching in nearbyparish schools. In 1868, he was one of a group of Brothers chosen to be sent to San Francisco to take care ofSt. Mary's College there. They sailed from New York on July 16, aboard theSS Ocean Queen.
By this time, however, as well as the usual readings in history, philosophy and theChurch Fathers suggested to the Brothers, Gaynor had been reading and absorbing the reflection of a wide range of writers, mostly the ancientStoic philosophers. One lifetime favorite which he found was theAutobiography ofBenjamin Franklin, where he found much that resonated with his own way of thinking. The book was to be his lifelong companion. As a result, however, by the time the small group of Brothers had arrived at their destination, Gaynor had lost his belief in organizedChristianity and had decided to leave the institute. Because of his youth, he had never takenreligious vows, as he was too young to do so under the regulations of the Brothers, thus there was nocanonical impediment to his departure.
He made his way back home to Utica, where his family now lived, arriving late that same year. How he managed that journey he never shared, other than to say that it had not been an easy or pleasant experience. His father welcomed him back and helped him to secure a position with the law firm of Horatio and John Seymour, that he might read enough law to take the bar examination. This was to be the start of his entry into the political arena, asHoratio Seymour had recently served asGovernor of New York, and had just run as theDemocratic Party's candidate for president againstUlysses S. Grant.[8]
Gaynor would disappoint Tammany Hall when they nominated him for mayor in 1909. Elected to theNew York State Supreme Court in 1893, and appointed to the Appellate Division, Second Department in 1905, Gaynor's rulings were often cited around the country. His reputation as an honest reformer helped win him election as mayor in 1909.[citation needed]
On January 1, 1910, he walked toCity Hall from his home in Brooklyn (#20 Eighth Avenue,Park Slope)[9] – it was the first time he had ever visited the seat of city government – and addressed the 1,500 people gathered to greet him: "I enter upon this office with the intention of doing the very best I can for the City of New York. That will have to suffice; I can do no more."
In 1910 his daughter, Edith Augusta Gaynor, marriedHarry Kermit Vingut. They divorced in 1919 and she then married James Park.[10] One of his granddaughters, Jean Rennard, married actorFred Gwynne.
Gaynor's marriage with Tammany Hall was short-lived; soon after taking office, he filled high level government posts with experts and city employees were chosen from civil service lists in the order they appeared, effectively curbing patronage and nepotism. As mayor, he railed against efforts to thwart the further development of theNew York City Subway system. A strong willed but compassionate mayor, Gaynor once remarked, "The world does not grow better by force or by the policeman's club."[11]
H. L. Mencken, who covered the police beat and City Hall of Baltimore in his early days as a reporter, and so learned to know the good, the bad and the ugly of the species, had great respect for Gaynor both as a judge and as mayor.
Gaynor was that great rarity in American political history: a judge who actually believed in the Bill of Rights. When he sat on the bench in Brooklyn he tried to enforce it to the letter, to the natural scandal of his brethren of the ermine. Scarcely a day went by that he did not denounce the police for their tyrannies. He turned loose hundreds of prisoners, raged and roared from the bench, and wrote thousands of letters on the subject, many of them magnificent expositions of Jeffersonian doctrine. Unfortunately, his strange ideas alarmed the general run of respectable New Yorkers quite as much as they alarmed his fellow judges, and so he was always in hot water. When Tammany, with sardonic humor, made him mayor, he began an heroic but vain effort to give New York decent government....In the end, worn out and embittered by the struggle, he died unlamented, and today political historians scarcely mention him. Yet he was a great political philosopher and a great soul. It is the tragedy of the Republic that such men are so few, and that their efforts, when they appear, go for so little."[12].
Gaynor read the first edition ofHenry George's famous treatiseProgress and Poverty said thatGeorgism was the "perfect" and "optimal" system ("admitted by philosophers and economists the world over"). However, he objected to what he perceived as George's intent to take all land rent for public use at once. Instead, Gaynor favored a slow transition over many years. He was unaware of the claim that removing other taxes would increase land rent, yet by his calculations there was enough land rent to replace all taxes with aland value tax.[13]
Early in his term, Gaynor was shot in the throat byJames J. Gallagher,[15] a discharged city employee who had been a New York dock Night Watchman from April 7, 1903, to July 19, 1910.[16] Gaynor remains the only New York City mayor to be hit by a bullet during an assassination attempt. The violent incident happened on board the Europe-boundSS Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse, which was docked atHoboken, New Jersey. Gallagher died in a prison inTrenton, New Jersey, fromparesis on February 4, 1913,[17] the same year as Gaynor's death.[18] Observing Gaynor in conversation,New York World photographerWilliam Warnecke snapped what he thought would be a typical, if uneventful, photo of the new Mayor. Instead, Warnecke captured the very moment that Gallagher, at point-blank range, shot a bullet through Gaynor's neck. It remains one of the most highly praised photographs in the history ofphotojournalism.[19] Other photographs of the attempt were captured byWade Mountfortt Jr.[20]
Although Gaynor quickly recovered, the bullet remained lodged in his throat for the next three years. During his term as mayor, Gaynor was widely considered a strong candidate for Governor or President. Tammany Hall refused to nominate him for reelection to a second term, but after accepting the nomination from an independent group of voters, he set sail for Europe aboardRMS Baltic. Six days later, on September 10, 1913, Gaynor died suddenly on a deck chair aboard the liner, aged 64. After his death, doctors concluded that he died of a heart attack, and that his old wound was at most a minor contributing factor.[21] Gaynor is interred atGreen-Wood Cemetery inBrooklyn,New York.
TheFire Department of New York operated afireboat namedWilliam J. Gaynor from 1914 to 1961.[22]There is astatue commemorating Gaynor in Cadman Plaza Park in Brooklyn.[23]
Apart from his family and from one trusted protege outside of his family, William Jay Gaynor had no intimates. He was a true and lasting friend. He never forgot an unselfish service. "I have never forgotten, you for a single day," he wrote, four years ago...
Granddaughter of Late Mayor William J. Gaynor Dies
Brooklyn, Mayor Gaynor's home borough, was greatly excited and deeply shocked by the news of the shooting of the city's chief executive. The earliest reports to reach the borough said that Mr. Gaynor had been killed. These spread rapidly through Brooklyn, and the local newspaper offices, telephone exchanges, and Police Headquarters were soon inundated by a flood of Inquiries which poured in from all sections.
An explanation was made to-day by Attorney General Andrew C. Gray, son of Federal Judge Gray, regarding the reason why Harry Kermit Vingut of New York came here yesterday with Edith Augusta Gaynor, daughter of Mayor Gaynor of New York.
This is the story of the shooting of Mayor Gaynor as told by eye-witnesses, among whom were Robert Adamson, the Mayor's secretary; Corporation Counsel Watson, Street Cleaning Commissioner Edwards, and Water Commissioner Thompson. It was Mr. Edwards who beat the Mayor's assailant into submission. ...
London, September 11, 1913. Mayor William J. Gaynor of New York died in his steamer chair on board the steamship Baltic early Wednesday afternoon when the liner was 400 miles off the Irish Coast. His death was due to a sudden heart attack.
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| Preceded by | Mayor of New York City 1910–1913 | Succeeded by |
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