William Sulzer
William Sulzer (March 18, 1863 – November 6, 1941) was an American lawyer and politician, nicknamed Plain Bill Sulzer. He was the 39th governor of New York and a long-serving U.S. representative from the same state.
William Sulzer
New York County's 6th district
New York County's 14th district (1890–1892)
New York County's 10th district (1893–1894)
Martin H. Glynn
11th district (1895–1903)
10th district (1903–1912)
March 18, 1863
Elizabeth, New Jersey, U.S.
November 6, 1941 (aged 78)
New York City, U.S.
Democratic (before 1913)
Progressive "Bull Moose" (1913–1914)
American (1914–1917)
Clara Rodelheim (1908–1941)
Charles August Sulzer (brother)
Sulzer was the first, and to date only, New York governor to be impeached and the only governor to be convicted on articles of impeachment. He broke with his sponsors at Tammany Hall, and they produced convincing evidence that Sulzer had falsified his sworn statement of campaign expenditures.[1]
Personal[edit]
William Sulzer was born in Elizabeth, New Jersey on March 18, 1863, the son of Lydia (Jelleme), who was Frisian, and Thomas Sulzer, a German immigrant.[2] He was the second in a family of eight children, and his siblings included Charles August Sulzer, who pursued a successful political career in Alaska. He was reared on his family farm and attended the public schools of Elizabeth. At age 12 he left home and sailed as a cabin boy aboard a brig, the William H. Thompson. He returned to the family home a year later and became a clerk in a grocery store.[3]
Sulzer took night classes at Cooper Union before attending lectures at Columbia Law School and studying law with the New York City firm of Parish & Pendleton. He was admitted to the bar in 1884, and commenced practice in New York City. Even before beginning his law practice, he was a member of the Tammany Hall political machine serving as a popular stump speaker.[4][3]
He married Clara Rodelheim in 1908.
Career[edit]
Sulzer's career in politics began in 1884 when he worked for the Tammany Hall political machine on New York's East Side as a stump speaker for various Democratic campaigns including the presidential campaign of then-Governor Grover Cleveland.
Sulzer was a member of the New York State Assembly in 1890, 1891, 1892 (all three New York Co., 14th D.), 1893 and 1894 (both New York Co., 10th D.). His participation in the machine helped assure that he was appointed to the Committee on General Laws in his first term.[5] During his time in the Assembly he introduced bills seeking to abolish debtors' prisons, and to limit hours for workers. His popularity and loyalty to Tammany machine were such that in 1893, Tammany Boss Richard Croker selected Sulzer to be elected as Speaker of the New York State Assembly. The term was noted as being highly corrupt and highly partisan, as the Democratic machine dominated all committees, and with them the state budget. Sulzer himself declared during the term "[A]ll legislation came from Tammany Hall and was dictated by that great statesmen, Richard Croker."[6]
During his time in the Assembly, Sulzer was a delegate to the 1892 Democratic National Convention, and returned as such to every national convention until 1912.
In popular culture[edit]
The Great McGinty, Preston Sturges' 1940 film, was based in part on William Sulzer's story, per film historian Kevin Brownlow.
Bitten by the Tiger: The True Story of Impeachment, the Governor & Tammany Hall a 2013 book written by Jack O'Donnell and published by Chapel Hill Press, goes into depth about William Sulzer's political rise, achievements, and his impeachment.[29]
Media related to William Sulzer at Wikimedia Commons