| | '''Garret Augustus Hobart''' (June 3, 1844 – November 21, 1899) was a corporation [[lawyer]], city council member in Paterson, [[New Jersey]], and a member and presiding officer of both houses of the New Jersey legislature. In 1897, despite his lack of national or statewide office, he was tapped by the [[William McKinley]] campaign as the party choice for [[United States]] [[Vice President of the United States of America|Vice President]] of the [[United States]]. A former state party chairman, Hobart was credited with bringing New Jersey into the [[Republican Party|Republican]] fold in the 1896 election against the [[Democratic Party|Democrat]] [[William Jennings Bryan]]. His death two years later at the age of fifty-five prompted the 1900 Republican National Convention, meeting in [[Philadelphia]], [[Pennsylvania]], to nominate [[Theodore Roosevelt]] for the vice presidency when McKinley sought a second term as president. In September 1901, upon McKinley's assassination, Roosevelt became the youngest ever U.S. President. Had Hobart lived, there may never have been a Theodore Roosevelt presidency, for he, not Roosevelt, would have succeeded McKinley.<ref name=fee.org>{{cite web|url=https://fee.org/articles/the-man-who-might-have-saved-america-from-woodrow-wilson/|title=The Man Who Might Have Saved America from Woodrow Wilson|publisher=Fee.org|author=Lawrence W. Reed|accessdate=June 28, 2018}}</ref> | | '''Garret Augustus Hobart''' (June 3, 1844 – November 21, 1899) was a corporation [[lawyer]], city council member in Paterson, [[New Jersey]], and a member and presiding officer of both houses of the New Jersey legislature. In 1897, despite his lack of national or statewide office, he was tapped by the [[William McKinley]] campaign as the party choice for [[United States]] [[Vice President of the United States of America|Vice President]] of the [[United States]]. A former state party chairman, Hobart was credited with bringing New Jersey into the [[Republican Party|Republican]] fold in the 1896 election against the [[Democratic Party|Democrat]] [[William Jennings Bryan]]. His death two years later at the age of fifty-five prompted the 1900 Republican National Convention, meeting in [[Philadelphia]], [[Pennsylvania]], to nominate [[Theodore Roosevelt]] for the vice presidency when McKinley sought a second term as president. In September 1901, upon McKinley's assassination, Roosevelt became the youngest ever U.S. President. Had Hobart lived, there may never have been a Theodore Roosevelt presidency, for he, not Roosevelt, would have succeeded McKinley.<ref name=fee.org>{{cite web|url=https://fee.org/articles/the-man-who-might-have-saved-america-from-woodrow-wilson/|title=The Man Who Might Have Saved America from Woodrow Wilson|publisher=Fee.org|author=Lawrence W. Reed|accessdate=June 28, 2018}}</ref> |
| − | Hobart graduated from [[Rutgers University]] in New Jersey long before that institution was engulfed by [[socialist]]s and [[liberal]]s on the faculty. Hobart took his job as vice president more seriously than any of his predecessors since [[Thomas Jefferson]]. His colleagues considered him "earnest, congenial, fair-minded, and conscientious." Instead of deferring procedural matters to other senators on the floor, he was faithful in attendance and ruled on such issues himself. McKinley came to view Hobart as the "assistant President." Hobart was like most Republicans of his day a trade [[protectionist]] who supported higher [[tariff]]s than did most Democrats. He supported the questionable [[Spanish-American War]], though his foreign policy views were more restrained that the later interventionists Theodore Roosevelt and [[Woodrow Wilson]]. A backer of the [[gold standard]], Hobart opposed [[inflation]] of currency. In claiming the vice-presidential nomination in 1896, Hobart devoted his acceptance remarks to the gold standard, of which he was particularly well informed and eloquent.<ref name=fee.org/> | + | Hobart graduated from [[Rutgers University]] in New Jersey long before that institution was engulfed by [[socialist]]s and [[liberal]]s on the faculty. Hobart took his job as vice president more seriously than any of his predecessors since [[Thomas Jefferson]]. His colleagues considered him "earnest, congenial, fair-minded, and conscientious." Instead of deferring procedural matters to other senators on the floor, he was faithful in attendance and ruled on such issues himself. McKinley came to view Hobart as the "assistant President." Hobart was like most Republicans of his day a trade [[protectionist]] who supported higher [[tariff]]s than did most Democrats. He supported the questionable [[Spanish-American War]], though his foreign policy views were more restrained that the later interventionists Theodore Roosevelt and [[Woodrow Wilson]]. A backer of the [[gold standard]], Hobart opposed [[inflation]] of currency. In claiming the vice-presidential nomination in 1896, Hobart devoted his acceptance remarks to the gold standard, of which he was particularly well informed and eloquent. When the forces favoring sound money prevailed in the election, Congress passed the [[Gold Standard Act of 1900]], months after Hobart's death.<ref name=fee.org/> |