Frank Hague
Frank Hague (1876 – 1956) was the mayor of Jersey City, New Jersey from 1917 to 1947.
He was instrumental in Franklin D. Roosevelt's winning the Democratic nomination in 1932. For his support of Roosevelt in 1932, Hague was rewarded with money for a massive ([1]) medical center complex complete with a maternity hospital named after his mother, Margaret Hague.
He has a widely-known reputation for corruption and bossism. As mayor, he enjoyed palatial homes, European vacations, and a private suite at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. His wealth has been estimated to have been over $10 million at the time of his death, although his City salary never exceeded $8,000 per year and he had no other legitimate source of income. His desk, which is still located in City Hall, has a specially designed lap drawer which could be pushed outward towards the person with whom he was meeting. This allowed his "guests" to discreetly deliver bribes in the form of envelopes containing large amounts of cash.
Routinely, he used city employees to strong arm his enemies and break up political opposition, both literally and figuratively. This made national news when his goon squad broke up a rally featuring perennial Socialist presidential candidate Norman Thomas and forcibly escorted him to the ferry back to New York City. His employment of voter fraud is the stuff of legend. ([2]) See How to Steal an Election, John Fund, City Journal, Autumn 2004).
Boss Hague is most famously quoted for having said, "I am the law," in reference to his suppression of a 1937 labor strike. He was succeeded by his nephew whose career as boss was less successful and shorter-lived. However, his legacy of corruption continued through many subsequent mayoralties. Despite all this, he still remains popular to many in Jersey City.
Allegedly, the genesis of the word is as follows:
Two boys both under sixteen ... were apprehended by the authorities for truancy. The Mayor happened to be in one of his police-station hideouts when they were brought in. The boys told him that they preferred jail to school; so he took up their case with Doctor Hopkins, suggesting that jobs be found for them. Doctor Hopkins said that it could not be done because of the New Jersey Working Papers Law. Then the Mayor said to him: 'Listen, here is the law! I am the law! These boys go to work!' He got jobs for the boys, though later they returned to school ([3]).
See also
References
- Dayton David McKean, The Boss: Inside the Hague Machine. (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, Company, 1940).
- Thomas F.X. Smith, Powerticians. (Secaucus, NJ: Lyle Stuart, Inc, 1982).
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