Alton Brooks Parker
Chief Judge of the New York Court of Appeals
In office 1898–1904
Preceded by	Charles Andrews
Succeeded by	Edgar M. Cullen
Personal details
Born	(1852-05-14)May 14, 1852 Cortland, New York
Died	May 10, 1926(1926-05-10) (aged 73) New York City
Political party	Democratic Party
Spouse(s)	Mary L. Schoonmaker Parker
Alma mater	Albany Law School
Profession	Lawyer

Alton Brooks Parker (May 14, 1852 – May 10, 1926) was an American lawyer, judge and the Democratic nominee for U.S. president in the 1904 elections.

Life[link]

Parker was born in Cortland, New York. He graduated LL.B. from Albany Law School and practiced law in Kingston, New York. He was a justice of the New York Supreme Court from 1885 to 1897, and Chief Judge of the New York Court of Appeals from 1898 to 1904. In addition to his judicial duties, he served as president of the Ulster County Savings Institution from 1896 to 1904.^[1] Parker was a protege of conservative Democratic politician David B. Hill. He married Mary L. Schoonmaker on October 16, 1872.

Parker/Davis campaign poster

Parker resigned from the bench after receiving the 1904 Democratic Party nomination for the U.S. presidency. He chose former U.S. Senator from West Virginia, Henry G. Davis to be his running mate for the office of Vice President of the United States. Parker was supported by conservative Bourbon Democrats, like former President Grover Cleveland, who had been alienated from the party in 1896 and 1900 due to the radicalism of the party's nominee William Jennings Bryan on economic issues. It was hoped that Parker could be acceptable to both factions since he was "sound" on economic issues, but had supported Bryan in 1896 as a good party man. These hopes were frustrated, however, as Parker had little appeal to Bryanites and carried only the Solid South.

Parker 1904 button concentrates on attacking Republican Party as tied to big business ("trusts")

Division within his party over currency issues and the popularity of incumbent Theodore Roosevelt led to Parker's landslide defeat, the electoral vote being 336 for Roosevelt to 140 for Parker, the popular vote 7,623,486 for Roosevelt to 5,077,971 for Parker.^[2] Afterwards he resumed his practice of law.

Parker later served as a temporary chairman and keynote speaker at the 1912 Democratic National Convention, which nominated Woodrow Wilson for President.^[3] In 1913, he was counsel for the managers of the trial leading to the impeachment of Governor William Sulzer of New York.^[2]

He died from a heart attack while riding in his car through Central Park in New York City.^[4] He was buried in Wiltwyck Cemetery, Kingston, NY.

Legacy[link]

In Irving Stone's 1943 book They Also Ran about defeated presidential candidates, the author stated that Parker was the only defeated presidential candidate in history never to have a biography written about him. Stone theorized that Parker would have been an effective president and the 1904 election was one of a few in American history in which voters had two first-rate candidates to choose from. Stone professed that Americans liked Roosevelt more because of his colorful style.^[5]

Parker's birthplace, Cortland, New York, has a public elementary school named for him.

The New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation has a portrait of Judge Parker by the Swiss-born American artist Adolfo Muller-Ury (1862–1947) painted in 1904 and donated by Parker's wife in 1926 hanging at the Senate House State Historic Site at Kingston, New York. This was a reduced version of a three-quarter length portrait painted in Esopus at Parker's House and sent, as soon as it was completed, to the Hoffman House at Broadway and 25 Street in Manhattan, which was at that time the informal headquarters for the Democratic party (this is today unlocated).

Electoral history[link]

New York state election, 1897[link]

Chief Judge of the New York Court of Appeals

• Alton B. Parker (D) - 554,680 (50.94%)
• William J. Wallace (R) - 493,791 (45.34%)
• Theodore F. Cuno (Socialist Labor) - 20,854 (1.92%)
• Francis E. Baldwin (Prohibition) - 19,653 (1.81%)

1904 Democratic National Convention^[6]:

• Alton B. Parker - 679 (66.50%)
• William Randolph Hearst - 200 (19.59%)
• Francis M. Cookrell - 42 (4.11%)
• Richard Onley - 38 (3.72%)
• Edward C. Wall - 27 (2.64%)
• George Gray - 12 (1.18%)
• John Sharp Williams - 8 (0.78%)
• Robert E. Pattison - 4 (0.39%)
• George B. McClellan, Jr. - 3 (0.29%)
• Nelson Appleton Miles - 3 (0.29%)
• Arthur Pue Gorman - 2 (0.20%)
• Charles Arnette Towne - 2 (0.20%)
• Bird Sim Coler - 1 (0.10%)

United States presidential election, 1904:

• Theodore Roosevelt/Charles W. Fairbanks (R) - 7,630,457 (56.4%) and 336 electoral votes (29 states carried)
• Alton B. Parker/Henry G. Davis (D) - 5,083,880 (37.6%) and 140 electoral votes (17 states carried)
• Eugene V. Debs/Benjamin Hanford (Socialist) - 402,810 (3.0%)
• Silas C. Swallow/George W. Carroll (Prohibition) - 259,102 (1.9%)
• Thomas E. Watson/Thomas Tibbles (Populist) - 114,070 (0.8%)

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Cunniff, M.G. (June 1904). "Alton Brooks Parker: The Probable Democratic Candidate for President". The World's Work: A History of Our Time VIII: 4923–4932. http://books.google.com/books?id=AYbNAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA4923. Retrieved 2009-07-10. 

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Alton B. Parker

Wikisource has original works written by or about: Alton Brooks Parker

• Address by Alton B. Parker, in memoriam David Bennett Hill; delivered at the joint meeting of the Senate and Assembly in the capitol at Albany, July 6, 1911
• American Constitutional Government; a 1922 address by Judge Parker
• Find A Grave page for Alton B. Parker