The Political Machine of Frank Hague of Jersey City, New Jersey
http://www.applet-magic.com/hague.htm
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Thayer Watkins
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The Political Machine of
Frank Hague of Jersey City, New Jersey
Frank Hague came from a squalid Irish-immigrant slum area of Jersey City called the
Horseshoe. The Irish had come to the area as workers for building the railroad lines that linked
New York City with the rest of the country and settled there after the railroads were completed.
Frank Hague's father worked as a blacksmith in the railroad yards of Jersey City.
Frank Hague was expelled from school in the sixth grade as a troublemaker and never
returned. He worked for two years as a blacksmith's helper at the Eire Railroad yards, the only
private industry job he ever held in his whole life. After he quit the railroad job he managed a
prizefighter for awhile before being recruited by a local Democratic boss to manage a "social
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The Political Machine of Frank Hague of Jersey City, New Jersey
http://www.applet-magic.com/hague.htm
club" in the Horseshoe. The social club was in effect a street gang that could be called upon
during political campaign to beat up opponents and intimidate the electorate. He soon broke
with this boss over the matter of rewards for services and allied himself with other bosses. At 21
he ran for ward constable and won with a little help from a friend who stole a precinct ballot
box and altered the ballots. But to young Hague's chagrin the position did not pay a salary.
Despite his disappointment he organized his friends into a political faction and offered support
to leader of the county machine. They were so effective in getting out the vote in a sheriff's
election that Hague and some of his friends were rewarded by being appointed deputy sheriffs
at a salary that was three times the average workman's wage.
Shortly after this there occurred an episode that plagued Hague for years. A friend of his, Red
Dugan, had been identified as passing fraudulent checks in Boston. Dugan prevailed upon
Hague to go to Boston and testify under oath that he had seen him in a park in Jersey City the
day the checks were passed. Unfortunately for Hague, after he returned to Jersey City Dugan
confessed and the Boston court called for the prosecution of Hague for perjury. Hague was not
extradicted to Boston so he never had to stand trial but the "Red Dugan affair" of 1904 was
brought up time and time again. It didn't hurt Hague too much with the Irish voters because
they understodd that he had done it for friendship and, according to Hague, only because his
mother begged him to do it.
The political machine of Hudson County, which includes Jersey City, had lost control of the
mayor's office of Jersey City and Hague was brought into the machine to help win back control
by electing the machine's candidate, Otto "The Dutchman" Wittpenn. When Wittpenn won the
election Hague wanted as a reward for his help to be appointed custodian of the city hall, a job
that had a good salary and whose duties could be left to 100 underlings of his own choosing. In
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The Political Machine of Frank Hague of Jersey City, New Jersey
http://www.applet-magic.com/hague.htm
addition this job offered the opportunity of doing favors for outsiders at city hall. The county
boss denied Hague's request but the newly elected mayor granted it. This led to a political split
between the county boss and the mayor of Jersey City he helped to elect. The county boss
threatened to have the Hudson County Board of Aldermen pass an ordinance that would
change the nature of the position of Custodian of City Hall such that Hague would be out of a
job. Hague had a few people beat up as a warning to the Aldermen and they decided not to act
on the proposed ordinance.
It was quite common for political allies to have a falling out over the division of the spoils of
political victory. But after falling out over such matters they sometimes got back together out of
political necessity. The county boss supported Wittpenn for re-election as mayor and Wittpenn
won. Hague then urged Wittpenn to run for governor of New Jersey. The county boss feared
this would give Hague too much power so the county boss refused to support Wittpenn's race
for the governorship and supported Woodrow Wilson instead. Wilson was successful and later
went on to become President of the U.S.
The county political boss died and Hague's political prospects improved. In 1911 Wittpenn ran
again for mayor of Jersey City and Hague ran for a place on the five-member Street and Water
Commission. Hague and Wittpenn campaigned on a platform of being against "bossism." Both
won their campaigns.
Hague began a program of actally cleaning the streets and enforcing the city's anti-littering
ordinance. Before Hague the streets were seldom cleaned and then only just before elections.
Hague required the streets to be cleaned every night by hosing them with water from the fire
hydrants. Hague achieved a reputation as an economizer by cutting the number of employees in
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The Political Machine of Frank Hague of Jersey City, New Jersey
http://www.applet-magic.com/hague.htm
the Street and Water Department from 218 to 116. But after the newspapers praised his
economizing he quietly increased the number of employees to a higer figure than before.
Jersey City switched to a commission form of government from the city council type. By this
time Hague and Wittpenn were political rivals. Hague ran a slate of five, including himself,
called the the "Unbossed." All but one of the five commissioners were under the control of
Hague. The rule was that the commissioner elected by the largest vote became mayor. This time
the mayor was not a Hague man, but in the election of 1917 the front runner, a Hague man,
declined the mayorship in favor of Hague. Hague continued to be mayor of Jersey City for
thirty years.
One of the first things Hague did was to try to increase tax revenues by increasing the assessed
value of Standard Oil property, the public utility companies and the railroads the ran through
Jersey City. He had them increased by a factor of about ten. These property owners went to the
New Jersey Board of Tax Assessments and got the increases canceled. Hague then decided that
he needed to gain control of the state government in order to prevent being thwarted in raising
tax revenues in Jersey City.
The basis of a political machine like Hague's which was limited to Hudson County is that a
political boss can deliver a large vote to his choice in the statewide election. There is a large
legitimate vote in favor of the boss' candidate which can be enhanced, if necessary, by voter
fraud. Ususally the election returns from the boss' area are reported late, after the count for the
rest of the state is known and the machine knows how much of a favorable vote has to be
delivered. In the case of the governor's race of 1919 the candidate running against Hague's
choice, had a 21 thousand vote lead in the rest of the state but the 35 thousand plus plurality
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The Political Machine of Frank Hague of Jersey City, New Jersey
http://www.applet-magic.com/hague.htm
delivered by the Hague machine was sufficient to win the election. In the next governor's race in
1922 Hague's candidate was behind 34 thousand votes in the rest of the state, but the 46
thousand vote lead in Hudson County was enough for victory for Hague's choice. In 1925
Hague's candidate was behind 65 thousand votes in the rest of the state but a 103 thousand
plurality in Hudson County brought victory for Hague's choice.
The election-winning pluralities were achieved only in part by fraud. Hague had an army of
election workers to get out the vote on election day. These had to be rewarded with jobs and so
Jersey City had the highest level of public employees in proportion to the population of any city
in the country. Many of the jobs held by Hague people had no duties.
The electorate itself also had to convinced to support Hague. This was achieved by a number of
means. From the very beginning of his career Hague delivered on public services such as street
cleaning, police and fire response to calls. Hague himself used to go for walks at night and call in
emergency calls to the police and fire department and time the response. If the police or firemen
were slow in responding they would be punished by Hague, usually verbally but occasionally
physically with a punch in the face. Hague provided social services for the poor such as free
food, clothing and coal and helping them find jobs. The rest got help with complaints about
garbage collection and nonfelony problems with the police. He staged parades and excursions.
He made the Catholic Church and veterans' groups allies by gifts and support. He courted the
"mothers vote" by suppressing vices such as gambling and prostitution. He loved to say,
"Jersey City is the most moralest city in the country." The gem of his regime was the 2000-bed
Jersey City Medical Center, including the Margarite Hague Maternity Hospital named after his
beloved mother. This was the equal of any medical center in the U.S. and most Jersey City
residents got its services without charge. It cost about $3 million a year to run the medical
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The Political Machine of Frank Hague of Jersey City, New Jersey
http://www.applet-magic.com/hague.htm
center and it brought in only about $15 thousand a year in fees.
The cost of the Hague regime was not just in higher taxes, although Jersey City did have
significantly higher taxes. Jersey City's budget was larger than cities with twice its population.
The most serious social cost of the Hague regime was in the loss of civil rights. Political
opponents would be beaten without hesitation by Hague's political workers or the police. One
person who tried to arrest an illegal voter in one election found himself arrested and held on
$3500 bail. In an election in the 1920's the Honest Ballot Association sent 245 Princeton
University students to Jersey City to act as poll watchers. Within one hour, five were beaten up
so badly that they had to be sent to the hospital and all of them were excluded from the polling
places.
Consider the case of poor, idealistic John Longo. In 1937 Longo put together an anti-Hague
slate in the Democratic primary. Hague had Longo arrested on trumped up charges and a
Hague judge sent Longo to jail for nine months. In 1943 the Governor of New Jersey appointed
Longo as Deputy Clerk in Hudson County. Hague again had Longo arrested and six Hague
supplied witnesses gave perjured testimony and a Hague judge sentenced Longo to prison for 18
months to 3 years.
Hague also was quite determined to keep organizers for the Congress of Industrial
Organizations (CIO) unions out of Hudson County. He could tolerate the more conservative
American Federation of Labor (AF of L) and even work with them. But the CIO he considered
to be communist dominated. No meeting halls were available to the CIO and the police simply
picked up the organizers, beat them up and deposited them outside of the county.
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The Political Machine of Frank Hague of Jersey City, New Jersey
http://www.applet-magic.com/hague.htm
Hague himself was quite candid about his relationship to Jersey City. Two of his statements
most frequently quoted were, "I am the law," and "I decide; I do; Me!"
It was clear by this time to Hague's opponents, both locally and statewide, that if they were ever
to win another election they would have to get rid of Hague. Investigations were launched into
Hague's personal finances. On a salary of only $8 thousand Hague had managed to amass
millions of dollars worth of property. The investigations, however, were not able to provide
sufficient evidence to indict Hague much less convict him.
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The Political Machine of Frank Hague of Jersey City, New Jersey
http://www.applet-magic.com/hague.htm
It was observed after decades of rule by Hague that
although the Statue of Liberty is visible from Jersey City
its back is turned. Hague finally announced his
retirement from politics at age 69 in 1947. In fact he
continued to run the machine through his nephew,
Frank Hague Eggers. The machine lost control about
four years later and Hague died in 1956.
Frank Hague
For the story of other political bosses and their machines click on Bosses
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http://www.applet-magic.com/hague.htm
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