N.Y.’s Republican Tradition
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

Republican means reform in New York. In a city with a 5-to-1 Democratic advantage and a corrupt Tammany Hall tradition, reform movements throughout our history have often clustered around the Republican Party as an alternative to the local establishment – producing some of our state’s most inspiring and enduring leaders. But these crusaders frequently find themselves in conflict with the national Republican establishment, criticized for being too independent and progressive, not sufficiently influenced by tradition, religion or – ironically – big business.
In part, this is inevitable. The day-to-day diversity of life in New York makes it virtually impossible to insulate oneself with the fear of difference and resistance to change that seems to make up much of the base of social conservatism. So New York’s Republicans are often thrust into the forefront of intra-party ideological debates, forced to play the role of reformer for their party as well as their city. Some fail, are forced out, or walk away, while others are more successful in keeping the Republican Party relevant and independent of special interests, fighting to keep the legacy of Lincoln alive.
In a way, it’s surprising that the Republican National Convention has never been held in New York before. When the party was a collection of former Whigs and dissident Democrats devoted to the abolition of slavery, many of the party’s most passionate supporters were in New York. Abraham Lincoln came here during the 1860 campaign to deliver his famous address at Cooper Union – “Let us have the faith that right makes might” – and New York’s governor, William Seward, was considered Lincoln’s main rival for the Republican nomination for president. Lincoln made Seward his secretary of state, and Lincoln’s freely elected successor, Ulysses S. Grant, retired to New York and is buried here.
The only president so far to have been born in New York City, Theodore Roosevelt, watched Lincoln’s funeral procession from the window of his boyhood home on East 20th Street. It was this former New York City police commissioner and governor who set the standard for future reform Republicans from New York – for example, Mayor Giuliani – and around the nation, such as Senator McCain. Lincoln remained Teddy Roosevelt’s hero throughout his life and greatly influenced his politics. “If Lincoln had lived to deal with our complicated social and industrial problems,” Roosevelt wrote, “he would have furnished wisely conservative leadership; but he would have led in the radical direction.”
Roosevelt’s energetic and principled leadership had an invigorating effect on public service and helped usher in the progressive era. As he took on robber barons and jumpstarted the environmental movement, the Wall Street crowd that considered itself the backbone of the Republican Party was surprised it had to contend with a reformer from its own party. But when increasingly militant labor strikes threatened to disrupt the country, Roosevelt stepped in to mediate the process armed with the moral authority of the middle ground, saying, “I wish the labor people absolutely to understand that I set my face like flint against violence and lawlessness of any kind on their part, just as much as against arrogant greed by the rich.” Because Roosevelt was willing to take on extreme special interests from both sides, he was able to appeal to progressive Democrats and independents as well as Republicans, leading to his landslide win in 1904, when he was elected by a greater margin than any Republican before.
The progressive Republican tradition of Teddy Roosevelt withered during the establishment era of Presidents Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge until the mantle was picked up by another New York reformer, Fiorello La Guardia. La Guardia was the son of immigrants and a relentless opponent of Tammany Hall corruption. While he was also aligned with the socialist party for a time, he stood primarily for efficiency and honesty in government, cutting crime and patronage positions, all while arguing there is “no Republican, no Democratic, no Socialist way to clean a street.”
In the depths of the Great Depression, La Guardia, a Republican mayor, worked closely with Franklin D. Roosevelt, a Democratic president, over the outraged objections of many Republicans. La Guardia replied that contemporary Republicans “know as much about the teachings of Abraham Lincoln as Henry Ford knows about the Talmud.” La Guardia was elected three times as a Republican reformer in this overwhelmingly Democratic town, delivering honest government but defying his party when his conscience demanded it. “My country right or wrong,” he would say, “but my party only when it is right.”
At midcentury, New Yorkers twice voted for Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower for president. At the same time, Nelson Rockefeller began the first of his four terms as New York’s governor and Jacob Javits was elected to the Senate, a position he would hold until 1980. Both men inadvertently diluted the New York Republican tradition in part due to their longevity, becoming increasingly liberal and supporting social spending that abandoned their party’s association with fiscal responsibility – a tendency they shared with another New York mayor, John Lindsay, who eventually re-registered as a Democrat. The term “Rockefeller Republicans” became synonymous with a country club moderation that had lost its meaning, and Javits finally lost his office in a primary to Long Island’s more conservative Alfonse D’Amato. While New York’s stereotype of being unfriendly to Republicans increased during the 1980s, the state voted for Ronald Reagan twice.
By the early 1990s, New York City was averaging six murders a day and had become a tragic national stereotype of liberal dysfunction in government. Again, New Yorkers turned to a Republican reformer in the figure of Mr. Giuliani. Like Teddy Roosevelt, Mr. Giuliani came from a law-enforcement background. Like La Guardia, he came from a family of immigrants. But Mr. Giuliani was also a veteran of the Reagan administration and he brought a belief in cutting taxes to the city stage even as he aggressively cut crime and welfare rolls in half. As a federal attorney, Mr. Giuliani prosecuted white-collar criminals alongside members of the mafia and corrupt government officials; as mayor, he was steadfastly pro-business, bringing private-sector jobs back to New York, improving the quality of life, and offering an antidote to the excesses of multi-cultural divisiveness by preaching that we are “One City, One Standard.”
Columnist George Will called him “America’s Most Successful Conservative,” but again, some right-wing Republicans questioned the purity of his political faith when he stood up for being pro-choice, pro-immigrant, pro-gay rights, and a supporter of the assault-weapons ban. One year after Mr. Giuliani assumed office, Republican George Pataki unseated liberal icon Mario Cuomo from the governor’s mansion by positioning himself as a pro-environment Teddy Roosevelt Republican. In 1997, Mr. Giuliani was overwhelmingly reelected mayor across party lines, winning four of the city’s five boroughs and 45% of the Democratic vote. In the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks, another self-styled Republican reformer – Michael Bloomberg – was elected mayor, marking the first time that a Republican had succeeded another Republican as mayor of New York City.
Despite the expected onslaught of protests during the GOP convention next week, history shows that New York has a strong and popular Republican tradition. It is, however, a distinct tradition of independent reformers, tough on crime and corruption but liberal in its understanding of America as a fundamentally inclusive society. As the Republican Party looks to expand its appeal beyond its so-called Red State base with what is slated to be a centrist convention, these reformers represent the future in an increasingly urban and diverse America. But the fault lines in the Republican Party remain unresolved and the challenge Teddy Roosevelt placed before the party almost 100 years ago hangs in the air over this convention with even greater urgency: “The Republican Party is now facing a great crisis,” Roosevelt said. “It is to decide whether it will be as in the days of Lincoln, the party of the plain people…or whether it will be party privilege and special interest, the heir to those who were Lincoln’s most bitter opponents.” Perhaps this week in New York can help the party of Lincoln rediscover its roots as it builds a stronger and broader base for success in the future.