Milford chronicle., 1928-09-21
I3.-Webster's Presidential
Aspirations.

ASPIRATIONS
HARDLY less eager for Presi-
4 L Dental honOrs than Henry
Clay was that other illustriOus
member of the Whig party, Daniel
Webster. Though on two occasions
he had to play second fiddle to
Clay, it was true with Webster as
with the great cOmprOmiser from
Tennessee, that too many military
heroes were the chief stumbling
blocks to his Presidential ambi-
lions.
Clay was passed over three times
by his party for old generals. Web
Bter had to stand aside four times
while military men of mediocre
political ability became the NOM
nees of his party.
And the biting irony Of it in
Webster's case was that on two
occasions he thrust away from him
what would have meant a term
In the White House when he re-
fused to accept proffered nOmina-
tons for the vice presidency.
As the LincOln-Douglas debates
made Lincoln an inevitable Re rub
Iican candidate Ia 1860, so Daniel
Webster's famous reply to Senator
Hayne of South Carolina in 1880
on the subject of notification
marked him at once as a Presi-
Dental possibility, with nation
wide fame. However, he stepped
aside in 1882 for Clay. The lat
ter's defeat whetted Webster's am
bitiOns for 1886, but in that year
Gen. William Henry Harrison got
the nomination on the strength of
his military reputation.
Webster was confident of the
nomination four years later. 81
think 1 shall be the Whig nominee"
he declared. But ThurlOw Weed,
astute New York political boss, eX-
pressed doubt. at looks to me
like Harrison" he said. And 3ar-
risOn it was.
When asked whether he would
be a running-mate on the ticket
with the general in 1910, Webster
proudly declined. Had he been
willing to run, h. would have been
President a month after the inaug
uratiOn, for "Old Tip" died w.rhin
that short time after assuming Of
fee.
The nearest Webster caEns &c be-
ing President that yesT VISA in
helping Harrison revise his inaug-
uratiOn address, killing off num-
ber of the Roman prOcOnsuls with
which the hero of TippecanOe had
filled his spC ech.
Webster declared he was not a
candidate in 1874, but in 1S4S he
had high hopes of winning the COW
eted prize. Again he thought he
had it within his grasp, but again
Thurlow Weed prOphesied to him
that another old soldier, Gen.
Zachary Taylor, would get the NOM
inatiOn.
"Why Taylor is an illiterate
frontier colonel who hasn't voted
for forty years!" Webster ex-
in surprise.
Once more it was proposed that
he accept the vice presidential
and once more Web
ster declined, his eyes firmly fixed
on the higher prize. Again the
President died while in office, and
Daniel Webster would have been
President had he been content to
take second place on the ticket.
Four years lat, Webster still
fondly cherished the hope of being
the Whig nominee but yet another
military man blocked the way.
Gen. Winfield Scott was the Whig
in 1852, and Web
ster, whose famous Seventh Of
March speech, with its cOmprOmis-
ne attitude on slavery, had alienat-
ed large groups of northern sup
DOrters, pOled only 80 votes out
Of a total of 293 in the cOnven-
ton.
Clay, when thrust aside for Har-
-isOn in 1910, nevertheless sup
ported him in his election canvass.
But he baked at supporting Tay-
or. Webster, who had supported
10Th Harrison and Taylor, finally
,aked at supporting Scott.
The great New England orator
-OOk his final convention defeat
With almost funereal sOlemnity. It
nay have been his death blow, for
le left Washington soon afterward
md died few weeks later on his
arm in Massachusetts.
The Whig party was dying, too,
md in the next campaign was to
Ippear the newborn Republican
,arty, challenging slavery, rising
0 victory in its second campaign
md beginning a long and for the
most part successful dual struggle
With the Democratic party, which
lp to that time, had had little
eally effective opposition for the
Presidency.