page_title: Thomas M. Waller
section_title: Career
hierarchical_section_title: Thomas M. Waller / Career
caption_attribution_description: English: Postcard picture of the home of Thomas M. Waller, former governor of Connecticut (1883-1885), "Neptune Park"(apparently the name of the home) in the Ocean Beach section of New London, Connecticut (picture is cropped slightly on left and right sides)
context_page_description: Thomas MacDonald Waller was an American attorney, politician and the 51st Governor of Connecticut.
context_section_description: After his graduation from Bartlett High School, he studied law and he was admitted to the bar in 1861, the same year that the Civil War began. He enlisted in the Second Connecticut Volunteers in April, due to an eye disease he was discharged two months later. Using his oratory talents to recruit volunteers for the Union, and his work in arguing cases in court, drew attention to his speaking ability.
  Ge served in the Connecticut House of Representatives in 1867, 1872, and 1876, and was Speaker in 1876. He also served as Secretary of the State of Connecticut from 1870 to 1871, and mayor of New London, Connecticut from 1873 to 1879.
  In 1882 Waller ran for governor on the Democratic ticket and defeated William Bulkeley (brother of future governor Morgan Bulkeley) by more than 4,000 votes. He served from January 3, 1883 to January 8, 1885.  In 1884 Waller sought reelection and received more votes than his Republican opponent, Henry Baldwin Harrison, but it was less than the 50% majority required by law; the choice fell to the state legislature, which was controlled by Republicans, and they selected Harrison.
  Waller gained attention at the 1884 Democratic National Convention when he made the seconding speech nominating Thomas A. Hendricks for vice president on the ticket with presidential nominee Grover Cleveland. Cleveland and Hendricks won, and the following year Cleveland appointed Waller as Consul-General in London, where he served from 1885 to 1889.
  When Waller returned to New London in 1889, he opened law offices there and in New York City. "I work five days a week in New York," he once said in jest, "that I may live two in Connecticut." In 1893 he served on the commission for the Chicago Columbian Exposition.  At the 1896 Democratic national convention, he was an articulate spokesman for the gold faction supporting the Cleveland's policies and opposing William Jennings Bryan. He campaigned hard for the Gold Democratic ticket headed by John M Palmer of Illinois. Waller  also served as a delegate to Connecticut's 1902 Constitutional Convention.
caption: Waller's home, "Neptune Park" in the Ocean Beach section of New London, Connecticut (from a 1910 postcard)
exif: {"Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image Software": "Microsoft Windows Photo Gallery 6.0.6001.18000", "Image DateTime": "2010:07:30 09:23:18", "Image ExifOffset": "2202", "Image Padding": "[]", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "96", "Thumbnail YResolution": "96", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "4420", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "2089", "EXIF ImageUniqueID": "CA3E9DD75EB44FE59DC71BE8DFFEF995", "EXIF Padding": "[]"}