Winthrop M. Crane

Winthrop Murray Crane
40th Governor of Massachusetts
In office January 4, 1900 – January 8, 1903
Lieutenant	John L. Bates
Preceded by	Roger Wolcott
Succeeded by	John L. Bates
United States Senator from Massachusetts
In office October 12, 1904 – March 3, 1913
Appointed by	John L. Bates
Preceded by	George F. Hoar
Succeeded by	John W. Weeks
37th Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts
In office 1897–1900
Governor	Roger Wolcott
Preceded by	Roger Wolcott
Succeeded by	John L. Bates
Personal details
Born	April 23, 1853 Dalton, Massachusetts
Died	October 2, 1920 (aged 67) Dalton, Massachusetts
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Mary Benner 1880-1884 Josephine Porter Boardman (1884-1920)
Children	Winthrop Murray Crane II Stephen Crane Bruce Crane Louise Crane

Winthrop Murray Crane (or just Murray Crane, April 23, 1853 – October 2, 1920) was a U.S. political figure and businessman. Born into the Dalton, Massachusetts family that owned the papermaking Crane & Co., he successfully expanded the company during the 1880s after securing an exclusive government contract to supply the paper for United States currency (a monopoly the company continues to hold). During the 1890s he became increasingly active in Republican Party politics, and was for 20 years a dominating figure in Massachusetts politics. He served several times on the Republican National Committee, and was elected Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts 1896-99 and Governor of Massachusetts 1900-03. In 1904 he was appointed by his successor John L. Bates to fill a vacated United States Senate seat, which he held until 1913.

Crane was an advisor to Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft, and served as a political mentor to Calvin Coolidge. His success in defusing a Teamsters strike while governor prompted Roosevelt to bring him in as a negotiator to resolve the Coal Strike of 1902. He refused repeated offers for cabinet-level positions, and was known to dislike campaigning and giving speeches. He was highly regarded and popular in western Massachusetts.

Early years and business

Winthrop Murray Crane was born in Dalton, Massachusetts to Zenas Marshall Crane and Louise Fanny Laflin. His father was owner of the Crane Paper Company, a dominant economic force in the small community and a major producer of paper products. Crane entered the family business in 1870, and, alongside his brother Zenas, Jr. presided over a period of significant growth of the company. In 1872 Crane secured a major contract for the supply of wrapping paper to the Winchester Repeating Arms Company, and followed this up in 1879, with an exclusive contract to paper for the Federal Reserve Notes, the currency of the United States. The Crane Company continues to be the sole supplier of currency paper to the federal government today. The company continued significant growth throughout the 1880s and 1890s. Crane expanded his business interests, and amassed a significant fortune by investing in the Otis Elevator Company and in American Telephone and Telegraph Company.

In 1880 Crane married Mary Benner, who died in 1884 giving birth to their only child, Winthrop Murray Crane Jr. In 1906, Crane married Josephine Porter Boardman, 20 years his junior, from a politically well-connected family. They had three children: Stephen, Bruce, and poet Louise Crane.

Governor

Crane's rise in politics began in 1892, when he was invited to attend the Republican National Convention as a delegate by the "Young Republican" club, a group of Massachusetts Republicans, organized in 1888, who would come to dominate the state party apparatus and political landscape.^[1] After the convention he was elected chairman of the state party. Although he was from western Massachusetts, he was viewed by the party's mainly eastern leadership as a "safe" and moderate choice, who would be good at fundraising.^[2] Crane, although he was politically conservative, was adept at smoothing over and negotiating the differences between the wings of the party, and refused to become deeply entrenched into either the progressive or conservative wing.^[3] He was also well known as a somewhat taciturn politician, who did not make many speeches or public appearances.

In 1896 he was elected Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts, serving under another Young Republican, Roger Wolcott. The post was then viewed as a stepping stone to the higher office, and Crane ran for Governor when Wolcott opted not to run in 1899. He won a comfortable victory against a disorganized Democratic opposition,^[4] and was reelected the next two years by wide margins.^[5] Crane's tenure as governor was marked by fiscal conservatism, business-like management, and relatively little reform. He was viewed with favor even by Democrats, and his leadership was characterized as nonpartisan. He successfully defused a Teamsters strike in 1902,^[6] and was also called in by President Theodore Roosevelt to mediate the 1902 Coal Strike, which threatened the state's winter coal supplies.^[7] He vetoed legislative authorization of a merger between the Boston Elevated Railway and the West End Street Railway, in part because it did not contain a clause calling for a referendum by the affected populations.^[8]

Crane was hosting President Roosevelt in Pittsfield on September 3, 1902 when a speeding trolley car rammed into the open-air horse carriage carrying Roosevelt. The accident killed the president's Secret Service agent, William Craig.

Senator

Crane was appointed October 12, 1904 by Governor John L. Bates to continue the U.S. Senate term of the late George F. Hoar. He was then elected in a January 18, 1905 special election to finish the term.^[9] he was re-elected in 1907, and served until 1913.

Notes

1. Abrams, p. 40
2. Abrams, p. 41
3. Abrams, p. 42
4. Abrams, p. 43
5. Abrams, pp. 43, 86
6. Abrams, p. 81
7. Abrams, pp. 76, 94
8. Abrams, pp. 68-70
9. Journal of the Senate. Massachusetts General Court. pp. 78–79.

References

• Abrams, Richard (1964). Conservatism in a Progressive Era: Massachusetts Politics 1900-1912. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
• New England Historical and Genealogical Register (biographic sketch by John L. Bates)

External links

• United States Congress. "Winthrop M. Crane (id: C000875)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
• Massachusetts Historical Society Biography and Photograph Collection