CHAPTER VII 



Governor and Vice-President 



THE end of the brief but effective Cuban war left Colonel Roose- 

 velt the popular hero of that event. Every war has its popular 

 hero, and the dramatic picturesqueness of the cowboy regi- 

 ment, with its telling title, the "Rough Riders," was sure to strike the 

 public fancy. The newspaper stories of their spectacled colonel dash- 

 ing at their head up San Juan Hill, yelling with the loudest and as 

 fearless as the best, added to the completeness of the picture in the 

 public mind, and Roosevelt was lifted upon a pedestal of public appre- 

 ciation on which he dwarfed every other soldier who took part in the 

 affair, as Dewey similarly figured as the chief naval hero. 



That a man of such sudden and great popularity would be allowed 

 to sink back into insignificance was very unlikely to follow. The 

 American people likes to reward its heroes, the canvass for a new 

 governor of New York was in the air, and Theodore Roosevelt was 

 the man of the moment. His services in the war had scarcely ended 

 before the nomination came. 



The Citizens' Union was the first to nominate him, but he declined 

 the compliment, saying that he was a Republican. He proposed to 

 stand by his colors. The Democrats, who dreaded him as a popular 

 candidate, hoped to prevent his nomination by trying to prove that he 

 had lost his legal residence in the State. Their plan failed, and the 

 Republican Convention chose him as its candidate by a vote of 752 to 

 218 for Governor Black. Van Wyck was the Democratic nominee. 

 Their candidate, Parker, had been elected Judge of the Court of 

 Appeals the year before by 61,000 majority and on this the party based 

 its hopes, though feeling that the personal popularity of Colonel Roose- 

 velt was an element in the situation that might override all party lines 

 and claims. It did so, for he carried the election by a majority of 

 18,000 over Van Wyck. 



{.S7) 



