Elihu Root

In December 1871, Tammany Hall boss William M. Tweed was indicted on charges of deceit and fraud in connection to his real estate dealings and political corruption. Tweed retained eminent defense counsel led by David Dudley Field; Root joined the case on behalf of Tweed's co-defendant James Ingersoll, a furniture manufacturer who stood accused of fraudulently billing the city government for millions of dollars. Root's law partner, Alexander Compton, was Ingersoll's cousin by marriage, and Compton turned the case over to Root due to his courtroom experience.[17] Despite his family's dismay, he accepted the case and joined Tweed's defense in addition to Ingersoll's.[17]

The Tweed case stretched on for years, with the first trial commencing more than fifteen months after the indictment and ending in a hung jury. Four more indictments were brought in November 1873 after the defense's failed attempt to get judge Noah Davis to recuse himself. Root took a minor role in the proceedings, examining jurors and occasionally cross-examining the prosecution witnesses. The jury returned a guilty verdict on two hundred and four counts; Davis imposed a sentence of twelve years and a $12,750 fine, later reduced on appeal. Three of Tweed's attorneys were fined for contempt of court; Root was not among them. Instead, Davis addressed the junior attorneys:[17]

"I know how young lawyers are apt to follow their seniors. ... [Elihu Root and Willard Bartlett] displayed great ability during the trial. I shall impose no penalty, except what they may find in these few words of advice: I ask you young gentlemen, to remember that good faith to a client never can justify or require bad faith to your own consciences, and that however good a thing it may be to be known as successful and great lawyers, it is even a better thing to be known as honest men."

Root took a more active role in the Ingersoll defense, successfully appealing a jurisdictional issue to the New York Court of Appeals. Judge Allen remarked to Root's co-counsel that Root's argument "was not excelled by any in the case." Ingersoll was ultimately sentenced to five years but was pardoned by Governor Samuel J. Tilden.[17]

After Root had risen to national prominence, his work on the Tweed case formed the basis for public attacks from newspapers owned and directed by William Randolph Hearst, particularly after Root opposed Hearst's 1906 campaign for governor. Hearst exaggerated Root's role in the case and implied he had advised Tweed on political corruption before his indictment.[17] Root's fee in the case, paid partly in cash and partly by a real estate transfer, also came in for criticism, with Hearst papers implying that Root had inherited Tweed's mansion. In fact, Tweed was penniless after paying the fines assessed against him, and his heavily encumbered real estate holdings were his lone assets.[17]

Though Root avoided politics to the extent possible, his relationship with President Chester A. Arthur culminated in appointment as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York.

Early in his legal career, Root joined the Union League Club, where he met a number of young New York Republicans.[18] Nevertheless, he avoided political office, believing that it would obstruct his legal career. As an example, he cited Robert H. Strahan, an early law partner who had entered state politics. "It ruined him as a lawyer," Root said in 1930. "He got in the habit politicians have of sitting around and talking instead of working."[14] Nevertheless, after his 1878 marriage and move to East 55th Street, Root became actively involved in the Republican Party organization in his well-to-do State Assembly district. He also expanded his involvement at the Union League Club, where his father-in-law was an active member. In 1879, he was elected to the Club's executive committee.[19]

Through the Club, Root met Chester A. Arthur, an experienced Manhattan attorney and the powerful Collector of the Port of New York. In 1879, Arthur and Alonzo B. Cornell persuaded Root to stand for the Court of Common Pleas. Root viewed the campaign as hopeless given the city's Democratic reputation, took no part in the campaign, and was relieved to lose the election. He never again stood for a popular election, other than as a delegate to party conventions, but his association with Arthur rapidly advanced his national profile.[14] In 1880, Arthur was elected Vice President of the United States with Root's support. Root attended the inauguration and was among the friends at Arthur's New York home on September 19, 1881, when the Vice President was informed that President James A. Garfield had succumbed to an assassin's bullet and that he had succeed to the presidency.[20] In 1881, Root encountered another future President: Theodore Roosevelt, who was elected to the State Assembly from Root's district. Root actively supported the young Roosevelt's career by signing Roosevelt's nomination papers, aiding in efforts to sideline a rival candidate, and speaking on behalf of his 1886 mayoral campaign.[21]

Though many immediately expected Arthur would offer Root the office of Attorney General or some other cabinet post, he did not.[14] Arthur later appointed Root as the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York in March 1883.[22][23] There was limited opposition to his nomination given that Arthur was trying to force out a political rival, Stewart L. Woodford, who had been appointed by Garfield, but he was approved by the Senate and sworn in on March 12. The role was part-time, with Root devoting his mornings to the Attorney's office and his afternoons to his private practice. Many of his cases were suits for the refund of customs duties paid under protest.[24]

As U.S. Attorney, Root had his first exposure to international law,[24] which would become the cornerstone of his public legacy. He prosecuted two cases for violation of United States neutrality laws against vessels for aiding Haitian and Colombian insurgents and defended the government in the Head Money Cases, a challenge to Immigration Act of 1882 on grounds that it conflicted with international treaties with the Republic of the Netherlands. The suit was appealed to the Supreme Court, where the government prevailed.[24]

Root's highest profile case as U.S. Attorney was the prosecution for embezzlement of James C. Fish, a partner in Ward and Grant, a Ponzi scheme trading on the name of former President Ulysses S. Grant and his son, Ulysses Jr. The collapse of Ward and Grant precipitated the Panic of 1884. Fish offered a defense of ignorance, claiming that he had been fooled by the scheme, just as the Grants had been. For six weeks, Root devoted his full attention to the case, including the deposition of former President Grant, who died before a verdict was reached. The jury returned a guilty verdict after a night of deliberation, and Fish was sentenced to ten years in prison.[15]

The Fish verdict won Root praise in the press. According to the New York Sun, "The manner in which he conducted the prosecution... has won him high praise wherever reports of the trial have been published. The cross-examination of the defendant was characterized by exceptional acumen and professional skill, and was made much more effective than it would otherwise have been by Mr. Root's evident familiarity with the details of the banking business." The Mail and Express wrote, "The credit of the result must be awarded mainly to the District Attorney." In particular, Root was credited with vindicating the late President: "The unspeakable meanness of the conspirators in trying to save themselves by implicating General Grant in their fraudulent transactions... was dealt with in terms of deserved scorn and severity by the District Attorney."[15]

Just before his resignation, Root successfully won an indictment of Fish's co-conspirator, Ferdinand Ward. He quietly submitted his resignation to President Grover Cleveland on July 1, 1885. Two other members of the conspiracy were later prosecuted, and Root returned from private life to assist with the prosecutions.[15]

A Bob Satterfield cartoon depicts the forced retirement of Commanding General Nelson A. Miles.

At Root's appointment, the Department of War had a public reputation for inefficiency, corruption, and scandals which had characterized Alger's tenure and the war. His immediate focus was reforming military administration, which he viewed as a prerequisite for success in territorial administration or any future military campaign.[27] Though the United States had just completed a successful, brief military campaign against Spain, its officer corps was still organized on peacetime terms; Root set about permanently placing the United States military on a war footing.[26] Root worked closely with Adjutant General Henry Clark Corbin and William Harding Carter.[28]

His chief obstacle was Commanding General of the Army Nelson A. Miles; the offices of Commanding General and Secretary of War had long been engaged in a power struggle, and Root's reforms would directly implicate Miles's authority.[28] Root proposed the establishment of a General Staff led by the office of Chief of Staff of the United States Army. The Chief of Staff was to be a general officer of the Army answerable directly to the Secretary of War and the President. The Chief of Staff would carry out the Secretary's instructions and supervise discipline and manuevers.[26] The reorganization was accomplished by an act of Congress passed on February 14, 1903. Root also changed the procedures for promotions and also devised the principle of rotating officers from staff to line. Working with Secretary of the Navy William Henry Moody, Root established closer coordination between the Army and Navy, including the establishment of a joint board under General Orders No. 107.[26]

Root also sought to enhance military training. To that end, he enlarged the United States Military Academy and established the U.S. Army War College and additional training posts, especially Fort Leavenworth.[26] He likewise provided for additional National Guard officer training programs at Fort Leavenworth for those volunteer officers who had shown capacity during the Spanish–American War; per Root's instructions, the National Guard would also be equipped with the same arms as the regular army and examinations would be administered to qualify members for higher command.[26]

As a result of the Spanish–American War, the United States held military control of Cuba, the Philippines, and Puerto Rico. As Secretary of War, Root was tasked with the administration of martial law on the islands and the eventual transition to civilian government. Under the terms of the Teller Amendment, the United States was additionally bound to return "control of [Cuba] to its people." Particularly in the Philippines, the United States also faced militant insurgency from natives who resisted their transfer from one foreign empire to another.[27]

He worked out the procedures for turning Cuba over to the Cubans, ensured a charter of government for the Philippines, and eliminated tariffs on goods imported to the United States from Puerto Rico. When the Anti-Imperialist League attacked American policies in the Philippines, Root defended the policies and counterattacked the critics, saying they prolonged the insurgency.[29] For this work, he relied on legal advisor Charles Edward Magoon.[28]

In Cuba, the American challenge was to arrange for the transition to civilian government while preserving order and guaranteeing protection against international predation. Root established the island's first republican form of government under the command of Leonard Wood. This was accomplished by the Cuban constitution of 1901, and the American military government withdrew in 1902.[30]

Root and his successor, William Howard Taft, c. 1904.

Root's primary administrative challenge as Secretary of War was the effort to establish control of the Philippine Islands. Though American government of the islands was internationally recognized under the Treaty of Paris, the native independence movement resisted imperial control. Relative to Cuba and Puerto Rico, the islands' distance and the relative underdevelopment of Spanish institutions made administration far more challenging.[31]

Root's primary goal was the establishment of a civilian governor-general (as had been applied in Cuba) rather than a military governor; however, he felt that education of the native population was necessary before such a transition could be successful. In 1900, Root guided the establishment of the Philippine commission, led by William Howard Taft, as a move toward autonomous civil government. The first step in his proposed process was the establishment of municipal governments and administrative divisions.[31] The commission was to be guided by the principles of the Virginia Declaration of Rights.[31]

In addition to his duties as Secretary of War, Root was one of three Americans appointed by President Roosevelt (with Henry Cabot Lodge and George Turner) to an international arbitration court to resolve the boundary dispute between Alaska and Great Britain. The dispute arose as a result of the Klondike Gold Rush of 1900, which heightened interest in the region and tensions over the exact boundary between the regions.[32]

On October 20, 1903, the dispute was resolved by British jurist Richard Webster, 1st Viscount Alverstone in favor of the United States on every point of contention.[32]

In June 1917, at age 72, Root headed a mission to Russia sent by President Wilson to arrange American co-operation with the Russian Provisional Government headed by Alexander Kerensky. Root remained in Petrograd for close to a month and was not much impressed by what he saw. American financial aid to the new regime was possible only if the Russians would fight on the Allied side. The Russians, he said, "are sincere, kindly, good people but confused and dazed". He summed up the Provisional Government trenchantly: "No fight, no loans."[35] This provoked the Provisional Government to initiate failed offensives against Austrian forces in July 1917. The resulting steep decline in popularity of the Provisional Government opened the door for the Bolshevik party and the October Revolution.[36]

Root was the founding chairman of the Council on Foreign Relations, established in 1918 in New York.

Root was a prominent opponent of women's suffrage. As chairman of the judiciary committee of a New York State constitutional convention in 1894, Root spoke against women's right to vote, and he worked to ensure that the right was not included in the state constitution. He would remain an active opponent of feminism for the rest of his career.[41]

In 1870, Root accompanied his brother Wally, with whom he had lived in his early days in New York, on a European voyage. Wally suffered from tuberculosis (then known as incurable "consumption") and believed that the trip would cure his disease. The brothers were together in Dresden at the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War; they followed its progress throughout the summer as Wally's condition worsened. Towards the end of the trip, Elihu had to carry his brother in his arms. They returned to Clinton, where Wally died on November 15, 1870; Elihu paid off his debts.[42]

In 1878, Root married Clara Frances Wales, the daughter of prominent New York Republican Salem Howe Wales. They had three children:

• Edith Root (b. December 1, 1878,[43] m. Ulysses S. Grant III)
• Elihu Root Jr. (b. May 7, 1881,[43] m. Alida Stryker)
• Edward Wales Root (b. July 23, 1884[43])

Elihu Root Jr. graduated from Hamilton College and became an attorney, like his father. He married Alida Stryker, the daughter of Hamilton College president M. Woolsey Stryker.[44]

Root was a devout Presbyterian, consistent with his upbringing. Upon first moving to New York City, he enrolled as a member of the Young Men's Christian Association, served as its vice president, contributed essays on Christian manhood to its literary society, and taught Sunday school.[45]

Chief Judge of the New York Court of Appeals Willard Bartlett was Root's lifelong friend from their time as young lawyers in New York.[46]

Root shared a love of western big game hunting with President Roosevelt,

Root was a member of the Union League Club of New York and twice served as its president, 1898–99, and again from 1915 to 1916. He also served as president of the New York City Bar Association from 1904 to 1905. He became the president of the National Security League in 1917, succeeding his mentor Joseph Hodges Choate. Root spoke in favor of war and in opposition to women's suffrage as head of the league.[41]

Professor Alfred McCoy argues that Root was the first "foreign policy grandmaster" in American history and that Root more than any other figure is responsible for transforming America into a world power. According to McCoy, Root devoted his time as Secretary of State and as a Senator to ensuring that the United States would have a consistent presence in world affairs, and Root helped to establish the Special Relationship between the United States and Great Britain. Root helped to ensure that powerful business interests and the intellectual elite supported an interventionist foreign policy.[48]

In addition to receiving the Nobel Prize, Root was awarded the Grand Cross of the Order of the Crown (from Belgium) and the Grand Commander of the Order of George I (from Greece).Root joined the Empire State Society of the Sons of the American Revolution in 1895, based on his descent from Elihu Root (1772–1843), and was the second cousin twice removed of the publisher Henry Luce.

During World War II the Liberty ship SS Elihu Root was built in Panama City, Florida, and named in his honor.[49]

Root's home in Clinton, which he purchased in 1893, became known as the Elihu Root House, and was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1972. The United States Army Reserve Base in New York Mills, New York, bears his name.

The Elihu Root Gold Medal is awarded to the six highest scoring civilian competitors in the National Trophy Rifle Team Match and are subsequently named as team members. The captain and coach of the highest-scoring civilian team are named as the coach and captain of the team. All eight members receive Elihu Root gold medals.