Like
his father before him, he had ruled the Republican Party of
Pennsylvania with a strong hand. He was not given to much
speaking. He was an admirable executive officer, self-reliant,
powerful, courageous and enterprising, with little respect
for the discontent of subordinates. He was supported by a
majority of the delegates from Pennsylvania, although Blaine,
who was a native of that State, had a large following there.
The New York delegation was headed by Roscoe Conkling, who
had great influence over Grant when he was President, and
expected to retain that influence if he became President
again. The Maryland delegation was headed by J. A. J. Creswell,
who had been Postmaster-General more than five years in Grant's
two Administrations. On the Massachusetts delegation, as
I have said, was Governor Boutwell, Grant's Secretary of the
Treasury during nearly the whole of his first term, and on
that from Illinois John A. Logan. These men had a large following
over the whole country. There were three hundred and eight
persons in the convention who could be counted on to support
Grant from beginning to end, and about a dozen more were exceedingly
disposed to his candidacy.
Pages:
666
667
668
669
670
671
672
673
674
675
676
677
678
679
680
681
682
683
684
685
686
687
688
689
690