In
1908, at the Democratic national
convention in Denver, Taggart as
national chairman went to the
front for his good friend and
fellow Hoosier, John W. Kern, and
secured for him the
vice-presidential nomination.
Again Teddy Roosevelt rose up and
won. William Jennings Bryan and
Kern had been no match for the
'big stick". In 1912, the
story had similar beginnings, but
a different end. The convention
was held in Baltimore and again
Taggart and his force came to the
convention prepared to push a
Hoosier into the political arena.
Thomas R. Marshall as governor of
Indiana owed much of his success
to Tom Taggart. In 1908, when
nominations for governor of the
state of Indiana were being
fought for, Tom Taggart had
supported Samuel M. Ralson.
Realizing that a deadlock existed
between Ralston, Marshall and L.
E. Slack, and fearing that
Ralston did not have enough
support to win, Taggart threw his
support from Ralston to Marshall.
On one ballot he swung four
hundred votes to Marshall, and
Marshall was subsequently elected
governor of the state.
Now in Baltimore at the national
convention, Taggart and the
Indiana delegation were solidly
behind Marshall as a favorite son
candidate for the presidency. The
business of choosing a
presidential candidate proved to
be a difficult one. The
convention was deadlocked between
Champ Clark of Missouri and
Woodrow Wilson. The voting had
dragged on to nearly thirty
ballots, and at the right
psychological moment, Taggart, as
leader of the Indiana delegation,
threw twenty-nine of their thirty
votes for Woodrow Wilson. Until
this time Indiana had voted
consistently for T. R. Marshall.
It was the turning point of the
convention and marked the first
state of importance to swing to
the Wilson bandwagon. |
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At the
announcement, demonstra-
tions and
wild cheering took over the floor
and from that moment on Wilson
continued to gain in strength.
The convention recessed until the
next day. The evening prior to
Taggart's switch to Wilson,
Taggart and other leaders of
delegations had net and agreed
that Marshall would be an
acceptable running mate for
Woodrow Wilson. As it turned out,
the combination of Wilson and
Marshall was nominated and went
on to win the election in
November. Taggart not only
engineered the switch of the
Indiana delegation as well as
some other states to Wilson, but
he effectively put down other
opposition and saw Marshall put
in as Vice-President. Tom Taggart
was riding high - politically and
financially. With Taggart's rise
to fame, the French Lick Springs
Hotel also became more widely
known.
The hotel became the gathering
place for political men from all
over the nation. Along with men
known for their political office
came business leaders and
prominent people from every state
in the Union. It became
fashionable to visit French Lick.
In 1904, when Taggart had gone to
New York to set up Democratic
headquarters, his secretary had
set up a display in an outer
office advertising Pluto water
and French Lick. New York
newspapers, especially the Sun
printed stories accusing Taggart
of using party headquarters to
advertise a private business.
Pictures of French Lick and
additional write-ups about
gambling there filled the papers
for several days. The stories had
served to advertise the resort
more than to harm it. In 1905,
many prominent New Yorkers came
to French Lick to "see what
the newspapers were making such a
fuss about." The golden era
for the hotel at French Lick had
begun. |