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The University of Michigan Joseph Patrick Tumulty Papers |
Personal and professional correspondence of Joseph P. Tumulty, Private Secretary to Woodrow Wilson from 1911-1921. A New Jersey attorney from a middle class Irish-Catholic family, Tumulty became an important figure in state-level Democratic circles, in the progressivist mold of William Jennings Bryan. After a stint in the New Jersey Assembly (1907-1910), where he sponsored unsuccessful reformist legislation to regulate railroad and utility rates, Tumulty served as an adviser to gubenatorial candidate Woodrow Wilson in the election of 1911. Pleased with Tumulty's assistance, Wilson appointed Tumulty to be his private secretary in 1911 which he ably filled for ten years, including during Wilson's years as president.
During his tenure as Wilson's secretary, Tumulty filled many different roles, including press secretary, public relations, campaign organizer for the Catholic and Irish vote, and adviser for minor patronage appointments. His relationship with the president was nearly severed over his opposition to Wilson's remarriage only a few months shortly after the death of his first wife, but Wilson declined Tumulty's offer to resign. Despite this, however, the relationship between the two was never again as close.
A 'conservative progressive' in his own estimation, Tumulty was a proponent of women's suffrage, war-time censorship and was a supporter of A. Mitchell Palmer's deportation of 'red' aliens in 1919. It was ultimately his support of Palmer and of the 'wet' Catholic presidential candidate, James M. Cox that led to his final break with Wilson in 1922, and ended Tumulty's influence in Washington. He remained in Washington as a practicing attorney until his death in 1954.
The collection consists of retained copies and typescripts of correspondence and appears to have been thoroughly sorted through, with all of the letters to or from Wilson and most other major political figures having been removed. What remains, however, is an interesting assortment providing insight into political patronage during the Wilson administration and a variety of other miscellaneous political issues.
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