June 3, 1844 – Birth of Garret Hobart, Vice President Under William McKinley

Garret Augustus Hobart, born on this day in New Jersey, was the 24th vice president of the US, serving from 1897 until his death in 1899. He was the sixth American vice president to die in office.

Hobart was a wealthy corporate lawyer before going into politics in the Republican Party. During the 1896 Republican National Convention, New Jersey delegates to the convention were determined to nominate him for vice president. Hobart’s political views were similar to those of William McKinley, the presumptive Republican presidential candidate. With New Jersey a key state in the upcoming election, McKinley and his close adviser, future senator and political kingmaker Mark Hanna, decided to have the convention select Hobart. McKinley and Hobart were elected.

While Hobart had never met McKinley prior to the election, they drew quite close in the following months. Hobart became so highly regarded by McKinley, Jules Witcover reports in The American Vice Presidency, “that he was utilized almost as the country’s assistant president.” In fact, according to the Miller Center, Hobart expanded the role of the vice president to such an extent that he was actually called the “Assistant President.”

Even though the vice president was not invited to cabinet meetings, McKinley and cabinet members regularly sought advice from the vice president. Furthermore, with McKinley’s wife suffering from epilepsy, Hobart’s wife Jennie helped McKinley with social obligations. The two husbands and wives became quite close, even vacationing together.

Jennie Tuttle Hobart

McKinley followed Hobart’s advice on such matters as declaring war on Spain in 1898 and retaining the Philippines after the war. In domestic matters, McKinley also depended on Hobart’s counsel, but Hobart had a serious ailment, and by April 1899 there was speculation that he would not be up to a reelection campaign. His condition continued to worsen, and he died on November 21, 1899.

The Miller Center notes:

Although he is better remembered for his early death and famous successor (Theodore Roosevelt), Hobart’s brief tenure included historically significant expansions of vice presidential power. . . . Additionally, Hobart’s more assertive oversight of the Senate represented a distinct change from his predecessors. Although his time in office was less than three years, Hobart was an able vice president and treated his office less as a ceremonial position than as a venue for more substantial consultation and influence.”