In death, just like when he dominated local government, former Jersey City Mayor Frank Hague remains larger than life.
A mayor who served for three decades from 1917 to 1947, Hague arguably did more to shape Jersey City than almost any other political figure in the city’s history. During his tenure in office, Hague expanded a major medical center, built schools, gave jobs to the poor, and secured funding for the city.
Yet he is most often remembered for the political patronage and corruption that was also prevalent during his time in office. It is well known, for instance, that he kept a desk with a “bank drawer” that allowed those seeking political favors to insert cash-filled envelopes that would be retrieved on the other side by Hague or one of his intermediaries. So well-known is the story of this desk that it was often referenced in news accounts of the 2009 FBI sting operation that snared dozens of New Jersey public officials.
‘The demonization of Frank Hague has prevented an objective look at the man.’ – Leonard Vernon
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“While some believed him a thief, others viewed him as a modern-day Robin Hood,” writes Vernon. “He could put food on your table and coal in your furnace. He could give you a job on the police or fire [departments], or he could end your career (or that of your spouse or relative) just as easily. A visit from a city health department official could close down your restaurant, while a property reassessment could triple your real estate taxes. It was with this same ease and power that he could make you a federal judge, a congressman, or even a United States senator.”
Politically active as a teen, Jersey City native Vernon grew up in a working class neighborhood on the West Side.
“All my life growing up I would hear about Frank Hague,” Vernon told the Reporter. “I was always involved with people who were involved in politics and, of course, the name Hague would always come up…And whenever anything negative would happen [in the city] – if an ambulance took too long to get somewhere, for instance – my father would always say, ‘This wouldn’t happen if Haguie was around.’ There was a dichotomy to Hague that intrigued me.”
A Democrat, Hague didn’t court “big business” of the era. But he helped stamp out labor organizing efforts at industrial factories at Journal Square and Exchange Place, an action that led to a lawsuit against him by the American Civil Liberties Union. The case reached the U.S. Supreme Court, which ultimately ruled in 1939 that the mayor had deprived the labor unions and factory workers the right to free speech and assembly.
Vernon said that rarely was Hague discussed or cast in a negative light in his “blue collar neighborhood.” And yet, it was through others outside his community that Vernon became aware of Hague’s full history and complexity. He recalled conversations he had with attorneys like Jessie Moskowitz who told him about civil rights violations that took place in Jersey City under Hague’s administration.
“Those were things that were not discussed in my household,” said Vernon.
Because the pendulum that was Frank Hague swung both ways, Vernon found him to be a “very interesting character” and decided to write a book about him. He said his research led him to the inevitable stories about the bossism and political graft that were apparently rife during the former mayor’s time in office.
But his research also revealed that Hague was revered by Jersey City’s working class, especially the city’s large Irish immigrant community.
“I think it’s a very unfair characterization to say the genesis of New Jersey political corruption is Frank Hague,” Vernon said. “Political corruption existed long before Frank Hague and it’s not unique to Jersey City. The demonization of Frank Hague has prevented an objective look at the man and his administration.”
Working class hero
Born to Irish immigrants in what is now downtown Jersey City, Hague became an advocate for Jersey City’s large Irish community that had for years been discriminated against by Republicans of German descent.
“There were many people who owed their jobs, their homes, the food on their table to Hague and he was seen as a champion of the working man,” said Vernon.
In his book, Vernon seeks to paint the full picture of Hague that he thinks has been lacking in history books and political discourse for decades.
Specifically, Vernon points to several forward-thinking ideas the former mayor advocated during his time in office. For example, former U.S. Rep. Mary T. Norton (D-Jersey City), who represented New Jersey’s 13th congressional district, owes much of her early success to Hague’s support. Just one year after women got the right to vote in 1920, Hague supported Norton’s candidacy for the Hudson County Board of Chosen Freeholders, an election she won in 1921.
During her time as a freeholder, Norton convinced the county to build the Margaret Hague Maternity Hospital, named after the mayor’s mother.
Later, while a senior U.S. representative on Capitol Hill, she was able to get funding for Jersey City from the Works Progress Administration. This funding allowed the city to expand Jersey City Medical Center, once known as a charity hospital, and the A. Harry Moore School. Much of the original medical center footprint no longer exists as part of the hospital. One building is now the Beacon residential complex. The development of the medical center is another of Hague’s accomplishments that Vernon describes in detail.
In his book, Vernon also praises Hague’s political organizational skills, which have often been cited as the reason for his many years in office. Although other politicians canvassed neighborhoods and developed block and ward associations to help get out the vote at election time, Vernon said that Hague took a highly sophisticated approach to these strategies that could ensure him success at the ballot box.
“He is often accused of ballot stuffing,” said Vernon. “The reality is, he really didn’t need to stuff the ballot because he knew, down to the address, where his supporters lived. He knew if they voted, when they voted. His machine was such that he could legitimately get the results he wanted without falsifying votes.”
Interestingly, however, Hague fought the transition away from the traditional paper ballot box to electronic voting machines, and some academicians have questioned why the number of registered votes in the city was more than the number of eligible voters.
Still, Vernon acknowledges that none of the mayor’s accomplishments negate the other aspects of Hague’s legacy. It is simply his hope, he said, that Hague’s full tenure in office will be considered, and it will be understood that “scandal and corruption are just human nature that come along with power. And when it comes to power there are certain people with ethical lines that they don’t cross, and certain people who don’t have those same ethical lines.”
“The Life and Times of Jersey City Mayor Frank Hague: ‘I am the law’ ” (The History Press) can be purchased through Amazon.com for $13.59.
E-mail E. Assata Wright at awright@hudsonreporter.com.