William Scott Vare

William Vare

William Scott Vare (December 24, 1867–August 7, 1934) was an American construction contractor and Republican Party politician from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He represented Pennsylvania in the U.S House and won a contested election to the United States Senate.

Youth

Bill Vare was the youngest of three Vare brothers who were all contractors and politicians. George (1859-1908), Ed (1862-1922) and William were all born in the area of South Philadelphia known in local slang as "The Neck", or the area of South Philadelphia that calls the Wachovia Center, Lincoln Financial Field and Citizens Bank Park home.

Bill, although not the product of a dysfunctional family, nevertheless had a rough childhood. At age six, he witnessed the death of his father, his mother died while in labor and with the exceptions of his two older brothers mentioned above he witnessed the deaths of all his brothers and sisters. This seems to have instilled in him a dark side, a bright side and a real drive to succeed. The renowned merchant of Philadelphia, John Wanamaker, took young Bill under his wing, by paying for his tuition at Philadelphia's famous Central Highschool, and a little later he worked at Wanamaker's.

Early career

His political career began in 1884 when he observed the Mummers on New Years Day and realized that this system of drill marches could be employed in political campaigns. In 1890 he started contracting with his two older brothers. By 1909, this contracting firm, known simply as "Vare Brothers," had contracts with the City of Philadelphia whose aggregate worth was over $100,000,000.

Bill was elected to City Council in 1898. Four years later, he was elected as Recorder of Deeds. In 1911, he decided to try a run for mayor as a moderate Republican. The primary was won by George H. Earle Jr., but it split the Republican organization in Philadelphia three different ways, and it was these splits that accounted for Independent Rudolph Blankenburg's election in 1911.

United States House of Representatives

In 1912, Vare was elected to the first of seven terms in the House of Representatives upon the death of Henry H. Bingham. At this juncture, Vare's voting record took a much more pronounced turn to the left. He supported the abolition of child labor, the federal income tax, the rights of unions to bargain collectively, and voting rights for women and the ending of segregation on passenger rail cars. In 1921 Vare's rival, Senator Boies Penrose, died. The following year his older brother Ed also died. This left Bill Vare as the undisputed leader of Philadelphia, with broad influence over the burgeoning industrial and economic region of the middle Atlantic seaboard.

Vare's voting record in the United States House of Representatives was classically Pennsylvania Republican, or more liberal on social issues and then more conservative on issues of pure business. Vare repeatedly pursued the repeal of Prohibition because of the cruel police state it imposed, and was actually able to show, statistically, that alcohol-related crimes increased threefold in Philadelphia during the first years of Prohibition. It was a testament to his moral character that he argued this way, as it has been inferred that the Philadelphia Republican Party machine relied on alcohol-related revenues to fund it's core activities, and Vare thus stood to lose much of his financial backing by pursuing Prohibition's repeal.

The Republican organization in Philadelphia received many offers to do business from the likes of Waxey Gordon and "Lucky" Luciano. But this was no ordinary arrangement, as Vare forced both Gordon and Luciano to agree that Vare would hold a veto power over any racket operating in Philadelphia. In a further bid to gird the fiscal foundation of the Party, Vare decided to extract "loyalty oaths" from the entire Philadelphia Republican organization. Vare was also able to exert tremendous influence over Philadelphia's legal business. This was a strong form of politics, because Vare had lots of influence with the unions.

Senate Scandals and End of career

In 1926 Vare announced his candidacy for the United States Senate. Both the primaries and general election were scandals. After Vare apparently won the election, Governor Gifford Pinchot, who had been drubbed by Vare in the primary, refused to certify the election. In January 1927, Pinchot testified before the Senate, producing several thousand illegal paper ballots. Nevertheless, the Senate informed Vare that they would contact him. In the interim Vare began smoking, drinking and eating to excess. This led in August 1928 to a stroke that nearly killed him.

In December 1929, Vare was summoned before the Senate where he was informed that while he won the election, they could not agree to him being seated. However, Vare took it to mean that he was being denied the seat because of Pinchot's charges. As a result, in the 1930 gubernatorial primary, Vare supported the Democratic nominee John Hemphill, who lost to Pinchot. At this point a palace coup emerged at the Republican City Committee, where he was ousted and replaced by Secretary of Labor James J. Davis.

Four years later, Vare was attempting a comeback as a Democrat. However, the symptoms of the 1928 stroke had become worse in the ensuing six years, and he died on the sixth anniversary of the stroke. He is buried in West Laurel Hill Cemetery, Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania.

References

• Paul B. Beers, Pennsylvania Politics Today and Yesterday: The Tolerable Accommodation 1980
• Peter McCaffery's When Bosses Ruled Philadelphia, Penn State University Press 1993.
• Andrew T. Vare Stories about Uncle Bill as told by Lucille Townsend Vare, Bryn Mawr 1983

External links

• United States Congress. "William Scott Vare (id: V000071)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
• politicalgraveyard.com
• Biography-West Laurel Hill Cemetery web site