Life
Parker was born in Cortland, New York. He graduated LL.B. from Albany Law School and practiced law in Kingston, New York. He was a justice of the New York Supreme Court from 1885 to 1897, and Chief Judge of the New York Court of Appeals from 1898 to 1904. In addition to his judicial duties, he served as president of the Ulster County Savings Institution from 1896 to 1904. Parker was a protégé of conservative Democratic politician David B. Hill. He married Mary L. Schoonmaker on October 16, 1872.
Parker resigned from the bench after receiving the 1904 Democratic Party nomination for the U.S. presidency. He chose former U.S. Senator from West Virginia, Henry G. Davis to be his running mate for the office of Vice President of the United States. Parker was supported by conservative Bourbon Democrats, like former President Grover Cleveland, who had been alienated from the party in 1896 and 1900 due to the radicalism of the party's nominee William Jennings Bryan on economic issues. It was hoped that Parker could be acceptable to both factions since he was "sound" on economic issues, but had supported Bryan in 1896 as a good party man. These hopes were frustrated, however, as Parker had little appeal to Bryanites and carried only the Solid South.
Division within his party over currency issues and the popularity of incumbent Theodore Roosevelt led to Parker's landslide defeat, the electoral vote being 336 for Roosevelt to 140 for Parker, the popular vote 7,623,486 for Roosevelt to 5,077,971 for Parker. Afterwards he resumed his practice of law.
Parker later served as a temporary chairman and keynote speaker at the 1912 Democratic National Convention, which nominated Woodrow Wilson for President. In 1913, he was counsel for the managers of the trial leading to the impeachment of Governor William Sulzer of New York.
He died from a heart attack while riding in his car through Central Park in New York City. He was buried in Wiltwyck Cemetery, Kingston, NY.
Read more about this topic: Alton B. Parker
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