In 1915, Congress voted for an anti-miscegenation law for Washington D.C. The vote was not close, passing with almost all Democrats in support and Republicans split. The most that could be said against the bill by its opponents, led by Minority Leader James Mann (R-Ill.), was that although they found interracial relationships personally objectionable, such a law would be oppressive to black people. Seven years later, Congress voted for the Dyer Anti-Lynching Bill, which met the same fate as the anti-miscegenation law: passed overwhelmingly in the House but failed to pass the Senate. One would assume that those who voted against anti-lynching legislation would also vote against interracial marriage, right? You’d be correct in all but two cases, those of Republicans R. Wayne Parker of Newark, New Jersey and William Stafford of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Similarities

Both Parker and Stafford had some striking similarities that tell us perhaps a good deal of why they voted against the Dyer bill. In 1918, the two voted against both the Prohibition Amendment and the Women’s Suffrage Amendment to the Constitution. In 1921, both voted against the Sheppard-Towner Maternity Act. In these regards, they sided with people who emphasized state’s rights. Both were strongly inclined against high government spending and supported income tax reduction. Both men also did not reside in safe districts and were persistent in their political careers. However, there were some substantial differences between the men.

Differences

Parker was extremely conservative, voting for expanding the navy to prepare for war, against the eight-hour day law for railroad workers, and for World War I but against raising the income tax to fund it. His DW-Nominate score is a 0.621. He was also the only legislator in the House from above the Mason-Dixon line to vote against the Keating-Owen Act limiting working hours for children and forbidding interstate sale of goods produced by child labor. Parker had also been chairman of the House Judiciary Committee during the 61st Congress. Although he lost reelection in 1910, he returned to office in a 1914 special election in a plurality, in which the Democrats had the misfortune of having two candidates from their party. A strange incident occurred in the following year when he had a public outburst that he should go to Washington and take over the affairs of Secretary of State Robert Lansing and that he wanted to see the German Ambassador Count von Bernstorff and that he had equipped “four horses” for the purpose and was briefly placed in an asylum at the behest of his wife (The Philadelphia Inquirer).

In 1918, Parker lost reelection to Democrat Daniel Minahan but bounced back in the 1920 Harding landslide. However, the 1922 midterms went strongly against the Republicans and Parker again lost reelection to Minahan. He might have tried for his seat again, but he died in Paris on November 28, 1923, during an operation for peritonitis. The district he represented is now a solidly Democratic area. The last Republican any part of his old district elected to Congress appears to have been William Martini in 1994.

Stafford

Stafford was willing to vote for some of Woodrow Wilson’s New Freedom legislation and was regarded as an independent-minded legislator. He sometimes supported the La Follette wing of the party and notably voted against American entry into World War I, although most of Wisconsin’s elected officials did so as well. Stafford was also a supporter of independence for the Philippines. His DW-Nominate score is a 0.314.

He often battled for representing his district with Socialist Victor Berger. Stafford had first won his seat in 1902, but lost reelection in 1910 in a Democratic wave with Berger becoming the first member of the Socialist Party to be elected to Congress. However, Stafford got returned to office in 1912 only to lose in 1918 to Berger. Although elected, Berger was not seated over claims of disloyalty to the United States and his conviction of sedition (it was overturned), thus leaving Wisconsin’s 5th without representation during the 66th Congress. In 1920, Stafford was elected again and had a mixed record in supporting President Harding’s policies, notably being against higher tariffs. However, he lost to Berger in 1922. Stafford tried again in 1926 but fell short as the midterms, while not bad for Republicans, were not favorable either. He tried again in 1928 and a three-way election produced a plurality for him. He didn’t face another challenge from Berger in 1930, as he had been killed in a cable car accident, but he came close to losing to another Socialist. The Great Depression, however, was too much for Stafford to politically survive and he lost renomination in 1932.

Although in 1938 he ran for the Republican nomination for the Senate, he was defeated by businessman Alexander Wiley, who would win the election. Stafford would live for quite a bit longer, dying on April 22, 1957. His district would only see fit to send two more Republicans to the House in non-interventionist Lewis Thill (1939-1943) and moderate Charles Kersten (1947-1949, 1951-1955). It has since become a Democratic stronghold.


References

Obituary – Richard Wayne Parker. (1923, November 29). The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Retrieved from

https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-philadelphia-inquirer-obituary-rich/127487655/

Parker, Richard Wayne. Voteview.

Retrieved from

https://voteview.com/person/7203/richard-wayne-parker

Stafford, William Henry. Voteview.

Retrieved from

https://voteview.com/person/8823/william-henry-stafford

Stafford, William Henry 1869-1957. Wisconsin Historical Society.

Retrieved from

https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Article/CS13283

Wildstein, D. (2022, November 30). For extreme political junkies: the Parker vs. Minahan wars. New Jersey Globe.

Retrieved from

https://newjerseyglobe.com/congress/for-extreme-political-junkies-the-parker-vs-minahan-wars/