J. Henry Roraback

Born:  North Canaan; April 5, 1870
Died:  Harwinton; May 19, 1937

Entry by Herbert F. Janick

From 1894 until 1930 the Republican party dominated Connecticut politics. From the time he took over as party chairman in 1912 after the Bull Moose embarrassment until his retirement in 1935, J. Henry Roraback dominated the Republican party in the state. Without ever holding public office, this astute businessman-politician set legislative priorities and decided on the occupants of all major political offices. In the 1920s, when his power was unchallenged, he was the most influential political figure in Connecticut.

Roraback does not fit the stereotype of the political boss. North Canaan remained his lifelong home. Trained as a lawyer he found greater challenge as an entrepreneur in the expanding electric power industry. He was the chief lobbyist and after 1925 the president of the Connecticut Light and Power Company, the largest utility in the state. At the same time that he pursued a business career, he worked diligently but unobtrusively for the Republican party as town chairman in North Canaan, state committeeman, and beginning in 1912 as state chairman. Roraback took over the Republican party at a difficult time. Because of the Taft-Roosevelt split in the national GOP ranks, Connecticut Democrats were able to win the governorship twice with Simeon Baldwin as the candidate. Exploiting his contacts in the small towns, Roraback unified the party and returned it to power in 1914. By 1922 he had silenced all rivals within the GOP, and until the Depression struck, Roraback controlled state government from his office on the third floor of the Allyn House in Hartford.

Connecticut government in the 1920s was an expression of Roraback's political philosophy. He believed that the best men, particularly able business executives, should be brought into state service. Examples of those whom Roraback enticed into politics were: John Trumbull (1873-1961), a manufacturer and three-time governor; Frederick C. Walcott (1869-1949), investment banker and United States senator; and Hiram Bingbam (1875-1956), Yale professor, governor, and United States senator. Roraback was a conservative who was wedded to low taxes, cuts in state services, efficient administration, and, above all, pay-as-you-go financing. "There is a feeling of appreciation," he reminded party officials, "for any organization, business or political, which pays its bills." At one point in 1927 he cut short a Florida vacation and rushed back to Hartford in order to block a proposed bond issue to finance a building program for recreation and public health needs. After this incident he reportedly chided the General Assembly for its irresponsibility. "Good Lord," he said, "Can't I be out of the state for three weeks without you boys plunging the state into a debt for millions of dollars."

The world that Roraback understood and was proud of came to an end in 1929. His insistence on limited, frugal government in the face of economic depression made possible the victory of Wilbur Cross in 1930. It would be almost a decade before younger, more liberal Republicans would regain control of state government. By that time Roraback, ill for over a year, had committed suicide.

For Further Reading

Even though Roraback's impact on Connecticut was great, there is no published book or article about him. Edwin Dahill, "Connecticut's J. Henry Roraback," Ph.D. Dissertation, Columbia University Teachers College, 1971, is a perceptive treatment based on available Roraback papers.

* Entry under revision.