WEBINAR – The Real “Stolen Election”: Frank Hague and New Jersey’s 1937 Race for Governor

Any notion of a rigged 2020 national election pales in comparison to America’s real “Stolen Election” eighty three years before — in New Jersey. Republican state senator Lester H. Clee was poised to make the 1937 gubernatorial election a very close race. He carried 14 of the state’s 21 counties and was nearly tied in five others. Yet, the day after polls closed, people awoke to news that Clee’s 80,000 vote lead had vanished. Overnight, his majority was erased by late returns from one single county — Hudson County, the power base of state Democratic Boss, Frank Hague. The 45,000 vote plurality delivered by Hague’s indomitable political machine put Clee’s opponent A. Harry Moore over the top. Please join us as Joseph M. Murray examines claims made by Republicans of the day that the 1937 election was stolen, specifically that Lester Clee lost to A. Harry Moore because of institutionalized voter fraud in Hudson County. He will explore the feasibility of fraud occurring on such an order of magnitude as to alter the outcome of the election; and whether machine-orchestrated obstruction by state and county officials of both parties successfully averted its discovery.

Born and raised in Jersey City, Joe earned a dual major BA (English Literature and History) from Jersey City State College, an MA in European History from New York University and a Master’s Certificate in Contract Management from George Washington University. His article “Bosses & Reformers: The Jersey City Victory Movement of 1957” was published in New Jersey History in 1985, receiving that year’s William A. Whitehead Award. Ongoing research into Bossism and Machine Politics in Jersey City led to production of the documentary mini-series covering New Jersey Boss Frank Hague, the rise of the movement that unseated him, and the successor Democratic machine of John V. Kenny.

Click Here to Register!