Robert Ferdinand Wagner I (June 8, 1877 – May 4, 1953) was an American attorney and Democratic Party politician who represented the state of New York in the United States Senate from 1927 to 1949.
Born in Prussia, Wagner immigrated to the United States with his family in 1885. After graduating from New York Law School, Wagner won election to the New York State Legislature, eventually becoming the Democratic leader of the New York State Senate. Working closely with fellow New York City Democrat Al Smith, Wagner and Smith embraced reform, especially to the benefit of their core constituency, the working class. They built a coalition for these reforms that embraced unions, social workers, some businessmen, and numerous middle-class activists and civic reform organizations across the state.[3] Wagner left the state senate in 1918, and served as a justice of the New York Supreme Court until his election to the U.S. Senate in 1926.
As a young lawyer he became part of the Tammany Hall Democratic machine in Manhattan. He was elected to New York State Assembly in 1905 (New York Co., 30th D.), 1907 and 1908 (both New York Co., 22nd D.).
In the aftermath of the horrible Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, he was Chairman of the State Factory Investigating Committee (1911–1915). His Vice Chairman was fellow Tammany Hall politician, Al Smith. They held a series of widely publicized investigations around the state, interviewing 222 witnesses and taking 3500 pages of testimony. They started with the issue of fire safety and moved on to broader issues of the risks of injury in the factory environment. Their findings led to 38 new laws regulating labor in New York State and gave each of them a reputation as leading progressive reformers working on behalf of the working class. In the process, they changed Tammany's reputation from mere corruption to progressive endeavors to help workers.[5][6][7]
Wagner, who had known the future President when they were in the New York state legislature together, was a member of Franklin Roosevelt's Brain Trust. He was very involved in labor issues, fought for legal protection and rights for workers, and was a leader in crafting the New Deal.
a veteran Liberal Tammany statesman, author of the United States labour code and devotee of the New Deal who is respected by the White House for his political acumen within his own State no less than for his political connexions. Greatest champion of the Liberal cause in the United States Senate since [George W.] Norris. A typical anti-Nazi German Democrat who has supported all the Administration measures, being usually well in advance of them.[9]
His most important legislative achievements include the National Industrial Recovery Act in 1933 and the Wagner–Steagall Housing Act of 1937. After the Supreme Court ruled the National Industrial Recovery Act and the National Recovery Administration unconstitutional, Wagner helped pass the National Labor Relations Act (also known as the Wagner Act) in 1935,[10] a similar but much more expansive bill. The National Labor Relations Act, perhaps Wagner's greatest achievement, was a seminal event in the history of organized labor in the United States. It created the National Labor Relations Board, which mediated disputes between unions and corporations, and greatly expanded the rights of workers by banning many "unfair labor practices" and guaranteeing all workers the right to form a union. He also introduced the Railway Pension Law and cosponsored the Wagner–O'Day Act, the predecessor to the Javits–Wagner–O'Day Act.
Wagner was instrumental in writing the Social Security Act, and originally introduced it in the United States Senate.
Wagner and Edward P. Costigan sponsored a federal anti-lynching law in 1934. They tried to persuade President Roosevelt to support the bill but Roosevelt refused for fear of alienating Southern Democrats and losing their support for New Deal programs. There were 18 lynchings of blacks in the South in 1935, but after the threat of federal legislation, the number fell to eight in 1936 and to two in 1939.[12]
On June 28, 1949, Wagner resigned from the Senate because of ill health; John Foster Dulles was appointed by Governor Thomas E. Dewey on July 7, 1949, to fill the vacancy temporarily.
Personal life and death
Wagner was raised as a Lutheran, but he became a Methodist in his college years and taught Sunday school; he converted to Roman Catholicism in 1946.[13]
In 1908, Wagner married Margaret Marie McTague.[14] She died in 1919. They had one son, Robert F. Wagner Jr.
In 1927, he received the first honorary citizenship of Nastaetten, his town of birth.[15]
His son Robert F. Wagner Jr. was Mayor of New York City from 1954 to 1965. His grandson, Robert (Bobby) Ferdinand Wagner III, was a Deputy Mayor, Director Urban Planning Commission and President of the New York City Board of Education in the 80s and 90s.
On September 14, 2004, a portrait of Wagner, along with one of Senator Arthur H. Vandenberg, was unveiled in the Senate Reception Room. The new portraits joined a group of distinguished former senators, including Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, John C. Calhoun, Robert M. La Follette, and Robert A. Taft. Portraits of this group of senators, known as the "Famous Five", were unveiled on March 12, 1959.
The public middle school located at 220 East 76th Street in New York City is named after him.
Biles, Roger. "Robert F. Wagner, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Social Welfare Legislation in the New Deal." Presidential Studies Quarterly 28.1 (1998): 139–152. online
Casebeer, Kenneth M. "Holder of the Pen: An Interview with Leon Keyersling on Drafting the Wagner Act." University of Miami Law Review 42 (1987): 285+. online
"Robert Ferdinand Wagner." Dictionary of American Biography New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1977. Biography in Context. Web. February 22, 2015 online
Huthmacher, J. Joseph. "Senator Robert F. Wagner and the rise of urban liberalism." American Jewish Historical Quarterly (1969): 330–346. in JSTOR
Huthmacher, J. Joseph. Senator Robert F. Wagner and the Rise of Urban Liberalism (1968) [ISBN missing]
Wagner Jr., Robert F. "The Philosophy of the Wagner Act of 1935." St. John's Law Review 32 (1957): 1–7, by his son the mayor; online.