Winfield Romeo Gaylord (June 14, 1870February 23, 1943) was an American journalist, minister, and

socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the ...

lecturer. He represented the northwest side of the city of

Milwaukee Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee ...

in the

Wisconsin State Senate The Wisconsin Senate is the upper house of the Wisconsin State Legislature. Together with the larger Wisconsin State Assembly they constitute the legislative branch of the state of Wisconsin. The powers of the Wisconsin Senate are modeled after t ...

during the

1909 Events January–February * January 4 – Explorer Aeneas Mackintosh of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition escaped death by fleeing across ice floes. * January 7 – Colombia recognizes the independence of Panama. * Jan ...

and

1911 A notable ongoing event was the Comparison of the Amundsen and Scott Expeditions, race for the South Pole. Events January * January 1 – A decade after federation, the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory ...

sessions. He also ran for

U.S. House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

five times on the Socialist or Social Democratic ticket, and was a candidate for Governor of Wisconsin in

1906 Events January–February * January 12 – Persian Constitutional Revolution: A nationalistic coalition of merchants, religious leaders and intellectuals in Persia forces the shah Mozaffar ad-Din Shah Qajar to grant a constitution, ...

Biography

Background

Gaylord was born June 14, 1870, in Verona, Mississippi, to Benjamin Franklin Gaylord (1835-1872) and Elsie Manelle Beebe Monismith (1842-1925). He attended public school in Cleveland, Ohio; studied at Ohio Wesleyan University,

Hamline University Hamline University is a private liberal arts college in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Founded in 1854, Hamline is known for its emphasis on experiential learning, service, and social justice. The university is named after Bishop Leonidas Lent Hamline ...

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

, and

Chicago Theological Seminary Founded in 1855, the Chicago Theological Seminary (CTS) is the oldest higher education institution in the City of Chicago and was established with two principal goals: first, to educate pastors who would minister to people living on the new west ...

, graduating from the latter school in 1908. He served as a

pastor A pastor (abbreviated as "Pr" or "Ptr" , or "Ps" ) is the leader of a Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Lutheranism, Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy and ...

in various

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's ...

and

Congregational Congregational churches (also Congregationalist churches or Congregationalism) are Protestant churches in the Calvinist tradition practising congregationalist church governance, in which each congregation independently and autonomously runs its ...

churches in

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...

, and

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

, from 1889 to 1902. From 1902 he worked as a lecturer on popular and economic subjects.

Political activity

He served as a national lecturer for the Socialist Party and was a member of the Wisconsin state executive board of the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Fo ...

. In 1904, he was nominated for

from

Wisconsin's 4th congressional district Wisconsin's 4th congressional district is a congressional district of the United States House of Representatives in Wisconsin, encompassing a part of Milwaukee County and including almost all of the city of Milwaukee (except the slivers of the c ...

, losing to

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

incumbent

Theobald Otjen Theobald Otjen (October 27, 1851 – April 11, 1924) was a U.S. Representative from Wisconsin. Theobald was born to German immigrants John Conrad and Dorothea (Schreiner) Otjen, in west China township in St. Clair County, Michigan and atte ...

. In 1906, he was the Socialist nominee for Governor of Wisconsin, losing to Republican acting Governor James O. Davidson, coming in third in a five-way race. He was a delegate to the Milwaukee

city charter A city charter or town charter (generically, municipal charter) is a legal document ('' charter'') establishing a municipality such as a city or town. The concept developed in Europe during the Middle Ages. Traditionally the granting of a charte ...

convention of 1908, and his translation of ''Changes in the theory and tactics of the (German) social-democracy'' by Paul Kampffmeyer was published by

Charles H. Kerr Publishing Company The Charles H. Kerr Publishing Company is an American publishing company. The company was established in Chicago, Illinois, in 1886 as Charles H. Kerr & Co. by Charles Hope Kerr, originally to promote his Unitarian views. As Kerr's personal inte ...

that same year.

Legislative service

Gaylord was elected in November 1908 to the

Wisconsin Senate The Wisconsin Senate is the upper house of the Wisconsin State Legislature. Together with the larger Wisconsin State Assembly they constitute the legislative branch of the state of Wisconsin. The powers of the Wisconsin Senate are modeled after t ...

from the 6th State Senate district (9th, 10th, 19th, 20th and 22nd wards of the city of Milwaukee) for a four-year term to succeed fellow Socialist Jacob Rummel, receiving 6,236 votes against 5,820 for Republican August Langhoff. He was appointed to the

standing committee A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly. A committee is not itself considered to be a form of assembly. Usually, the assembly sends matters into a committee as a way to explore them more ...

s on

manufactures Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer to a rang ...

and

labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the la ...

, and on

public health Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals". Analyzing the det ...

. In 1910, he was again the Socialist nominee for the 4th congressional district, coming in a close second to Democratic incumbent William Joseph Cary. In that banner election year for the Socialist Party of Milwaukee, he came within 447 votes of unseating the incumbent. By 1911, he was the statewide organizer for the Socialist Party. In 1912, with his Senate district had been

redistricted Redistricting in the United States is the process of drawing electoral district boundaries. For the United States House of Representatives, and state legislatures, redistricting occurs after each decennial census. The U.S. Constitution in Ar ...

out of existence (it had been split between new Fifth and Sixth districts, which were taken by Republican

George Weigel George Weigel (born 1951) is a Catholic neoconservative American author, political analyst, and social activist. He currently serves as a Distinguished Senior Fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center. Weigel was the Founding President of the ...

and Democrat George Weissleder respectively), he was again the Socialist nominee for the 4th congressional district, coming in second again to William Joseph Cary. He was also serving as chairman of the Socialist Party's statewide executive committee. He was a congressional candidate again in 1914, and came within 365 votes of unseating Cary. In 1916, he still came in second and received almost one-third of the vote, but Cary extended his winning margin over Gaylord to almost one thousand votes.

Influence and controversy

Gaylord was credited by

Carl Sandburg Carl August Sandburg (January 6, 1878 – July 22, 1967) was an American poet, biographer, journalist, and editor. He won three Pulitzer Prizes: two for his poetry and one for his biography of Abraham Lincoln. During his lifetime, Sandburg ...

with introducing him to the ideas of the Wisconsin wing of the Socialist Party, and with persuading him to move to Wisconsin. In May 1917 Gaylord and

A. M. Simons Algie Martin Simons (1870–1950) was an American socialist journalist, newspaper editor, and political activist, best remembered as the editor of ''International Socialist Review (1900), The International Socialist Review'' for nearly a decade. ...

wrote a letter to U.S. senator Paul Husting denouncing him as a

traitor Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...

to the anti-

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

majority of the Socialist convention in April 1917 and recommending his suppression from the government, claimed a communication published in the '' Congressional Record''. Husting used this letter and additional communications from Gaylord to the ''

Milwaukee Journal The ''Milwaukee Journal Sentinel'' is a daily morning broadsheet printed in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where it is the primary newspaper. It is also the largest newspaper in the state of Wisconsin, where it is widely distributed. It is currently o ...

'' in support of the

Espionage Act of 1917 The Espionage Act of 1917 is a United States federal law enacted on June 15, 1917, shortly after the United States entered World War I. It has been amended numerous times over the years. It was originally found in Title 50 of the U.S. Code (War ...

. As a result, the Milwaukee Central Committee of the Socialist Party took action against both Gaylord and Simons, expelling them for "Party Treason" by a vote of 63 to 2. He became a leading member of the pro-war element within the labor movement in the United States, speaking on platforms with such conservative icons as

Nicholas Murray Butler Nicholas Murray Butler () was an American philosopher, diplomat, and educator. Butler was president of Columbia University, president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, and the deceased Ja ...

. He was among those who were present at the September 1917 organizing meeting of the Wisconsin Loyalty Legion. Gaylord died in

Palmetto, Florida Palmetto is a city in Manatee County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was listed as 13,323. It is part of the Bradenton-Sarasota-Venice, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area. History A post office called Palmetto ha ...

on February 23, 1943.Profile
politicalgraveyard.com; accessed June 21, 2017. His wife, Olive Semarimus Brown Gaylord (1872-1952), died nine years later.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gaylord, Winfield R. 1870 births 1943 deaths Politicians from Cleveland People from Lee County, Mississippi Politicians from Milwaukee Wisconsin state senators Socialist Party of America politicians from Wisconsin Chicago Theological Seminary alumni