William C. Whitney
Conway, Massachusetts, 1841 - 1904, New York
In 1869 Whitney married Flora Payne, the sister of one of his Yale classmates and the daughter of Henry B. Payne. The wealth of his father-in-law permitted Whitney to live in a brownstone in New York City, and his connection with the Payne family opened many doors in the social and business communities of the city. The couple had five children, four of whom lived to maturity.
As early as 1870 Whitney spoke out against the "Tweed Ring" that had dominated the politics of New York for a decade. He ran for attorney general of New York State in 1872 but lost the election. In 1875 he was appointed corporation counsel for New York City with a salary of $15,000 (he was subsequently reappointed by two successive mayors). By the late 1870s Whitney had become an important presence in the politics of New York; he was on friendly terms with the Vanderbilt and Astor families. His social success would have been incomplete without the assistance of his wife; Flora Payne Whitney was a societal lioness who loved to give parties.
Whitney's political aspirations came closest to fruition in the 1880s. In association with Thomas Fortune Ryan and Peter A. B. Widener, he gained the franchise for the Metropolitan Railway in New York City, a victory that enabled him to eventually become wealthy in his own right. He became closely associated with Grover Cleveland, and in 1884 he served as one of the three chief architects (Arthur Pue Gorman and Daniel Manning were the others) of Cleveland's presidential campaign. Rewarded for his efforts with the post of secretary of the navy, Whitney and his wife went to Washington, D.C., in the spring of 1885.
A storm of protest erupted over Whitney's appointment. Some newspapers alleged that he was in the pocket of the New York City corporations, and many declared that he was not a fit appointee for the post. Although there may have been some truth to the first accusation, Whitney performed so admirably in his new position that few voices remained in opposition after one year's time. Whitney inherited a navy that had languished since the end of the Civil War; the efforts of his predecessor, William E. Chandler, had been real but limited in their effect, and when Whitney took office the U.S. Navy stood below the navies of most of the European powers and some of the Latin American nations. During four years as secretary, Whitney authorized the expenditure of $80 million in the process of adding 93,000 tons of shipping to the fleet. Five protected cruisers, the USS Charleston, Baltimore, Newark, Philadelphia and San Francisco, and two battleships, the USS Maine and Texas, were all built during Whitney's tenure. When he left office in March 1889, following President Cleveland's defeat in 1888, Whitney left a far stronger navy than the one he had found, one that would go on from this strength and that would fight and win the battles of the Spanish American War.
During the same four-year period (1885-1889) Whitney and his wife were the virtual arbiters of Washington, D.C., society. They renovated their new house in the capital for this purpose, adding a ballroom, and it was later estimated that 65,000 guests were entertained by the Whitneys during the Cleveland administration. The dashing couple did experience serious marital conflicts at the same time. Whitney was irritated by his wife's constant entertaining, and she suspected that he was involved with other women. One way the couple was able to smooth over such difficulties was to occupy different residences; they owned properties in Bar Harbor, Maine; Lenox, Massachusetts; New York City; and Washington, D.C.
Often referred to as a model Democratic party man, Whitney was urged by many leading members of the party to seek public office during the 1890s. He declined the invitations and devoted his attention to making money; his efforts with the Metropolitan Railway bore fruit, and he was able to gain a measure of financial independence from his father-in-law. Whitney remained interested in politics, and he was an inveterate adviser to presidential cabinets during the 1890s.
Flora Payne Whitney died from a heart ailment in 1893. Whitney soon experienced a severing of his ties with his father-in-law. In 1896 Whitney married a second time, to Edith Randolph. He bought a new, even grander home in New York City, but his wife died before she ever set foot in it.
Following the death of his second wife, Whitney spent a good deal of time racing horses, both in Saratoga, New York, and in England. One of his horses won the Derby in 1901. He also brought deer and antelope from Wyoming to his estate in Lenox. Whitney died in New York City, leaving at least ten residences and an estate valued at nearly $23 million.
Whitney's remarkable life and career come close to serving as a window into the societal world described in Edith Wharton's Age of Innocence (1920). His rise in the business and social circles of New York City came from two factors: his relentless ambition and his propitious marriage to Flora Payne. Striving always to be his own man, Whitney resented the influence of his father-in-law. As a public administrator, he excelled. The growth of the navy during his tenure in office was remarkable, and it was at least in part because of his efforts that the United States entered the twentieth century as one of the five great naval powers of the world. Whitney might well have sought other public offices; he chose instead to increase his wealth, perhaps because he perceived himself as poor compared to his wife's family. One of the most colorful characters of the Gilded Age in New York City, one of the greatest landowners among the unofficial American aristocracy, and one of the most influential businessmen-politicians of his era, Whitney stands as a splendid example of American society in the late nineteenth century, when Horatio Alger novels proclaimed that a poor man could become rich, but when reality demonstrated the crucial importance of social connections.
Bibliography
Many of Whitney's letters are preserved in the Dorothy Whitney Straight Elmhirst Papers at Cornell University. Biographies of Whitney are Mark D. Hirsch, William C. Whitney, Modern Warwick (1948), and W. A. Swanberg, Whitney Father, Whitney Heiress (1980). See also Harry James Carman, The Street Surface Railway Franchises of New York City (1919); Allan Nevins, Grover Cleveland, a Study in Courage (1932); and W. H. Rowe, "The Turf Career of Hon. W. C. Whitney," Outing, July 1901. An obituary is in the New York Times, 3 Feb. 1904.
Samuel Willard Crompton
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Citation:
Samuel Willard Crompton. "Whitney, William Collins";
http://www.anb.org/articles/10/10-01747.html;
American National Biography Online Feb. 2000.
Access Date: Tue Aug 06 2013 11:53:29 GMT-0400 (Eastern Standard Time)
Copyright © 2000 American Council of Learned Societies.
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Last Updated8/7/24
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