William Scott Vare (December 24, 1867August 7, 1934) was an American politician from Pennsylvania who served as a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives for Pennsylvania's 1st congressional district from 1912 to 1927. He also served as a member of the Pennsylvania State Senate from the 1st senatorial district from 1922 to 1923. He won election to the United States Senate for Pennsylvania in 1926 but was never seated and was eventually removed in 1929 due to allegations of corruption and voter fraud.

He was a notorious political boss in the Philadelphia Republican machine of the early 20th century. Vare and his two brothers, Edwin and George, were known as the "Dukes of South Philadelphia" and held political control over South Philadelphia ward leadership and patronage jobs for decades. The contracting business he owned along with his brothers was involved in the construction of well-known sites in Philadelphia such as Municipal Stadium, the Broad Street subway and the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Early life

Vare was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Augustus and Abigail Vare. He was the youngest of three brothers, all of whom were contractors and politicians. George (1859–1908), Edwin (1862–1922) and William were known as the "Dukes of South Philadelphia" and controlled ward leadership and patronage jobs for decades.

John Wanamaker, the department store magnate, took young Bill under his wing and paid for his tuition at Central High School in Philadelphia. Later, he worked as a storeboy at Wanamaker's.

At age 15, Vare entered the mercantile business and became a general contractor in 1893. In 1890 he started construction contracting with his two older brothers. Vare Brothers contracting worked on excavating, paving and municipal contracts for the city of Philadelphia that totaled $7 million between 1909 and 1912. Their projects included building trolley tracks, sewers, the Municipal Stadium, the Broad Street subway and excavating the site of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Vare was elected to Philadelphia City Council in 1898 and served until 1901. He served as Recorder of Deeds for Philadelphia from 1902 to 1912. Vare resigned the seat a year later. His sister-in-law Flora, won the ensuing special election, becoming the first woman to serve in the chamber.

United States House of Representatives

In 1912, Vare was elected to the first of seven terms in the House of Representatives. The Republican organization in Philadelphia received many offers to do business from the likes of Waxey Gordon and "Lucky" Luciano. But this was no ordinary arrangement, as Vare forced both Gordon and Luciano to agree that Vare would hold a veto power over any racket operating in Philadelphia. In a further bid to gird the fiscal foundation of the Party, Vare decided to extract "loyalty oaths" from the entire Philadelphia Republican organization. Vare was also able to exert tremendous influence over Philadelphia's legal business. This was a strong form of politics, because Vare had much influence with the unions.

Vare used his political power to relocate the Sesquicentennial Exposition from Center City, Philadelphia to South Philadelphia and provide his constituents with millions of dollars' worth of jobs and infrastructure investment. Vare remained powerful; his unexpectedly supporting Herbert Hoover as the nominee at the 1928 Republican National Convention forced other party leaders to also do so, helping end hopes to draft President Calvin Coolidge to run again. The Pennsylvania delegation at the convention unanimously supported a resolution demanding that Vare be allowed to enter the Senate. In August 1928, Vare was partially paralyzed by a stroke brought on by the stress of the Senate investigation.

In December 1929, the Senate voted 58–22 to deny the Senate seat to Vare. While the Senate agreed that he had won the seat, the reason given for denying him the seat was that he had spent excessively to win the nomination. Governor John S. Fisher (successor to Pinchot) appointed Joseph R. Grundy to the vacant Senate seat.

Bibliography

  • William S. Vare, My Forty Years in Politics, Philadelphia, Roland Swain Co, 1933

See also

  • List of federal political scandals in the United States

References

Citations

Sources

  • Andrew T. Vare Stories about Uncle Bill as told by Lucille Townsend Vare, Bryn Mawr 1983
  • politicalgraveyard.com
  • Biography-West Laurel Hill Cemetery web site

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