William Sulzer Collection

William “Plain Bill” Sulzer (1863-1941) was an American Lawyer and politician and 39th governor of New York. He was the first and only New York governor to be impeached. He was initially a member of the Tammany Hall Democratic political machine, serving as a stump speaker on New York’s Lower East Side which was largely composed of Jewish immigrants. Sulzer became a member of the New York State Assembly from 1890 to 1894 and was appointed to the Committee on General Laws. During his term in the Assembly, he introduced bills to abolish debtors’ prisons, limit workers’ hours, and other measures which appealled to his working-class constituents.

In 1894, he was elected as a representative to the 54th United States Congress and was reelected eight times until 1912. While in Congress, he supported numerous Progressive Era goals. He voted for the creation of the U.S. Department of Labor, the direct election of senators, and the eight-hour workday.

In 1913, he became governor of New York. Although his political career had been enabled by Tammany Hall, Sulzer sought to erode its power rooting out corruption in New York. This included promoting open primaries and opposing political appointments, both of which Tammany Hall was against. He attempted to pass legislation to desegregate parts of the military. In 1913, he was impeached for allegedly diverting campaign funds to purchase stocks and perjuring himself under oath. He was later removed from office.

Most of the content of the scrapbook concerns his career after the impeachment, in the 1920s when he entered private practice. He became an investor in the Alaska Consolidated Mining and Smelting Co.