Item Info
Source: Print and Picture Collection
Notes:
After leaving Washington, Pinchot entered Pennsylvania politics. The conservative Republican machine defeated his bid for the United States Senate in 1914 and 1920, when he lost to Boies Penrose. In 1922, the year after Penrose died, Pinchot won the governorship by allying with the Mellon interests of Pittsburgh and the Pennsylvania Association of Manufacturers president Joseph Grundy.
In the 1920s, the control of the Republican Party in Pennsylvania was split between the Mellon/Grundy faction and the Vare machine in Philadelphia. Bill Vare, a tough working-class scrapper who had begun his life as a trash collector, then followed in his brothers' footsteps as the political boss of the city. Vare had opposed Pinchot in the governor's race, and the two would continue to clash for the rest of Vare's life.
"Gifford Pinchot [Politics] Historical Marker: Behind the Marker." ExplorePAhistory.com. 2011. Web. 20 Jan. 2015. <http://explorepahistory.com/hmarker.php?markerId=1-A-3C8>.
Creator Name: Sykes, Charles Henry, 1882-1942 - Artist