Murchison letter explained

The Murchison letter was a political scandal during the 1888 United States presidential election between Grover Cleveland, the Democratic incumbent, and the Republican nominee, Benjamin Harrison.^[1]

The letter was sent by the British ambassador to the United States, Sir Lionel Sackville-West, to "Charles F. Murchison", who was actually an American political operative posing as a British expatriate. In the letter, Sackville-West suggested that Cleveland was preferred as president from the British point of view.^[2]

The Republicans published this letter just two weeks before the election, causing many Irish American voters to turn away from Cleveland; he consequently lost New York and Indiana, and thus the presidency. Sackville-West was sacked as British ambassador.

History

A California Republican, George Osgoodby, wrote a letter to Sir Lionel Sackville-West, the British ambassador to the United States, under the assumed name of "Charles F. Murchison", who described himself as a former Englishman who was now a California citizen and asked how he should vote in the upcoming presidential election. Sackville-West wrote back and indiscreetly suggested that Grover Cleveland, the Democratic incumbent, was probably the best man from the British point of view:

The Republicans published the letter just two weeks before the election, and it had a galvanizing effect on Irish-American voters exactly comparable to the "Rum, Romanism, and Rebellion" blunder of the previous presidential election:^[3] by trumpeting Great Britain's support for the Democrats. That drove Irish American voters into the Republican fold, and Cleveland lost the presidency.

Aftermath

Following the election, the lame-duck Cleveland administration brought about Sackville-West's removal as ambassador,^[4] citing not only his letter—which could have been defended as a private correspondence unintended for publication—but also his subsequent interviews, such as one with a reporter for the New York Herald:

On October 1, Sackville-West had become Lord Sackville, due to the death of his brother Mortimer Sackville-West, 1st Baron Sackville.

Cleveland returned to the White House by winning the 1892 election.

See also

• Anglophobia#United States

Further reading

• Brooks, George. "Anglophobia in the United States: Some Light on the Presidential Election." Westminster Review (130.1 (1888): 736-756 online, a primary source
• Campbell, Charles S. "The Dismissal of Lord Sackville." Mississippi Valley Historical Review 44.4 (1958): 635-648 online.
• Hinckley, T. C. "George Osgoodby and the Murchison Letter." Pacific Historical Review (1958): 359–370. in JSTOR
• Newmark, Marco R. "The Murchison Letter Incident." The Quarterly: Historical Society of Southern California 27.1 (1945): 17–21. in JSTOR
• Oberholtzer, Ellis Paxson. A History of the United States since the Civil War. Volume V, 1888–1901 (1937). pp 58–64

Notes and References

1. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/retropolis/wp/2018/06/20/the-fake-letter-that-historians-believe-tipped-a-presidential-election/ The fake letter historians believe tipped a presidential election
2. News: That "Murchison" Letter. The Alleged Correspondent Of Lord Sackville. A California Man Says He Entrapped The British Minister And Wants Harrison To Know It . George Osgoodby, author of the famous "Murchison" letter, has lived at Pomona 15 years. He came to California from New-York when a boy, and has worked on farms during the greater part of his residence in California. . . January 9, 1889 . 2010-07-19.
3. [Charles W. Calhoun]
4. Charles S. Campbell, Jr. "The Dismissal of Lord Sackville." The Mississippi Valley Historical Review 44:4 (March 1958), pp. 635–648.