History of the New York Young Republican Club

In April of 1911, thirty-two young men under the leadership of a young Manhattan lawyer, Benjamin M. Day, noted the lack of a Republican organization that would appeal to the younger Republicans in New York County. They sought a forum for advocating views that might, on occasion, be at variance with those of the party leaders, as expressed in the local assembly district Clubs and in The Republican Club of the City of New York. This Club was organized in 1879 as the Young Men's Republican Club of the City of New York and later became The National Republican Club, Inc.

In order to work within and for the Republican party, yet be free to criticize party policies and leaders and to champion candidates and causes independent of organization control when the occasion so warranted, these men resolved to form the New York Young Republican Club.

The Club's first public activity was a dinner held in December 1911. The guest of honor was the President of the United States, William Howard Taft, and the principal speaker was U.S. Senator William E. Borah. This auspicious debut was attended by the leading politicians and office-holders of the day and was well publicized.

On February 19, 1912, the Certificate of Incorporation of the New York Young Republican Club, Inc. was filed with the Secretary of State of the State of New York

The Club's Charter states the objectives as follows:

to promote and maintain the principles of the Republican party; to foster within the Republican party and make practical in service of the municipality, state and nation, the idealism characteristic of youth, to correct in our own party that tendency of all parties to make organization an end rather than a means; to develop sound principle and public spirit in party politics, to promote honest and fair electoral methods, to the end that the expression of the popular will by whatever party or body, shall be as free, untrammelled and equal as possible, to resist and expose political corruption, to advocate merit rather than partisan service as entitling to public office, to watch legislation, to encourage public attention to and efficiently criticize the conduct of government.

Since that day, the purposes of the Club have not changed.

In 1913, a year after its incorporation, the Club initiated Republican participation in the campaign which resulted in the election of John Purroy Mitchel as a fusion Mayor of New. York City. The Club continued to function actively until World War I, when it became inactive. After the War, however, the Club reconstituted itself and, in 1920, took part in the election of Warren G. Harding and Calvin Coolidge as President and Vice President of the United States. The Club became involved the following year with the mayoral campaign of Henry H. Curran in opposition to Mayor John F. Hylan.

Under the leadership of its president, Thomas C. Desmond, in 1927, a tremendous upsurge in the strength and effectiveness of the Club took place and the membership expanded from less than one hundred to over two thousand. Senator Desmond also initiated the Honor Roll, which provided an important source of Club revenue for many years.

Highlights that followed included the election in 1932 of its own candidate, Herbert Brownell, as the Assemblyman from the old 10th A.D. (currently the 1st A.D.), then a Tammany stronghold. In 1944, the Club was influential in the selection of Mr. Brownell as chairman of the Republican National Committee.

The Club played a leading role in the creation of the fusion ticket in 1933 and in the election that November of Fiorello H. LaGuardia, ousting a long-entrenched Tammany regime in New York City. That year, Chase Mellen Jr., a member of the Club's Board of Governors, was elected Chairman of the New York County Republican Committee. The Club took an active role in the 1936 Presidential campaign and in 1937 was one of the first organizations to call for the re-nomination and re-election of Mayor LaGuardia as the Republican candidate. The Club also backed "The Little Flower" in his successful campaign for a third term at City Hall.

In the ensuing years, the Club was in the forefront of many campaigns, including the successful gubernatorial campaign in 1942 of Thomas E. Dewey, who had been chairman of the Club's Board of Governors in 1931.

During 1946 and 1948, the Club concentrated much of its efforts in the 18th Congressional District, supporting Club members Frederick P. Bryan and John Ellis, respectively, in their campaigns to defeat Vito Marcantonio. Also in 1946, the Club actively campaigned for one of its members, Jacob K. Javits, and saw him win an upset victory for Congress in Washington Heights. It continued its support of him in subsequent election campaigns. In 1948, the Club helped elect another Club member, George Frankenthaler, as the Surrogate of New York County, the first and last Republican ever elected to that office. Members of the Club initiated the "Draft Dewey" movement in 1950 and successfully persuaded Governor Dewey to seek a third term. Participation of the Club members in that campaign contributed to the Governor amassing one of the largest total votes ever received by a Republican in New York City to that date. Also during that year, membersof the Club ran the congressional campaign of one of the Club's former presidents, Henry V. Poor.

The Club was among the first Republican organizations in 1952 to support General Dwight D. Eisenhower in his crucial campaign for the Republican presidential nomination, a campaign directed by Club members Herbert Brownell and Thomas E. Dewey, aided by former Club Board Chairman Charles M. Metzner and Club members John Trubin and Joseph A. Macchia. Other Club members were instrumental in forming National Youth for Eisenhower and the leadership of the first citizen movements for Eisenhower was drawn from the Club.

Many capable Club members served in the Eisenhower Administration, among them, John Foster Dulles as Secretary of State and Herbert Brownell as Attorney General. Winthrop W. Aldrich was named Ambassador to the Court of St. James where he was succeeded by another Club member, John Hay Whitney. In March 1955, former Club member John M. Harlan was appointed by President Eisenhower as an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court.

U.S. Senator Irving M. Ives was the Republican candidate to succeed Thomas E. Dewey in 1954, but he and his ticket, with the exception of Jacob K. Javits, went down to defeat by a small margin. In the contest for Attorney General, Congressman Javits defeated Franklin D. Roosevelt, Jr., the Democratic and Liberal party candidate. Charles M. Metzner and John Trubin ran these campaigns, respectively, and Club members played a major part in both campaigns.

That same year, Board member Morton B. Lawrence served as executive director of the New York Eisenhower-Nixon Congressional Campaign Committee, gaining experience he used four years later when he helped found the "Draft Rockefeller for Governor" movement and the "Rockefeller for Governor Clubs," serving as their executive director.

In 1956, the Club once again provided much of the leadership for Youth for Eisenhower and Youth for Javits. President Eisenhower was seeking re-election and Attorney General Jacob K. Javits was the Republican candidate for U.S. Senator. Both were successful and Club member Louis J. Lefkowitz was chosen by the State Legislature to succeed Attorney General Javits.

The Club was influential in founding the United Young Republican Club in Harlem in 1956 through its sponsorship of the first Lincoln Day Dinner held there in twenty-five years. Also that year, in conjunction with the Young Women's Republican Club, the New York Young Republican Club began a program to engage its membership in activities at the district level.

As it had been in 1953 for Col. Harold Riegelman, when he was the Republican candidate for mayor, the Club was active for its 1957 mayoral candidate, hotelier Robert Christenberry, but again to no avail.

The Republican Party was determined to win back the governorship in 1958 and many of its members played an active part on behalf of the various candidates but the nomination at the State Convention went to Nelson A. Rockefeller, brother of Club member David Rockefeller. Playing a very important role in the entire campaign from nomination to election was former Board Chairman and later Assistant Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare, Roswell B. Perkins. After he was inaugurated, Governor Rockefeller appointed a number of Club members, including Thomas Thatcher, William S. Brennen and Samuel C. Cantor to high posts in his administration.

At a meeting of the Club in the spring of 1958, after a lengthy debate, the membership endorsed a former Club president, John Vliet Lindsay, the Executive Assistant to the U.S. Attorney General, to challenge the incumbent East Side congressman, Frederic R. Coudert, Jr., in the Republican Primary Election. Mr. Coudert withdrew and the Republican organization designated former Club president Elliot H. Goodwin to oppose the Lindsay challenge. The victor in the hard-fought Primary and General Elections was John V. Lindsay who defeated his Democratic-Liberal opponent by a narrow margin in the general election.

The Club was active in 1961 in an effort to elect the popular State Attorney General, Louis J. Lefkowitz, as Mayor of New York City. Although he waged a vigorous campaign, he, like the five previous Republican mayoral candidates before him, went down to defeat.

The following year, the Club played a major part in the nomination and election of former Board Chairman Theodore R. Kupferman as Councilman to fill the vacancy caused by the death of the venerable Stanley M. Isaacs, the first in a series of election victories that would take Ted Kupferman to Congress, to the New York State Supreme Court and finally to the Appellate Division of that court.

1962 also saw the Club take an active role in the successful campaigns to re-elect Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller, Senator Jacob K. Javits, Attorney General Louis J. Lefkowitz and Representative John V. Lindsay. The Club's goal now was to elect the next Mayor of New York City, something the Republicans hadn't been able to accomplish since Fiorello H. LaGuardia's third-term victory in 1941. At this time, the Club also began discussing the possibility of permitting women to join and perhaps merging with the Young Women's Republican Club of New York (est. 1934).

The next year, 1963, ordinarily would have been an off-political year but Assemblywoman Dorothy Bell Lawrence, long a powerful Republican leader on Manhattan's East Side, resigned her seat in the Legislature and the Club urged one of its former presidents, John M. Burns, to seek that office. With the support of Club members, he was successful in the Republican primary and in the special election that fall, defeating his Democratic-Liberal opponent by 1200 votes out of about 24,000 cast. Also in 1963, Councilman Kupferman was challenged in the Republican primary by former Club President J. Dudley Devine. A coalition of conservative groups on the East Side of Manhattan, groups which the following year would form the base of the Goldwater movement in New York, had launched what would turn out to be a losing campaign to unseat Ted Kupferman. Members of the Young Republican Club were active on both sides, with William Whittemore, who recently had lost the Club presidency to E. Virgil Conway, and Stanley Goldstein, a leader of the conservative wing, supporting Dudley Devine, while Charles Moerdler served as the Kupferman campaign manager with the support of a majority of the Club's members.

The 1964 presidential campaign divided the Club ideologically, as in the Kupferman/Devine primary, with former Club President John A. Wells directing the campaign of Nelson A. Rockefeller (now a Club member) who lost the nomination to Senator Barry Goldwater. Although Mr. Goldwater won the nomination, he lost the general election by a huge margin, bringing down with him Club member MacNeil Mitchell, who had had a 26-year career in the Assembly and the Senate until then.

Despite the overwhelming vote for President Johnson in his congressional district, John Lindsay was re-elected to a fourth term by a plurality of 91,000 votes and Club member Bill Green began his outstanding career by defeating the incumbent Assemblyman and three other candidates in a Republican primary and going on to victory in the general election.

Club members worked in the successful Lindsay, Green and Burns campaigns and in the losing re-election campaign of U.S. Senator Kenneth B. Keating, also a Club member, who was to be elected to the state's Court of Appeals the following year in a campaign run by Club member John Trubin who had played the major role in Jack Javits' election as state Attorney General and his two elections to the U.S. Senate.

The mayoral election of 1965 was to be one of the most memorable in the Club's history. Congressman John V. Lindsay, a former Club president, was the Republican candidate and he also had the endorsement of the Liberal party. In addition to the Democratic candidate, former City Comptroller Abraham D. Beame, John Lindsay was opposed by writer-commentator William F. Buckley, the candidate of the Conservative Party. Senator Javits was the Lindsay campaign chairman while Club member Robert Price directed the day-to-day activities as campaign manager. Club members, too numerous to list, flocked to the Lindsay headquarters and headed almost every area of activity at headquarters or in the field.

The Lindsay victory reinvigorated the Republican and Liberal parties in the city and brought hundreds of dedicated young men and women into government for the first time. Many would go on to serve in high office in the years to come. Club members were invited by the new mayor to become part of his Administration and most accepted. Bob Price became Deputy Mayor, a position he held for about a year until succeeded by Robert W. Sweet who had been Executive Assistant to the Mayor; Charles Moerdler was named Buildings Commissioner, to be succeeded by William J. Diamond in 1967.

Sid Davidoff, who had been an assistant campaign manager, was appointed as an Assistant Buildings Commissioner, as were Jacques Debrot and Seymour M. Unger. Soon after Mr. Davidoff was appointed Assistant to the Mayor, a post he held through the remainder of John Lindsay's eight years at City Hall. Richard Lewisohn, who had become the leader of the 9th A.D. Republican Club (by then the 66th A.D.) after the Lindsay supporters had taken over the Club in 1959, resigned to accept appointmentas Commissioner of Purchase, to be succeded as leader by Franklin R. Weissberg, another Club member and noted theatrical lawyer who had been chosen by Mayor Lindsay to be a consultant to him for the performing arts.

Joseph L. Forstadt, a Board Vice Chairman who also had been active in the Lindsay campaign, was named Deputy Commissioner of Licenses and later became Acting Commissioner when the department's name was changed to that of Consumer Affairs. Many other Club members were appointed to fulltime, volunteer and advisory positions with the Lindsay Administration. Roy M. Goodman, a businessman who had served as a legislative aide to Assemblyman John Robert Brook, was asked by Mayor Lindsay to take on the position of Finance Commissioner, which he did. Of the 25 members of the Club¹s Board of Governors, 23 joined the Lindsay Administration.

With the election of John V. Lindsay as Mayor, a vacancy was created in his congressional district and Club members Thomas Brownell, George A. Kalkines and Joseph L. Forstadt led the campaigning to elect Councilman Theodore R. Kupferman who won by 900 votes in a Special Election on February 8, 1966. Under the rules of the Council, the other Manhattan members had to elect a Republican to fill the Kupferman vacancy on the City Council and they chose Woodward Kingman who had been Club President from 1955 to 1956. That November, Club member Whitney North Seymour, Jr. won back the Senate seat on Manhattan's East Side which the Republicans had lost in 1964 while Ted Kupferman, Jack Burns and Bill Green were re-elected.

There were no major elections for public office in 1967 so Club members devoted their efforts to Young Republican activities, successfully supporting Mary Ann Knauss for a second term as president of the Association of New York State Young Republican Clubs. Most active in that campaign and in State YR activities was Joseph L. Forstadt, vice chairman of the Club's Board of Governors (and later its President), who one day would succeed Joseph L. Bruno, currently the Majority Leader of the State Senate, as President of the State Association of Young Republican Clubs. That year, the 1967 War Memorial Award, the Club's highest honor, was presented to Oregon's U.S. Senator, Mark O. Hatfield, by Senator Jacob K. Javits at the Club's annual dinner in memory of those Club members who died during World War II.

The next year, Governor Rockefeller appointed Rep. Charles E. Goodell of Jamestown to fill the vacancy created by the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy. That November, Jacob K. Javits was elected to his third term in the U. S. Senate by the largest plurality ever received by any candidate running for a statewide office in this country. Republicans now held the offices of Governor, senior and junior U.S. Senator and Mayor of New York City.

Difficulties arose later that year, as a number of Club members vied for many of the same elected offices on the East Side. Congressman Theodore R. Kupferman announced that he would not seek re-election ­ he received a bi-partisan nomination for the State Supreme Court the following year ­ and the nomination was sought by Assemblyman Bill Green and State Senator Whitney North Seymour Jr. Mike Seymour's decision to seek congressional office created a state senatorial vacancy and Assemblyman John M. Burns and Roy M. Goodman both sought the nomination, while Thomas M. Brownell and Peter W. Hoguetvied vied for the nomination to succeed John Burns. A vacancy also was created in the 66th A. D., which Bill Green had represented for four years, and William J. Diamond, then Commissioner of Buildings, was given the party designation only to be challenged by Stephen C. Hansen, a relative newcomer to Republican politics. All of the candidates except Mr. Hoguet and Mr. Hansen were members of the New York Young Republican Club.

Whitney North Seymour Jr., Roy M. Goodman, Stephen C. Hansen and Peter W. Hoguet won in the primary elections over Bill Green, John M. Burns, William J. Diamond and Thomas Brownell, respectively, but only Roy M. Goodman and Stephen Hansen were to be victorious in the General Election; 1968 saw the loss of a congressional and an assembly seat by the Republicans on the East Side. That year, the Club members also worked for the Nixon-Agnew ticket as it would again in 1972.

In 1969, John V. Lindsay would seek re-election and, of course, all of the Club's energies were directed towards achieving that goal. He again was designated by the Republican and Liberal parties but faced a challenge for the Republican nomination from Staten Island Senator John J. Marchi. Despite the hard work of Club members and other Lindsay campaigners, when the results came in on Primary Night, the winner was Senator Marchi, who also had the Conservative party nomination. The Democratic candidate who won his party's primary was City Comptroller Mario A. Procaccino, a product of the Bronx Democratic organization who had benefited in the Primary Election by the vote being split among the "reform" Democratic candidates for the mayoral nomination.

The defeat of Mayor Lindsay in the Republican Primary shocked his supporters gathered at his headquarters that night and cast a pall on the gathering until "reform" Democrats began to show up and, one by one, pledged their support to John V. Lindsay and said that they would become active in his campaign. This crossing of party lines would be the basis of the Lindsay victory that November but it would have a deleterious effect on the Republican party locally in the years to come.

In his bid for a fourth term in the Governor's Mansion in 1970, Nelson A. Rockefeller was opposed by former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Arthur J. Goldberg, the Democratic and Liberal candidate. The Club's efforts on Governor Rockefeller's behalf were complicated by Mayor Lindsay's decision to support Justice Goldberg.

Despite this, most of the Club's members did work for Governor Rockefeller's election and for that of Senator Goodell, who also had the Liberal party nomination, but who was opposed by Democratic Congressman Richard L. Ottinger of Westchester and attorney-businessman James L. Buckley, a Republican seeking election as the Conservative party candidate. Governor Rockefeller again was victorious but Mr. Buckley, with 39 percent of the vote, defeated Senator Goodell and Congressman Ottinger.

In 1971, John Lindsay switched his party registration to that of a Democrat ­ many in his administration did the same ­ and announced that he was a candidate for the 1972 Democratic presidential nomination. Although he eventually failed to garner the nomination, he had the support of many Club members, principally those who were part of his administration, but his and their efforts were to no avail.

Many Club members remained steadfast to the Republican party and to the 1972 campaign, manning the Nixon headquarters here, and four years later worked for the election of Gerald Ford. Club membership, however, declined in each ensuing year during this period. The Club faced a multiple problems: Republican leaders were angry at the Club for not uniting behind the Republican candidate for Mayor and the anti-war movement and Watergate seeded great distrust in the Republican Party, especially in New York City. All these factors resulted in the Club becoming nearly inactive by 1975.

In an attempt to revitalize the Club and attract new members, the Club amended its bylaws to permit women members. On the heels of this development, Ellen Tencza became the first woman to serve as President of the Club, a post she held until 1978. She was followed, in 1978, by Carole Trimble. Through the leadership of these women, the Club tripled membership, provided significant support for Republican candidates running for office, and built a strong Board of Advisors. Ms Trimble was reelected President but resigned in the middle of her term to take a position in Washington D.C.

Phyllis Friedman succeeded President Trimble, for the remainder of President Trembles term. President Friedman presided over an administration that concentrated on supporting Republican candidates for office and increasing Club membership. In 1980, Lee A. Forlenza was elected President of the Club and soon thereafter, JoAnn Albano Cohen, County Chairman Vincent Albano's daughter, became Chairman of the Board of Governors. This created an immediate political quandary for President Forlenza: the New York Republican County Committee Chairman supported George H.W. Bush for the Republican Presidential nomination while most of the Club's membership supported California Governor Ronald Reagan.

Widespread resignations followed from both the Board and regular membership. Yet, after weathering this storm, President Forlenza's administration was marked by his ability to steer an independent course for the Club while bringing factions within the Club together.

In 1982, Thomas Robert Stevens was elected President of the Club. President Stevens was a resident of Queens County and was committed to rebuilding the Club into a strong independent city-wide republican organization. Through implementing "Operation: Phoenix," the Club experienced a six year period of uninterrupted growth and prosperity. From 1982 to 1984, the Club sponsored an issues oriented cable television show called "In Focus." In 1982, the Club played an active role in the campaign of Lewis Lehrman to become Governor. In 1984, President Stevens was named New York State Youth Coordinator for Reagan/Bush '84. Club members held over 40% of the positions in the Youth for Reagan/Bush campaign. Also during the Stevens administration, the Club began to once again charter college chapters of the Club.

Consequently, five independent Young Republican organizations merged into the New York Young Republican Club within the first two years of the Stevens administration. Membership soared, Club members traveled abroad on diplomatic, and the Club members ran for elective office again. For example, Chairman of the Board, Salvatore J. Calise, ran for Congress in both 1984 and 1986 in the 9th C.D.

The years from 1984 - 1988 saw great strides in outreach to historically Democratic voters. The Club, placing itself in the forefront of broadening the Republican base, established three outreach committees of the Club in 1984 which were authorized to run programs and activities specifically for groups that were deemed to have become alienated from the Republican Party: Susan B. Anthony Republicans (for women), the Stonewall Republicans (for gays) and the Liberty Republicans (for African-Americans).

Mr. Stevens was succeeded by President Andrew Smallcomb who oversaw the merger of the Manhattan Young Republican Club into the Club ­ the sixth Young Republican Club to combine forces with the NYYRC in a decade. His Presidency, as well as those of Bruce Weinfeld and Grant Esposito focused on membership and working with County and State leadership to help work on campaigns.

Vanessa Albarran was elected the Club's fourth female President and, in 1996, the Club elected Anton Srdanovic as President. Mr. Srdanovic maintained a working relationship with the County Committee, but worked to increase membership and help candidates for office, including working closely with Dole/Kemp '96. He was succeeded by Robert Patterson and, later, Elizabeth Tretter. These leaders all served with distinction and laid the ground work for the Club's growth and prominence in the leadership of the New York State Young Republicans and the National Federation of Young Republican Clubs.

Jason Weingartner, elected President in 2001, oversaw a marked expansion in Club membership and greater Club participation in the Republican Party. The Club has maintained strong ties to the Log Cabin Republicans, the Women's National Republican Club, the Metropolitan Republican Club, and Republican groups in the Hispanic, Asian, and African-American communities. During President Weingartner's two-and-a-half year term, the Club became more involved in the community, reaching out to the victims of the September 11th attacks and participating in NYCares and Habitat for Humanity. The Club also created Young Republican Television, a cable-access program produced and run by Club members, and established a widely read on-line newsletter, the New York Young Republican Record.

During this time the Club took a lead role in the New York State Young Republicans with Mr. Weingartner's election as Chairman to the organization in 2003. Five Club members currently hold office in the State group and the Club boasts the largest delegation to that body. The Club has also become heavily involved again in electing Republicans to office. It was instrumental in aiding the New York State Republican Party's GOPeople voter registration campaign and worked closely with People for Pataki. In 2002, former President Anton Srdanovic ran for Congress in the 14th C.D. against Representative Carolyn Maloney, and in 2003 five Club members ran for City Council.

Dennis M. Cariello was elected President in April 2004, and the Club continued to build on the momentum established by the Weingartner administration. Club member Emily Csendes ran a strong campaign for State Senate against Democrat incumbent Tom Duane and Anton Srdanovic again challenged the incumbent for the 14th Congressional seat, finishing even stronger than in 2004. The Club was also heavily involved in the 2004 Republican National Convention, providing the largest group of volunteers in the city for this historic event. During Cariello's tenure, the Club's membership and fundraising totals reached levels not seen in many years, further signifying the renewed growth of the organization.

This growth was possible due to a number of innovations that made the Club run more efficiently. A membership rewards program, broad-based and targeted mailings, an updated and more navigable Web site, prominent speakers, and a focus on media relations gave the Club a higher profile in the community and made it an attractive draw for motivated young professionals in New York.

In April 2006, The New York Young Republican Club elected Richard Brownell as its President. Brownell, who served as Publications Chairman under Weingartner and Vice President under Cariello, is currently focused on marshalling the Club's membership for the pivotal midterm elections and extending volunteer outreach in the community. In its 94th year, the level of commitment exhibited by its members and officers ensure that the New York Young Republican Club will live up to its illustrious past and continue to set high standards for its current and future members to achieve.