 . . . Spring 2000
It has been called the "Best of the Web" and the "Worst of the Web" but this is the tale of only one Web site, The Political Graveyard (http://politicalgraveyard.com), created as a hobby by U-M staffer Lawrence Kestenbaum. The Pacifica Radio Network named Political Graveyard to its Hall of Fame, but another media guide listed it as one of the Web's "Useless Pages." Reviews range from accolades such as inclusion in the "Seven Wonders of the Web" to the dubious "2 Hot 2 Handle" pick by Cybermom Dot Com.
So what is it with this Web site that generates such a wide range of reactions? The Political Graveyard is a compendium of the final resting places of nearly 35,000 American political figures–a cyber Book of the Dead of politicians.
Kestenbaum, a senior data archives specialist for the U-M's Institute for Social Research, says the site is an offshoot of his interest in historic cemeteries, the subject of an earlier Web site of his creation.
The Political Graveyard offers much more than just the dry, dusty name/date/place stuff of history. It serves up the hows and whys and wherefores of those personages listed on its pages. Causes of death and under what circumstances make for interesting reading. For instance, if you want to read about politicians who disappeared without a trace, consider New York state assemblyman John Lansing Jr. (b. 1754), who left his New York City hotel in 1829 to mail a letter and was never seen again. Or US Rep. Archibald McNeill of North Carolina, who was "captain of about one hundred men traveling from Texas to California." A sandstorm hit the party as it crossed an Arizona desert, and McNeill's remains were never recovered.
Among other categories is one for politicians who ended their careers "in trouble or disgrace." There you'll find, among 180 others, the famous William Marcy (Boss) Tweed (1823-1878). He was convicted of embezzlement, escaped to Spain, was recaptured and died in prison.
Less well-known is Rep. Laurence Massillon Keitt (1824-1864) of South Carolina, who was censured by the House in 1856 for aiding Rep. Preston Brooks in his caning attack on Sen. Charles Sumner. Keitt resigned but was re-elected within a month. He was mortally wounded while fighting for the Confederacy. (Brooks is apparently one of the politicians still to be listed among the "disgraced.")
William Sylvester Taylor (1853-1928), Republican governor of Kentucky, 1899-1900, was indicted in 1900 as a conspirator in the assassination of William Goebel. Taylor was pardoned in 1909. After being shot in front of the old Kentucky capitol, Goebel (b. 1856) was declared the victor over Taylor and sworn in on his deathbed, dying four days later.
Two politicians are known to have been killed by wild beasts. Unidentified animals (no, not his constituency), attacked Jeremiah Haralson (1846-c.1916), a former US representative from Alabama, near Denver. His burial location is unknown. Elmer Severson (1922-1999), who served in the Montana legislature from 1977 to 1990, suffered fatal spinal cord injuries when he "lost a tussle with a cow" last summer.
Along with the notorious, scandalous and bizarre, the site includes the names of those who earned exceptional distinction: nine Nobel Peace Prize winners, 26 Medal of Honor recipients, three Pulitzer Prize winners and five Olympic medallists.
Kestenbaum collects the information in The Political Graveyard from a variety of sources. Among many contributors are people with genealogical interests whose ancestors may have served in a political office. He also hears from local historians and politicians or their aides/staff who offer "the minutiae of political history," Kestenbaum reports. Other viable sources are political memorabilia collectors, educators and history buffs.
Ever vigilant, Kestenbaum maintains "a healthy skepticism toward all historical sources" even, literally, those carved in stone. "I have seen the granite tombstone of a US Secretary of the Treasury with the wrong year of birth carved on it," he recalls. Hoping to make the site 100 percent error-free, Kestenbaum welcomes correction and clarification.
With the creation and maintenance of such an extensive necrology, a wag may ask Kestenbaum: "Does this mean the only good politician is a dead politician?" On the contrary, Kestenbaum (himself a former county commissioner and an unsuccessful candidate for state and city offices) says that "a low regard for politicians only leads to worse leaders and bad outcomes. Political leaders are human beings and will naturally live up–or down–to our expectations of them."
Nevertheless, next to the category for politicians who were "in trouble or disgrace," there is a parenthetical notation: "very incomplete!" Ah! Apparently, Kestenbaum does know where all the bodies are buried–or at least a great many of them.
Each family in Kestenbaum's "Incomplete List of Political Families" has "four or more politician members, all linked together by blood, marriage or adoption." They are listed in descending order by the number of politician members, with the 28 entries for the Breckinridge-Preston family of Virginia and Kentucky (1750-1979) leading the list.
The Jefferson-Marshall-Randolph family of Virginia (1734-1904) follows with 20 office-holders. Rounding out the top five are the Roosevelts (1730-present) with 17, the Lee-Madison family of Virginia (1732-1985) with 16, and the Hiester-Muhlenberg family of Pennsylvania (1745-1980) with 13. (Heading the list for Michigan was the Tarsney-Weadock family (1845-1971) with 7 members.)
Historians may use such data to examine traditions of family service and/or entrenched privilege in American politics. What is the significance, for example, of Indiana's relatively high number of political dynasties, with 10 families? The only other states with 10 or more dynasties–Virginia with 17, New York 12 and Maryland 11–were among the original 13 states founded in 1787-88, compared with Indiana's birth in 1816. (And in case you were wondering, the Hoosier dynasts do not include the Quayles.) Monica Finch is a public information officer for the U-M Health System and a freelance writer.
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