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The stalemate meant that the Republican incumbents,

including Bulkeley, continued in office. The House conceded
the election of the Democratic candidate for comptroller,
Nicholas Staub, and he was sworn in. Staub had a padlock put
on the door to the executive offices at the state capitol. On
March 21, 1891, Bulkeley found the door locked against him,
and he had it opened with a crowbar, thus gaining the
nickname "the Crowbar Governor".[40]

Bulkeley and the other Republican holdovers remained in

office until their successors were elected in November 1892.
Puck magazine accuses Bulkeley The Senate refused to pass appropriation bills; Bulkeley
(lower left) and two other financed the government with loans from Aetna. Governor
Republicans of stealing elections David B. Hill of New York, a Democrat, refused to honor
extradition requests signed by Bulkeley as governor. However,
after the Supreme Court of Connecticut in January 1892 ruled
that Bulkeley was legally governor, Staub agreed to pay some of the state's bills. In November of
that year, Morris was elected with a clear majority and Bulkeley left office in January 1893. The
General Assembly reimbursed Aetna in full.[41][42] In 1901, Connecticut amended its constitution
to provide that a candidate for state office could be elected with only a plurality, rather than an
absolute majority, of the vote.[43]

Seeking a Senate seat

After he left office in January 1893, Bulkeley thought a U.S. Senate
seat the logical next step in his political career. Connecticut's two
Senate seats were held by Republicans Orville Platt and Joseph
Hawley, both popular politicians who were repeatedly re-elected by
the General Assembly (senators were elected by the state legislatures,
not the people, until 1913). In 1893 and 1899, Bulkeley attempted to
deny Hawley renomination by the Republican legislative caucus and
get the seat for himself, but both times threw his support to Hawley
out of fear that a younger political rival, Samuel Fessenden, would
take the seat.[44][45] At the 1896 Republican National Convention,
Bulkeley was Connecticut's favorite son candidate for vice president,
and finished third in the balloting to become former Ohio governor Ribbon boosting Bulkeley's
William McKinley's running mate, losing to Garret Hobart of New candidacy for the
Republican nomination for
Jersey.[8][46]
vice president, 1896

In 1895, the bridge over the Connecticut River between Hartford and
East Hartford burned down. The legislature established a commission, with Bulkeley as chair, to
oversee the building of a replacement.[47] The bridge, initially dubbed the Hartford Bridge, but
named the Bulkeley Bridge after his death in 1922, opened in 1908.[48]

By 1904, there was little opposition to a Bulkeley run for Senate. Hawley had fallen seriously ill (he
would die only two weeks after his term in the Senate expired, in March 1905), and Fessenden had
blundered politically by charging an excessive legal fee on money gained from the federal
government that Connecticut had been owed since the Civil War. When Republican legislators

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caucused in November 1904, Bulkeley got 248 votes to Fessenden's 42. In January 1905, the
General Assembly overwhelmingly voted for Bulkeley for the Senate seat over the Democrat, A.
Heaton Robertson.[49]

Senator (1905–1911)
Bulkeley was sworn in as a senator on March 4, 1905, at the
special session of the Senate called by President Theodore
Roosevelt.[50] One of his early duties was attending the funeral
of his predecessor, former senator Hawley. Senator Platt spoke
in Hartford at the memorial for the man with whom he had
served almost a quarter-century in the Senate, then returned to
Washington. By some accounts, he caught a chill at the funeral;
he fell ill and died on April 21, making Bulkeley the senior
senator from Connecticut after seven weeks of service, a
distinction Hawley had never attained in his four six-year
terms. Platt was replaced by Fessenden's protege, Congressman Bulkeley's residence in Washington,
Frank Brandegee.[51] D.C.

Bulkeley had joined what became known as the "Millionaire's

Senate", for the Senate of that time was filled with wealthy and powerful men, such as Henry A. du
Pont of Delaware, Chauncey Depew of New York, and the father-in-law of John D. Rockefeller Jr.,
Nelson Aldrich of Rhode Island. Bulkeley was as wealthy as many of them, and when in 1906,
Cosmopolitan listed fifty senators who were part of "the interests", it included Bulkeley.[52]

A conservative, Bulkeley tended to oppose Roosevelt, of the progressive wing of the Republican
Party. Roosevelt sought federal government spending for such programs as national parks and a
Panama Canal; Bulkeley was less inclined to spend.[53] He criticized Roosevelt's expansion of the
federal government's powers, successfully opposing the president's attempts to regulate the
insurance industry at the federal level. According to H. Roger Grant, who wrote Bulkeley's
American National Biography article, Bulkeley feared the large New York insurance companies
would dominate the federal regulatory structure. He also opposed administration efforts to lower
tariffs on products from the U.S.-administered Philippine Islands, feeling importation of cheap
tobacco from there would harm Connecticut's tobacco growers.[3]

Bulkeley also opposed Roosevelt over the Brownsville affair, when a battalion of African-American
U.S. soldiers were accused of shooting up the town of Brownsville, Texas, and none of them would
say if any of the others were guilty. The entire battalion was discharged without honor by
Roosevelt,[54] outraging many in the African-American community, who normally supported
Roosevelt. Senator Joseph B. Foraker of Ohio insisted on a Senate investigation.[55] Although the
official Senate committee report backed Roosevelt, and even the minority report found the
evidence inconclusive, Foraker and Bulkeley signed a separate report stating that "the weight of the
testimony shows that none of the soldiers of the Twenty-fifth U.S. Infantry participated in the
shooting affray".[56] Foraker paid for his unsuccessful battle against Roosevelt with his Senate seat;
Bulkeley sat with Foraker after he left office at a meeting where the Ohioan was honored by
Washington's African-American community.[57] Bulkeley always felt that Roosevelt and the
Secretary of War at the time, William Howard Taft, had treated the soldiers badly, and asked for a
year's back pay for each, but this was never done, and Taft's election as president in 1908 ensured

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little was done at the time.[58]

In 1972, the Nixon administration reversed Roosevelt's actions and
changed the discharges to honorable, in most cases posthumously (two soldiers were still
living).[54][59]

Bulkeley wanted to be re-elected in 1911, but his age (73 at the end of his term), a number of
blunders he made (for example, insulting Idaho's Weldon B. Heyburn on the floor of the Senate),
and the desire of rising state Republican political boss J. Henry Roraback to have the seat for
former governor George P. McLean all worked against Bulkeley. Votes in local caucuses in 1910
favored McLean over Bulkeley, and by the time of the general election in November, he knew his
Senate career would be over, but allowed his name to be put forward in the Republican legislative
caucus in January 1911.[60] On January 10, McLean defeated Bulkeley 113 votes to 64 in the caucus,
and the endorsement was made unanimous. Bulkeley gave a statement saying that he would have
won had there been a primary election, and that he intended to return to Hartford after his term
expired on March 3 and devote himself to business.[61]

Later years, death and funeral

Out of office, Bulkeley continued his presidency of Aetna. In
September 1911, he was among the dignitaries invited to dine
with Taft when the president visited Hartford. When the
Hartford YMCA needed a new building, Bulkeley helped
finance it by giving his employees raises and getting them to
donate the money to the building fund.[62] Bulkeley devoted
much of his time in his final years to other philanthropic
causes, taking the lead in raising money to save Hartford's Old
State House. In 1916, Bulkeley was a guest of honor at a
banquet celebrating the National League's 40th anniversary,
with former president Taft the featured speaker.[63] In 1919, he
chaired a committee seeking a new site for Hartford's main 1896 medal honoring Bulkeley, by
post office.[64] John Flanagan

Both of Bulkeley's sons and three of his nephews served in

France during World War I, and Aetna employees bought almost $24 million in Liberty Loan
bonds, purchases urged by the company president, "Get what is left in your vest pockets and turn
them inside out; search your trousers' pockets and take what's left; even go into your stockings and
give of your saving. Contribute liberally in this campaign that we are about to enter."[65]

Bulkeley enjoyed general good health in his final years, suffering from occasional illness. In
October 1922, he fell ill, and his doctor put him to bed on November 2. Four days later, he took a
turn for the worse and his family was summoned to his bedside. He died in the evening of
November 6, 1922, aged 84. The funeral was at the Bulkeley home in Hartford, with the honorary
pallbearers including Senator Brandegee and Governor Everett J. Lake. Among those in
attendance was John Heydler, president of the National League, which also sent a large floral
piece. Interment was at Cedar Hill Cemetery in Hartford. The offices of Aetna were closed the day
after the funeral, and for fifteen minutes at 2:30 that afternoon, all business ceased in the city of
Hartford.[66]

Family, interests and sites

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In 1885, Bulkeley wed Fannie Briggs Houghton, they had three

children.[3] The elder son, Morgan Bulkeley Jr., was gassed in
World War I and never regained his full health, dying at age 40
in 1926, leaving three children. The middle child, Elinor
Bulkeley Ingersoll, died in 1964 at age 71, leaving four children.
The younger son, Houghton, died in 1966 at age 69, leaving
three children. Bulkeley's nephew via his younger sister Mary,
Morgan B. Brainard, became president of Aetna after him, and The Bulkeley Bridge, seen in 2013
served thirty-five years, meaning Aetna was led by a family
member for all but seven years of its first century.[67]

The Hartford Bridge over the Connecticut River was renamed the Bulkeley Bridge in his honor in
1922, after his death.[48] The bridge carries Interstate 84 over the Connecticut River.[68] Morgan
G. Bulkeley High School, in Hartford, is also named for him.[46] In 1928, Clarkin Field in Hartford
was renamed Morgan G. Bulkeley Stadium in his honor; it was demolished in 1960.[69] There is a
Bulkeley Avenue in the city's west end. There was a small Bulkeley Park near the bridge; its former
site is near the bridge's western approach.[46][70]

In addition to his brief stint as National League president, Bulkeley was involved in sports as
president of the harness racing association, the United States Trotting Association, for more than
thirty years.[54] Although he never owned horses which were raced, he was a regular attendee at
the track and was a director of Charter Oak Park for many years,[71] serving as president of the
owners of Charter Oak Park, the Connecticut Stock Breeders' Association.[72]

He was elected as commander of the Connecticut Department of the Grand Army of the Republic
in 1903.[73] He was for 20 years president of Connecticut's chapter of the Sons of the
Revolution.[64]

Assessment and historical view

Bulkeley's biographer, Murphy, described his subject's life, "Beyond
the dreams of most men—and for the greater part of his long life—he
completely controlled his world. With courage and political savvy,
Morgan Bulkeley hopscotched from great success in business and
laudable accomplishments in community affairs to the realization of
some rather robust political dreams."[74] He deemed Bulkeley "one of
the most powerful politicians Connecticut ever produced".[75] During
Bulkeley's presidency, Aetna became the largest life insurance
company in the nation.[13]

Bulkeley's election to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1937, 15 years after

his death, is controversial due to the brevity of his involvement in the
Post card depicting game. The first president of the American League, Ban Johnson, a
Bulkeley's Hall of Fame major figure in baseball for over twenty years, was inducted into the
plaque Hall of Fame at the same time by the Centennial Commission
(appointed by Baseball Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis),
and the choices may be connected.[76] The Centennial Commission
selectees were chosen not only for their playing ability, but for their "pioneer inspiration".[77] Some
have suggested that Bulkeley is the least-deserving Hall of Fame inductee[46]—Krell stated that
Bulkeley's induction was "largely to the consternation of 19th century baseball enthusiasts".[78]
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Goldfarb wrote, "it was more of a 'political' decision than a baseball one: as American League
founder and president Ban Johnson had been chosen for induction at that time, it was felt that the
National League also needed to be represented".[13] Krell noted that Bulkeley was elected league
president to give credibility to the new league and suggested, "Those who disagree with his Hall of
Fame credentials must first consider whether the National League would have been successful
without him."[21]

According to Jeff Jacobs of the Hartford Courant in his 2014 article on Bulkeley, "The Crowbar
Governor—how great is that nickname?—stands out as the premier sportsman of the first half of
[the Courant's] existence [1764–1889]."[46] A 1939 article in the Courant deemed Bulkeley "one of
the most illustrious men ever to be born in Connecticut ... His philanthropies were legend."[64]

Murphy stated of Bulkeley,

He was shrewd, pragmatic, sometimes wildly vindictive—but he was also courteous, loyal,
and even kind. He wasn't a "man for all seasons," but he accomplished an enormous
amount without receiving even a high school diploma. In the pantheon of Connecticut
politics, he has his own special place. Love him or hate him, he remains one of the most
interesting and complex politicians Connecticut has ever produced.[79]

References
1. Fleitz, p. 6.
2. Murphy, pp. xii–xiii.
3. Grant, H. Roger (1999). "Bulkeley, Morgan Gardner". American National Biography. New York:
Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/anb/9780198606697.article.0500102 (https://doi.org/10.1
093%2Fanb%2F9780198606697.article.0500102). (subscription required)
4. Murphy, pp. 9–11.
5. Murphy, p. 12.
6. "Bulkeley, Morgan Gardner" (https://bioguide.congress.gov/search/bio/B001044). Biographical
Directory of the United States Congress. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/202305281538
23/https://bioguide.congress.gov/search/bio/B001044) from the original on May 28, 2023.
Retrieved December 20, 2023.
7. Murphy, pp. 20–22, 25.
8. "Ex-Sen Morgan G. Bulkeley dies after brief illness; long, distinguished career" (https://www.ne
wspapers.com/article/hartford-courant/137156440/). The Hartford Courant. November 7, 1922.
pp. 1, 12. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20231221191827/https://www.newspapers.co
m/article/hartford-courant/137156440/) from the original on December 21, 2023. Retrieved
December 21, 2023 – via Newspapers.com. Page 12 here (https://www.newspapers.com/articl
e/hartford-courant/137156382/) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20231221191828/https://
www.newspapers.com/article/hartford-courant/137156382/) December 21, 2023, at the
Wayback Machine
9. Murphy, pp. 30–35.
10. Hooker, pp. 96, 98.
11. Murphy, pp. ix, 36–37.
12. Hooker, p. 98.
13. Goldfarb, Irv. "Morgan Bulkeley" (https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/morgan-bulkeley/). Society for
American Baseball Research. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20231220173159/https://s
abr.org/bioproj/person/morgan-bulkeley/) from the original on December 20, 2023. Retrieved
December 20, 2023.
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