Honest John Shafroth: A Colorado Reformer

by Stephen J. Leonard, Thomas J. Noel

Unclean elections were as common as unclean streets in early twentieth-century America. Few politicians questioned the process that put them in power. But "Honest John" Shafroth did. On February 15, 1904, the five-term Colorado congressman stunned the U.S. House of Representatives by resigning his seat. The previous election, Shafroth declared, had been tained with fraud - and he had unwittingly benefited. "Only a brave and honest man would do as you did," a Supreme Court justice later told him. "Such actions make one proud of his country and sure of its future."
John Franklin Shafroth helped build that future. During two terms as Colorado's governor (1909-1913), Shafroth battled for progressive causes such as campaign finance reform, bank deposit insurance, mine safety, and direct election of U.S. senators. Political foes axed some of his proposals, but he pushed through many reforms, including Colorado's initiative and referendum laws. As a U.S. senator (1913-1919) Shafroth helped establish the Federal Reserve system, opposed federal leasing of Western lands, continued a lifelong crusade for women's suffrage, championed the rights of Puerto Ricans and Filipinos, and supported creation of the League of Nations. After a narrow defeat in his bid for a second Senate term, Shafroth served as chairman of the War Minerals Relief Commission. He died at his home in Denver in February 1922.

196 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 2003