"It is my happy privilege to be able to stand here and tell you that if you elect me you will have elected a governor who has made no promises of preferment to any man or group"
About this Quote
A candidate who declares he has made no promises of preferment is asking voters to judge him free of the usual IOUs that bind politicians to donors, party bosses, and organized blocs. Preferment is the currency of machine politics: jobs, contracts, exemptions, and seats at the table exchanged for support. By insisting he has offered none of it, Charles Edison frames his candidacy as an ethic of independence and merit, where offices are earned by qualification and policies are shaped by the public interest rather than by private bargains.
The language balances humility and resolve. Calling it a happy privilege to make such a statement signals gratitude to voters while underscoring a moral stance: he is glad to be accountable only to them. It also works as a preemptive rebuttal. If critics later allege favoritism, he can point back to a clear, public pledge. The negative construction has force; he does not promise what he will do for insiders, but what he will refuse to do, which in the climate of patronage carries persuasive weight.
Context heightens the declaration. New Jersey in the late 1930s and early 1940s was shadowed by entrenched machines and the spoils system that pervaded many American cities. Edison, a former Secretary of the Navy and the son of an icon of American invention, campaigned as a modernizer and reformer. His agenda favored professionalized administration, civil service protections, and governmental reorganization. A vow to avoid preferment aligned him with Progressive ideals and signaled a break with backroom politics that could distort wartime mobilization and peacetime recovery alike.
There is risk in such a stance: refusing to trade favors can limit a governor’s leverage with party leaders and interest groups. Yet that very risk enhances credibility. The promise sets a standard against which appointments, contracts, and legislation can be measured, inviting citizens to hold him to a governing philosophy grounded in fairness, competence, and the primacy of the common good.
The language balances humility and resolve. Calling it a happy privilege to make such a statement signals gratitude to voters while underscoring a moral stance: he is glad to be accountable only to them. It also works as a preemptive rebuttal. If critics later allege favoritism, he can point back to a clear, public pledge. The negative construction has force; he does not promise what he will do for insiders, but what he will refuse to do, which in the climate of patronage carries persuasive weight.
Context heightens the declaration. New Jersey in the late 1930s and early 1940s was shadowed by entrenched machines and the spoils system that pervaded many American cities. Edison, a former Secretary of the Navy and the son of an icon of American invention, campaigned as a modernizer and reformer. His agenda favored professionalized administration, civil service protections, and governmental reorganization. A vow to avoid preferment aligned him with Progressive ideals and signaled a break with backroom politics that could distort wartime mobilization and peacetime recovery alike.
There is risk in such a stance: refusing to trade favors can limit a governor’s leverage with party leaders and interest groups. Yet that very risk enhances credibility. The promise sets a standard against which appointments, contracts, and legislation can be measured, inviting citizens to hold him to a governing philosophy grounded in fairness, competence, and the primacy of the common good.
Quote Details
| Topic | Honesty & Integrity |
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