James Schoolcraft Sherman, “Sunny Jim”, was the Vice President during the Roosevelt verses Taft feud which led to Theodore Roosevelt’s third party candidacy in 1912. 

He was born in Utica New York in 1855 where his Grandfather owned a large glass factory. He attended the Whitestone Seminary, and earned his degree at Hamilton College in Clinton New York in 1878. In 1880 he passed the bar and began practicing law with his brother in law. In addition to law he also had a business career, serving as president of the Utica Trust & Deposit Company, and taking over control of the New Hartford Canning Company from his father. 

He then joined the Republican Party, even though his father had been the publisher of a newspaper, which strongly favored the Democrats. He was elected Utica’s mayor in 1885 and in 1888 he was elected to the US House of Representatives. The midterm elections were not good for the Republicans and Sherman lost his bid for reelection. He blamed his loss on the unpopular McKinley tariff, revamped his campaign strategy, and in 1892 was again elected to Congress and continued to serve until he became Vice president. 

James S. Sherman was never the sponsor of any major legislation, never was the chairman of any committees, and was never elected by his fellow congressmen to any positions of leadership in the House, but he did gain their respect as a skilled and effective parliamentarian. A clever strategy was called “The Committee of the Whole” which allowed members to vote on legislation with a smaller quorum, which would limit debate. Sherman was considered the master of leading these “committees” and is credited with helping pass crucial Republican legislation. Of course measures did have to be voted on by the full house, but it was easier to get them through if they had already been passed by the “committee of the Whole”. The Republicans also knew that when the Speaker was out of the chamber Congressman Sherman could be trusted with the gavel. He lost his bid to become Speaker in 1900 but he became a close advisor and confidant to Speaker David Henderson, and later the powerful Joe Cannon. 

The regulation of tariffs was a hot political issue diving the two parties. The Democrats under Grover Cleveland had lowered tariffs, but after McKinley became President Sherman helped to pass the Dingley amendment that restored the high tariffs favored by The Republicans. When Theodore Roosevelt suddenly became the President in 1901 “progressive” legislation divided the Republican Party. One example was a bill requiring that canned food be accurately measured and labeled for weights and measures. Sherman joined with other conservative or “Old Guard” Republicans who thought that weights and measures needed to be accurate only if the canner chose to label the measurements of the product. Progressives were quick to point out Sherman’s bias by reminding them of his family connection to the New Hartford Canning Company. Dr. Harvey Wiley, a strong advocate for food and drug laws responded with “Not Sunny Jim, but Short weight Jim”. 

During Roosevelt’s midterm of 1906 Sherman was the chairman of the Republican congressional campaign committee. When it looked like his own House seat was in jeopardy he planned to ask Secretary of State Elihu Root to come to New York and speak in favor of gubernatorial candidate Charles Evans Hughes. Some Republicans warned Sherman that Hughes opponent, Newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst, could exploit Roots connections with big business, but he ignored their advice. Root rallied the New York Republicans by giving a strong speech criticizing Hearst. Hughes became governor, and Sherman returned to Congress. 

When the Republicans met in 1908 Teddy Roosevelt’s hand picked man easily won the nomination, but the number two spot was still up for grabs. After the nomination for Vice president was turned down by “progressive” Republicans the New York delegation was able to convince Taft to balance the ticket with James S. Sherman. Although he was well known in the Capitol most Americans had never heard of Sherman, and some even thought he was the same Sherman of the “Sherman anti trust Act”, but that didn’t matter since Taft’s opponent William Jennings Bryan proved to be no more popular in 1908 than he did in 1896 or 1900. 

After the election Taft did not want to deal directly with the “old guard Republican” House Speaker and asked Sherman if he would be his contact with Joe Cannon. Sherman politely refused the request saying it was not the duty of the Vice President to be a messenger boy. About a month later Taft met with Cannon and the two men found themselves agreeing on many important issues. It was the beginning of Taft’s drift to more conservative politics. 

By now the Republicans in congress were practically split in to two parties. When “progressive” Republican Senator Robert La Follette of Wisconsin tried to stop Rhode Island’s “conservative” Republican Senator Nelson Aldrich from passing the Payne-Aldrich Tariff Act, Sherman’s influence and persuasion helped pass the tariff and clearly put him on the side of the conservatives. [If the name Nelson Aldrich sounds familiar his daughter married John D. Rockefeller Jr., and they had a son] 

In 1910 President Taft fired the head of the Forest Services Department, Gifford Pinchot, after Pinchot had accused Secretary of the Interior Richard Ballinger of undermining government conservation programs. Sherman supported Taft’s decision, and when a congressional committee was being organized to investigate the accusations made against Secretary Ballinger he made sure that only Republicans who sided with Taft were members. To no ones surprise Ballinger was exonerated. Pinchot had been known as a supporter of Roosevelt’s policies and the whole affair deeply angered the former President. 



In 1910 Wisconsin had replaced the state party convention with a primary election. Senator Robert LaFollette was up for reelection, but Taft favored the “conservative” candidate and sent the Vice President to Wisconsin to campaign against Lafollette. After failing in Wisconsin Sherman went to New York where Governor Hughes had resigned to become a Justice of the US Supreme Court. William Barnes, a “conservative” appointed Sherman to be the temporary chair of the Republican state convention to nominate the next governor, but “progressive” Republican Herbert Parson appealed to former President Roosevelt for help. Roosevelt, who felt that his progressive legacy was being betrayed by the Taft administration, agreed to be a candidate for the chairmanship of the party convention. Although Roosevelt claimed he was only running against Sherman his election was seen as a major loss for the Taft administration. 

In the 1912 campaign Teddy Roosevelt was the clear winner in those states that held primaries, but Taft’s people still controlled the party machinery and were able to renominate Taft and Sherman. It was the first time a sitting Vice President had been renominated since John C. Calhoun in 1828. But that bit of trivia was completely overshadowed when Roosevelt formed his own Progressive (aka Bull Moose) party and ran as a third party candidate. During the campaign Sherman began to show signs of ill health. Doctors advised him to rest but he insisted on making a speech in his hometown of Utica. He told the doctors, “You know about medicine, but you don’t know about politics”. On October 30th James S. Sherman became the first Vice Presidential candidate to die during the campaign. Columbia University President Nicholas Butler replaced him on the ticket. 

He soon faded into historical obscurity and became one of our least mentioned former Vice Presidents, but that does not eliminate the fact that he was a powerful influence in steering the Republican Party towards its current political agenda.