The Republican nominee in 1888, Benjamin Harrison, was a former Civil War general and senator from Indiana.1 He campaigned from his front porch in Indianapolis, receiving delegations and reporters.2 Harrison carried Indiana and its 15 electoral votes by a very narrow margin, though he failed to carry his home city of Indianapolis.3
On October 24, 1888, William W. Dudley, treasurer of the Republican National Committee, sent a circular letter to Republican leaders in Indiana.4 It urged them to divide the floaters, voters available to the highest bidder, into blocks of five, each under a trusted man with the necessary funds.5 Democrats obtained a copy, and charges over the letter dominated the campaign's closing days.6 Dudley and other Republicans called the letter a forgery, and Harrison distanced himself from it.7
Historian James L. Baumgardner argued that both parties pursued the floater vote in Indiana in this period, and historian Roger A. Fischer writes that Baumgardner's study of the 1888 returns effectively dismisses the idea that the letter decided Harrison's margin there.8 Even so, the Miller Center notes, there was talk for years that Harrison's supporters had bought votes to win Indiana.9 According to Fischer, Republican leaders had a pending federal indictment of Dudley for campaign fraud quashed.10
Sources for each sentence
Each numbered entry quotes the words that support that sentence, as they appear on the linked page.
- Back to sentence 1
Benjamin Harrison-former Civil War general and senator from Indiana, and grandson of President William Henry Harrison
millercenter.org/president/cleveland/campaigns-and-elections - Back to sentence 2
Harrison limited his speeches to front porch receptions in Indianapolis for a stream of carefully selected delegations and press reporters.
millercenter.org/president/bharrison/campaigns-and-elections - Back to sentence 3
Illinois 22 22 - 22 - Indiana 15 15 - 15 - Iowa 13
archives.gov/electoral-college/1888 Cleveland lost New York as well as Indiana, but by very narrow margins.
millercenter.org/president/cleveland/campaigns-and-elections Harrison had failed to carry his home city of Indianapolis
millercenter.org/president/bharrison/campaigns-and-elections - Back to sentence 4
he responded on October 24,1888, with the circular letter to GOP leaders back home to urge preemptive measures
scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/imh/article/download/11170/16050/28299 In 1888 Harrison chose him as his personal representative on the Republican National Committee (RNC). He quickly became treasurer
scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/imh/article/download/11170/16050/28299 - Back to sentence 5
Divide the floaters into blocks of five, put a trusted man with the necessary funds in charge of these five and make him responsible that none get away and that all vote our ticket.
scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/imh/article/download/11170/16050/28299 (nonaligned individuals available to the highest bidder)
scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/imh/article/download/11170/16050/28299 - Back to sentence 6
Democratic officials secured a copy from a curious railroad clerk, and the closing days of the 1888 campaign were dominated by charges and countercharges over Dudley's rash dictum.
scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/imh/article/download/11170/16050/28299 - Back to sentence 7
Dudley and other Republicans ingenuously declared the letter a forgery and threatened retaliatory lawsuits, and an angry and thoroughly embarrassed Harrison moved to distance himself
scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/imh/article/download/11170/16050/28299 - Back to sentence 8
aggressive but surreptitious pursuit of the floater vote, while simultaneously accusing the opposition of similar conduct, was standard practice for both parties in Gilded Age Indiana.
scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/imh/article/download/11170/16050/28299 which effectively dismisses the possibility that Dudley's missive held the key to Harrison's 1888 Indiana margin.
scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/imh/article/download/11170/16050/28299 - Back to sentence 9
for years after the election, there was political talk suggesting that his supporters had purchased votes in Indiana to win the state.
millercenter.org/president/bharrison/campaigns-and-elections - Back to sentence 10
frantic Republican topsiders quashed a pending federal indictment for campaign fraud.
scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/imh/article/download/11170/16050/28299
Sources checked on October 3, 2026
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