Sulzer, William (b Elizabeth, NJ, 18 Mar 1863; d Manhattan, 6
Nov 1941). Governor. Born of German and Scotch-Irish parents,
Sulzer studied law at Columbia and passed the bar exam in 1884.
After joining Tammany Hall, he represented an East Side district
in Manhattan in the New York State Assembly from 1890 to 1894
and was Speaker in 1893. In November 1894 he was elected to the
US Congress and served until 1912. He supported progressive
labor legislation, opposed (as chairman of the House Committee
on Foreign Affairs from 1910 to 1912) intervention in the
Mexican Revolution, and supported efforts to force the Russian
government to honor American passports issued to Jews. Elected
governor of New York State in November 1912 with Tammany
support, he then broke with Tammany, had several Tammany
politicians investigated for graft, and pushed for an open
primary law. On 13 Aug 1913 Tammany boss Charles F. Murphy had
the assembly impeach Sulzer, notably for filing false campaign
contribution records. Indeed, Sulzer ha