A heartbeat away from the most-powerful office on Earth.

VP Garret Hobart

Long Branch can’t claim that a native was ever President of the United States of America. Plenty of presidential visits, for sure; but never one born here. Close though.

Garret Augustus Hobart — born in Long Branch on a farm — was Vice President of the United States under President William McKinley, serving from 1897 until his death in 1899. Students of history know that Hobart was replaced as VP on the 1900 Republican ticket by Theodore Roosevelt who went on to become the nation’s Chief Executive (and of Mount Rushmore quality) when President McKinley was assassinated in September 1901.

There’s little doubt that had Hobart survived he would have remained on the Republican ticket in 1900 for a second term (McKinley greatly respected and trusted him, calling him the “Assistant President”) and would have become the President after McKinley’s death.

A Rutgers College graduate and self-taught lawyer, Hobart rose to become a powerfully-connected New Jersey banker and politician. He ascended quickly in the ranks of Garden State politics — serving as Speaker of the NJ State Assembly and President of the NJ State Senate. He was chairman of the state Republican Party when he was nominated for US Vice President in St. Louis in June 1896.

“I’m a businessman; I engage in politics for recreation.”
—Garret Hobart

Born in Long Branch in June 1844, Hobart grew up in the Marlboro Twp. area. He and his wife, Jennie Tuttle Hobart, had 4 children. He also owned several homes in Monmouth Beach and the West Long Branch area.

It was Hobart’s strong fundraising connections with Eastern big business and his ability to help carry New Jersey’s electoral votes that secured his place as the nation’s 24^th vice president. Back then — as today — New Jersey was inhospitable to Republicans. In fact, Abraham Lincoln didn’t carry the state in either of his two successful presidential races. The McKinley-Hobart ticket won with 51% of the national vote against Democrat William Bryan and the Republicans carried New Jersey (then with 10 electoral votes) for the first time in 24 years (winning nearly 60% of the state vote for 1896).

In November 1899, when the incumbent US Vice President he died of a heart attack at the age of 55 in Patterson, NJ. Wealthy industrialists and Monmouth Beach summer residents George F. Baker, E.A. Walton and William Barbour served as his pallbearers. The only other NJ native to be elected a US Vice President (from 1801–1805) was Aaron Burr. Hobart would be the sixth US vice president to die in office.

Garret Hobart is sworn-in as the 24th Vice President of the United States in the US Senate Chamber in Washington, DC, January 1897.

US Vice President Garret A. Hobart, Harper’s Weekly, 1899.

The McKinley-Hobart Republican ticket captured the 1896 US presidential race with 51% of the vote and a 271-176 Electoral College win. Democrat candidate William Jennings Bryan was the loser. Nearly 14 million Americans cast ballots.

President McKinley and Vice President Hobart on vacation in Long Branch, 1899.

Letter from Vice President Garret Hobart confirming his membership in the Monmouth Beach Country Club, June 1899.

Vice President Garret Hobart statue in Patterson, NJ.

Vice President Garret Hobart in Washington, DC, 1890s.

Garret Hobart was born in this Long Branch house in June 1844. His father Addison Hobart moved to Long Branch in 1841 to open an elementary school.

Almost VP Visit — Monmouth Beach Casino, New York Sun, February 1896. This “Gilded Age relic” was originally located on the northeast corner of Beach Road and Seaview Avenue. Designed by Romeyn & Stever of New York and constructed by Robert H. Hughes of Long Branch (who also built the Long Branch Casino in 1907), it opened with a huge celebration in June 1896. Among the 300+ guests was Garret A. Hobart, the near future Vice President of the United States. Owner of a large summer cottage in town, Hobart “took an active part” in the ceremony. He was nominated for VP that same month in St. Louis. Victorious but doomed, he’d be dead within three years from a heart attack. The building was later moved and would become Monmouth Beach Borough Hall in 1917.