Garret Augustus Hobart

Born in Long Branch and raised in Paterson, Garret Augustus Hobart was the first New Jersey resident to serve as vice president of the United States. He began practicing law in 1866 and later served as counsel to the City of Paterson and the Passaic County Board of Chosen Freeholders. He served as speaker of the state General Assembly then rose to the state Senate, where he was president from 1880–82. A key member of the Republican National Committee and chair of New Jersey’s Republican Committee, he was a delegate to five successive presidential nominating conventions. Hobart was the natural choice for vice president in conservative William McKinley’s race for the presidency in 1896; the pair swept the ticket. As vice president, Hobart presided over the Senate with finesse. He took ill halfway through the term and died in 1899. Had he lived, he might have been president, succeeding McKinley when the president was assassinated. Colleagues said that Hobart had “a character and worth not seen since the earliest days of the Republic.” He is honored with a bust by sculptor F. Edwin Elwell that sits outside the U.S. Senate chamber on the second floor of the Capitol.