Morey letter

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On October 20, 1880, the New York newspaper, The Truth, published a letter that was supposed to have been written by Presidential candidate James Garfield to an "H.L. Morey" of Lynn, Massachusetts. The letter was purported to have been written in January of 1879. The letter was just three sentences written on congressional stationery, implying that Garfield favored increased Chinese immigration. Chinese immigration had become a highly politicized issue and all candidates were on record as being against further immigration. Garfield made no comment on the letter, because he couldn't be sure whether he had written it. Experts eventually declared the document a forgery, but the delay and silence by Garfield hurt him politically.

Reporters went to work looking for the recipient of the letter in Lynn, Massachusetts, but could find no person with that name. On October 26, 1880 Garfield submitted a handwritten version of the letter, which was published in newspapers so readers could compare the handwriting and judge for themselves. Garfield went on to win the election.

The Morey letter was thought to be a forgery emanating from Democratic Party operatives and produced a backlash against the Democrats.

[edit] External links

• Facsimile of the Morey letter from partisan source
• The Phony Document that Almost Cost a President His Election; by Andrew Gyory

[edit] The New York Times

• The New York Times, July 8, 1882, p. 2: The Morey letter mystery. Remarkable developments promised in the trial of the libel suit of Price against Goldsborough. Cumberland, Maryland, July 7, 1882. In my letter of May 14 I referred to the two visits made to Cumberland by John I. Davenport, who was hunting up evidence in the Morey letter case. Since then three witnesses have left here and made confessions in regard to their connection with James O'Brien, who represented himself as Robert Lindsay, and who is now serving a term in the ..."