Rhinelander Waldo (May 24, 1877 – August 13, 1927) was appointed the seventh

New York City Fire Commissioner The New York City Fire Commissioner is the civilian administrator of the New York City Fire Department (FDNY), appointed by the Mayor of the City of New York. There have been 34 commissioners excluding Acting Fire Commissioners, and 38 commission ...

by Mayor

William Jay Gaynor William Jay Gaynor (February 2, 1849 – September 10, 1913) was an American politician from New York City, associated with the Tammany Hall political machine. He served as the 94th mayor of the City of New York from 1910 to 1913, and previously ...

on January 13, 1910. He resigned on May 23, 1911, less than two months after the deadly

Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, on Saturday, March 25, 1911, was the deadliest industrial disaster in the history of the city, and one of the deadliest in U.S. history. The ...

to accept an appointment as the eighth

New York City Police Commissioner The New York City Police Commissioner is the head of the New York City Police Department and presiding member of the Board of Commissioners. The commissioner is appointed by and serves at the pleasure of the mayor. The commissioner is respons ...

. On December 31, 1913, he was dismissed by the outgoing acting mayor, Ardolph Kline. Among other achievements in office, Waldo contributed to the motorization of both departments.

Early life

Rhinelander Waldo was born on May 24, 1877 in New York City to Francis William "Frank" Waldo, a stockbroker who died in 1878, and Gertrude Rhinelander Waldo, an American heiress known for commissioning the

Rhinelander Mansion The Gertrude Rhinelander Waldo House is a French Renaissance revival mansion at 867 Madison Avenue on the corner of East 72nd Street on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City. Completed in 1898, it was designed by the architecture fi ...

located in Manhattan at 867

Madison Avenue Madison Avenue is a north-south avenue in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, United States, that carries northbound one-way traffic. It runs from Madison Square (at 23rd Street) to meet the southbound Harlem River Drive at 142nd Str ...

on the south-east corner of 72nd Street, designed in the 1890s by Kimball & Thompson and completed in 1898. Waldo was educated at the Berkeley School and the

Columbia School of Mines The Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science (popularly known as SEAS or Columbia Engineering; previously known as Columbia School of Mines) is the engineering and applied science school of Columbia University. It was founded as t ...

before attending the

United States Military Academy The United States Military Academy (USMA), also known Metonymy, metonymically as West Point or simply as Army, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York. It was originally established as a f ...

West Point The United States Military Academy (USMA), also known Metonymy, metonymically as West Point or simply as Army, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York. It was originally established as a f ...

. Columbia University's alumni notes show that he was a member of the class of 1899, but it was unsure whether he graduated with the class or not.

Career

He joined the Seventeenth Infantry Regiment of the United States Army as a

Second Lieutenant Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces, comparable to NATO OF-1 rank. Australia The rank of second lieutenant existed in the military forces of the Australian colonies and Australian Army unt ...

in 1899, after the United States had occupied the Philippine Islands in the

Spanish–American War , partof = the Philippine Revolution, the decolonization of the Americas, and the Cuban War of Independence , image = Collage infobox for Spanish-American War.jpg , image_size = 300px , caption = (clock ...

. In the course of nearly four years in the Philippines, he served under General

Arthur MacArthur, Jr. Arthur MacArthur Jr. (June 2, 1845 – September 5, 1912) was a lieutenant general of the United States Army. He became the military Governor-General of the American-occupied Philippines in 1900; his term ended a year later due to clashes wi ...

, was on the staff of General

Leonard Wood Leonard Wood (October 9, 1860 – August 7, 1927) was a United States Army major general, physician, and public official. He served as the Chief of Staff of the United States Army, Military Governor of Cuba, and Governor-General of the Philipp ...

during the

Moro rebellion The Moro Rebellion (1899–1913) was an armed conflict between the Moro people and the United States military during the Philippine–American War. The word "Moro" – the Spanish word for "Moor" – is a term for Muslim people who l ...

, and commanded a battalion of

Philippine Scouts The Philippine Scouts ( Filipino: ''Maghahanap ng Pilipinas'' or ''Hukbong Maghahanap ng Pilipinas'') was a military organization of the United States Army from 1901 until after the end of World War II. These troops were generally Filipinos a ...

. He resigned from the Army in 1905 with the rank of captain and became New York's First Deputy Commissioner of Police in January 1906, at the age of 28. Waldo, who had served as

since the beginning of Mayor Gaynor's term in January 1910, was in office at the time of the

which occurred on March 25, 1911 and killed 146 people. On June 9, 1911, only 17 days after taking office as Police Commissioner, Waldo founded the motor-cycle squad, organized under the Office of Street Traffic Regulation Bureau. Another of his early acts as Police Commissioner was the appointment of three "Strong Arm" anti-vice squads and their commanders—one of whom,

Charles Becker Charles Becker (July 26, 1870 – July 30, 1915) was a lieutenant in the New York City Police Department between the 1890s and the 1910s. He is known for the scandal of being tried, convicted, and executed for the first-degree murder of the Man ...

, was later executed for complicity in the July 1912 murder of the bookmaker Herman Rosenthal (shortly after Rosenthal had told the press of extortion by Becker and other police). Acting Mayor Ardolph Kline's elected successor,

John Purroy Mitchel John Purroy Mitchel (July 19, 1879 – July 6, 1918) was the 95th mayor of New York, from 1914 to 1917. At 34, he was the second-youngest mayor and he is sometimes referred to as "The Boy Mayor of New York." Mitchel is remembered for his sho ...

, indicated before taking office at noon on January 1, 1914, that he would not keep Commissioner Waldo in office. Waldo tendered his resignation effective at midnight December 31, 1913, after transferring or accepting resignations from most of the department's senior officers and specialists. Amid much confusion and discord, Mayor Kline (who had taken office after Mayor Gaynor's death in September 1913) refused to accept Waldo's resignation (which would have left the Department without leaders for the first 12 hours after New Year's Eve) and fired him instead.Kline Ousts Waldo; Calls Him Childish – Willing to Break Down Police Department to Satisfy His Pique, Mayor Writes.
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', Thursday, January 1, 1914, page 1, retrieved on June 20, 2008, beginning "Rhinelander Waldo was summarily dismissed from office as Police Commissioner yesterday by Mayor Kline. The removal came as the climax of a series of complications that had kept the department in a turmoil ever since it became definitely known that Mayor-elect Mitchel intended to let Waldo go and appoint a police commissioner of his own choosing."

Later career

In 1916, Waldo held a commission as Major in the Infantry Officers Reserve Corps. He went into

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

as a major in the 301st Infantry of the National Army in 1917. After serving in France, he was honorably discharged in 1919 and in 1923 was commissioned a colonel in the reserve. After he was out of office, he stayed involved with political affairs and while

Richard Enright Richard Edward Enright (August 30, 1871 – September 4, 1953) was an American law enforcement officer, detective, and crime writer and served as NYPD Police Commissioner from 1918 until 1925. He was the first man to rise from the rank-and-file ...

was

(appointed by the regular Democratic Mayor

John Francis Hylan John Francis Hylan (April 20, 1868January 12, 1936) was the 96th Mayor of New York City (the seventh since the consolidation of the five boroughs), from 1918 to 1925. From rural beginnings in the Catskills, Hylan eventually obtained work in Broo ...

), Waldo served for a time as a special deputy but resigned in September 1924 to organize the Coolidge Nonpartisan League, a step that "marked his formal renunciation of

Tammany Hall Tammany Hall, also known as the Society of St. Tammany, the Sons of St. Tammany, or the Columbian Order, was a New York City political organization founded in 1786 and incorporated on May 12, 1789 as the Tammany Society. It became the main loc ...

in favor of the

Republican Party Republican Party is a name used by many political parties around the world, though the term most commonly refers to the United States' Republican Party. Republican Party may also refer to: Africa * Republican Party (Liberia) *Republican Party ...

." Around this time, he was mentioned as a possible candidate for governor general of the Philippines.

Personal life

On April 20, 1910, he was married to Virginia Otis Heckscher at the country house of artist Charles H. Ebert in

Greenwich, Connecticut Greenwich (, ) is a town in southwestern Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. At the 2020 census, the town had a total population of 63,518. The largest town on Connecticut's Gold Coast, Greenwich is home to many hedge funds and othe ...

. Virginia, a daughter of Robert M. Otis and Helen (née Gordon) Otis of

Richmond, Virginia (Thus do we reach the stars) , image_map = , mapsize = 250 px , map_caption = Location within Virginia , pushpin_map = Virginia#USA , pushpin_label = Richmond , pushpin_m ...

, was twice widowed before their marriage. Her second marriage was to John Gerard Heckscher who died in 1908 (he was the widow of Mary (née Travers) Gray, a daughter of William R. Travers, and the father-in-law of Mayor

George B. McClellan Jr. George Brinton McClellan Jr. (November 23, 1865November 30, 1940), was an American statesman, author, historian, and educator. The son of the American Civil War general and presidential candidate George B. McClellan, he was the 93rd Mayor of Ne ...

). He died on August 13, 1927 in his home in Philipse Road in

Garrison, New York Garrison is a hamlet in Putnam County, New York, United States. It is part of the town of Philipstown, on the east side of the Hudson River, across from the United States Military Academy at West Point. The Garrison Metro-North Railroad st ...

sepsis Sepsis, formerly known as septicemia (septicaemia in British English) or blood poisoning, is a life-threatening condition that arises when the body's response to infection causes injury to its own tissues and organs. This initial stage is follo ...

In popular culture

Waldo was portrayed by

James Cagney James Francis Cagney Jr. (; July 17, 1899March 30, 1986) was an American actor, dancer and film director. On stage and in film, Cagney was known for his consistently energetic performances, distinctive vocal style, and deadpan comic timing. He ...

in the 1981 film ''

Ragtime Ragtime, also spelled rag-time or rag time, is a musical style that flourished from the 1890s to 1910s. Its cardinal trait is its syncopated or "ragged" rhythm. Ragtime was popularized during the early 20th century by composers such as Scott J ...

'' despite the age difference (Cagney was 81 years old when he filmed this movie; the real Rhinelander Waldo was only 32 at the time in which the movie was set and died at age 50.) However, in

E.L. Doctorow Edgar Lawrence Doctorow (January 6, 1931 – July 21, 2015) was an American novelist, editor, and professor, best known for his works of historical fiction. He wrote twelve novels, three volumes of short fiction and a stage drama. They included ...

's original 1975 novel ''

'' from which the film was adapted, Waldo's role in the narrative is minor while Charles S. Whitman, the real-life

Manhattan District Attorney The New York County District Attorney, also known as the Manhattan District Attorney, is the elected district attorney for New York County (Manhattan), New York. The office is responsible for the prosecution of violations of New York state laws ( ...

at the time, performs most of the fictional words and deeds that the film assigned to Waldo.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Waldo, Rhinelander 1877 births 1927 deaths Commissioners of the New York City Fire Department New York City Police Commissioners United States Army officers Columbia School of Mines alumni United States Military Academy alumni