Abe Ruef

Abraham Ruef (September 2, 1864 – February 29, 1936) was an American lawyer and politician. He gained notoriety as the corrupt political boss behind the administration of Mayor Eugene Schmitz of San Francisco during the period before and after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.

Ruef was born Abraham Rueff of parents from a French–Jewish background. He was a bright student and, when barely fourteen, began studying at the University of California, Berkeley, majoring in classical studies. While attending the university, he developed an interest in fighting the rampant corruption that was endemic to local and national politics at the time. With some fellow students, he formed the "Municipal Reform League". He corresponded with like-minded individuals across the nation, including Theodore Roosevelt. At 18, Ruef graduated with the highest honors, then proceeded to enroll at the Hastings College of Law in San Francisco. He graduated from Hastings less than three years later and was accepted to the California State Bar when he was 21, the minimum age of admittance.

California was a center of corruption at the time, influenced by the Southern Pacific Railroad, which controlled both political parties in the state. They and other well-funded interest groups and individuals used their economic power and influence to form trusts and monopolies that guaranteed them power. Many of these wealthy and powerful people lived in San Francisco and, when necessary, could reinforce their hold on power through corrupt politicians and city bosses.

Although Ruef was for a long time a Republican, he wanted more power and in 1901 was the driving force behind the foundation of the new Union Labor Party. Using his position there, he maneuvered himself into a position of power.

Ruef selected the relative unknown president of the Musicians Union, Eugene Schmitz, a violinist and amateur composer, to run for mayor on the Union Labor Party ticket. Ruef hoped that Schmitz might be both electable and conducive to influence that might lead the way to the governorship later on. Behind the scenes, Ruef wrote Schmitz' speeches, planned his public appearances, and effectively ran his campaign. Schmitz became "Ruef's puppet" and was elected mayor on November 5, 1901, and was reelected in 1903 and 1905, each time by solid majorities.

The 1905 election was the first time voting machines were used, which permitted the voter to cast the entire Union Labor ticket. Ruef's political machine gradually gained control of the Chief of Police, the Board of Supervisors, and several judges. But shortly after the 1905 election, his choice for District Attorney, William L. Langton, began enforcing vice laws, largely ignored until then. Ever since the gold rush of 1849, San Francisco had a reputation as an open town, and the Barbary Coast's notorious dance halls, brothels, and barely concealed gambling dens attracted money and people.

Reformers gained considerable sympathy and support from the general population, who were growing tired of illicit and immoral activity. Radical puritans like Anthony Comstock and prohibitionists were also slowly gaining influence. There came to be a division between people who supported reform in practice and a clique which campaigned with Ruef in the name of Reform.

As political reformers, among whom Ruef had once belonged, had gradually become more powerful over the previous decade, Langton threw the power of his office behind attacks on the brothels and gambling halls supported by the "Reformers". The San Francisco Evening Bulletin edited by Fremont Older backed Langton's actions, and the publisher persuaded millionaire Rudolph Spreckels to fund a Federal investigation into corruption at City Hall.