Arthur P. Gorman

Arthur Pue Gorman (March 11, 1839 – June 4, 1906) was an American politician. He was leader of the Gorman-Rasin organization with Isaac Freeman Rasin that controlled the Maryland Democratic Party from the late 1870s until his death in 1906. Gorman served as United States Senator from Maryland from 1881 to 1899 and again from 1903 until his death. He was a prominent leader of the Bourbon Democrat faction of the Democratic Party. Gorman was Chairman of the Democratic National Committee during Grover Cleveland's 1884 presidential campaign and he is widely credited with securing Cleveland's victory. In 1952 Gorman was described in The Baltimore Sun as "easily the most powerful political figure [Maryland] has ever known."

As a young man, Gorman also played a prominent role in the early development of baseball in Washington, D.C. He was a founding member of the original Washington Nationals of the National Association, the first American baseball team, and became one of the nation's star players by 1864. Later in life, he served as a member of the Mills Commission which investigated the origins of the sport.

Gorman was born in Woodstock, Maryland on March 11, 1839. His father was Peter Gorman, a construction contractor, and his mother was Elizabeth A. Gorman (née Brown). Arthur was named after the family physician, Dr. Arthur Pue. He was the first of five children, including William.

Gorman's paternal grandfather, John, emigrated to the U.S. from Ireland circa 1794, first settling in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania before moving to the Baltimore area.

The Gorman family moved to Howard County, Maryland around 1845, where Peter Gorman bought a 150-acre (61 ha) farm several miles from Laurel. Gorman attended Howard County public schools and for at least one year his father hired a tutor to teach him and neighboring students.

In 1850, Peter Gorman used his connections to Maryland Congressmen William T. Hamilton and Edward Hammond to arrange for 11-year old Arthur to serve as a U.S. Senate page. Gorman became friends with prominent Illinois Senator Stephen A. Douglas, who made Gorman his private secretary. Some sources state that Gorman accompanied Douglas during his debates with Abraham Lincoln in 1858, although biographer John R. Lambert questions these accounts. Gorman continued to work for the senate throughout the 1850s and 1860s, including positions as messenger, assistant doorkeeper, and assistant postmaster. In 1866, he was appointed Postmaster. Gorman's experience in the Senate gave him extensive knowledge of parliamentary procedures that he would put to use during his political career.

During the American Civil War, Gorman was a pro-Union Democrat. In September 1866, Republicans who held the senate majority removed him as postmaster because he supported President Andrew Johnson's Reconstruction policies. Johnson immediately appointed Gorman as Collector of Internal Revenue for the Fifth Congressional District of Maryland.

At the age of 20 in 1859, Gorman was one of the founding members of the Washington Nationals, the first fully professional baseball team in America. He rose to become a star by the end of the Civil War era. According to contemporary accounts, Gorman was the team's standout left fielder, but often substituted or filled in at every other position, including pitcher and catcher.