The Schenectadians

A young, idealistic minister, and a stonecutter’s son, two men merged in destiny.

The former - driven by the abuses of a new industrial age at the turn of the century - from the pulpit to founding a crusading newspaper, election as the first Socialist mayor in New York State, then Democrat congressman, lieutenant governor and to the threshold of the presidency.

The latter from the mats of a local college and sawdust of the carnival to two world wrestling championships, a hometown hero and, for a third of a century, an area’s “Mr. Democrat.”

A story of two men - a father and son-in-law - and a city, but more so a story of family, its joys in success, its heartbreaks in loss. A readable episode in a city’s history, but more so an inspiration to sons and daughters everywhere.

George R. Lunn urged more biographies and autobiographies, “. . . for in them we touch life in a peculiar and intimate way . . . We find history, we find philosophy, we find religion . . . We are touching life in its most vital reality, and where can we find greater wisdom than by reading the actual conflicts of men and women in this workaday world?”