Editing Charles Evans Hughes (section)

==Governor of New York==
[[File:CEHughes.png|thumb|right|Gubernatorial portrait of Charles Evans Hughes]]

Seeking a strong candidate to defeat newspaper mogul [[William Randolph Hearst]] in the [[1906 New York state election|1906 New York gubernatorial election]], President [[Theodore Roosevelt]] convinced New York Republican leaders to nominate Hughes for governor. Described as a progressive conservative,<ref>[https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=V4xIAAAAIBAJ&pg=PA7&dq=These+were+men+whose+credos+as+%27progressive+conservatives,%27+to+use+Stimson%27s+own+description,+were+built+on+their+conviction&article_id=549,4863811&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiOv76mlumKAxWOTkEAHQPvKG4Q6AF6BAgHEAI#v=onepage&q=These%20were%20men%20whose%20credos%20as%20'progressive%20conservatives%2C'%20to%20use%20Stimson's%20own%20description%2C%20were%20built%20on%20their%20conviction&f=false  Youngstown Vindicator 30 Oct 1967]</ref>  Roosevelt described Hughes as "a sane and sincere reformer, who really has fought against the very evils which Hearst denounces,&nbsp;... [but is] free from any taint of demagogy."<ref>{{harvnb|ps=.|Henretta|2006|pp=125–126}}</ref> In his campaign for governor, Hughes attacked the corruption of specific companies but defended corporations as a necessary part of the economy. He also called for an [[Eight-hour day|eight-hour workday]] on public works projects and favored prohibitions on [[child labor]].<ref name="henretta127">{{harvnb|ps=.|Henretta|2006|p=127}}</ref> Hughes was not a charismatic speaker, but he campaigned vigorously throughout the state and won the endorsements of most newspapers.<ref>{{harvnb|ps=.|Simon|2012|pp=37–38}}</ref> Ultimately, Hughes defeated Hearst in a close election, taking 52 percent of the vote.<ref name="henretta127"/>

===Reforming state government===

Hughes's governorship focused largely on reforming the government and addressing political corruption. He expanded the number of civil service positions, increased the power of the public utility regulatory commissions, and won passage of laws that placed limits on political donations by corporations and required political candidates to track campaign receipts and expenditures.<ref>{{harvnb|ps=.|Henretta|2006|pp=129–131}}</ref> He also signed laws that barred younger workers from several dangerous occupations and established a maximum 48-hour workweek for manufacturing workers under the age of 16. To enforce those laws, Hughes reorganized the [[New York State Department of Labor]]. Hughes's labor policies were influenced by economist [[Richard T. Ely]], who sought to improve working conditions for laborers, but rejected the more far-reaching reforms favored by union leaders like [[Samuel Gompers]].<ref>{{harvnb|ps=.|Henretta|2006|pp=134–135}}</ref>

===Organizing the Baptists===

The busy governor found time to get involved in religious matters. A lifelong Northern Baptist, Hughes participated in the creation of the [[American Baptist Churches USA#Northern Baptist Convention|Northern Baptist Convention]] in May 1907. Hughes served the convention as its first president, beginning the task of unifying the thousands of independent Baptist churches across the North into one denomination. Previously, northern Baptists had only connected between local churches through mission societies and benevolent causes. The Northern Baptist Convention went on to become the historically important [[American Baptist Churches USA]], which made this aspect of Hughes's life during his governorship a key part of his historical influence.<ref>{{Cite book|title=A Global Introduction to Baptist Churches|last=Johnson|first=Robert|publisher=University of Cambridge Press|year=2010|pages=345}}</ref><ref name = Martin>{{Citation | url = http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0NXG/is_1_34/ai_94160904/ | first = Dana | last = Martin | contribution = The American Baptist Convention and the Civil Rights Movement: Rhetoric and Response | title = Baptist History and Heritage | date = Winter 1999 | access-date = December 14, 2019 | archive-date = October 17, 2015 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20151017113650/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0NXG/is_1_34/ai_94160904/ | url-status = live }}.</ref>

===Disappointing second term as governor===

However, Hughes's political role was changing. He had previously been close with Roosevelt, but relations between Hughes and the president cooled after a dispute over a minor federal appointment.<ref>{{harvnb|ps=.|Simon|2012|p=39}}</ref> Roosevelt chose not to seek re-election in 1908, instead endorsing Secretary of War [[William Howard Taft]] as his preferred successor. Taft won the Republican presidential nomination and asked Hughes to serve as his running mate, but Hughes declined the offer. Hughes also considered retiring from the governorship, but Taft and Roosevelt convinced him to seek a second term. Despite having little support among some of the more conservative leaders of the state party, Hughes won re-election in the [[New York state election, 1908|1908 election]]. Hughes's second term proved to be less successful than his first. His highest priority was a direct primary law, and it repeatedly failed to pass. He did obtain increased regulation over telephone and telegraph companies and won passage of the first [[workers' compensation]] bill in U.S. history.<ref>{{harvnb|ps=.|Simon|2012|pp=41–42}}</ref><ref>Wesser  (1967), pp 252-301.</ref>

According to historian and journalist [[Henry F. Pringle]], Hughes's sense of civic duty was a poor fit in a party-machine age, leaving "many faithful Republicans" with bitter memories of Hughes's "horrid notions of efficiency in government" that "ruthlessly disregarded necessary rewards for party workers."<ref>{{cite book |last=Pringle |first= Henry F. |author-link=Henry F. Pringle |title=The Life and Times of William Howard Taft |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.185543/page/n342/mode/1up?view=theater |volume=II |page=891 |place=New York |publisher=[[Farrar & Rinehart]] |year=1939}}</ref>