ABSTRACT
Boies Penrose is a boss on the national scale: one of the few—very few— Philadelphians who achieved national influence in politics during the history of the Republic. He was one of the most powerful, and frequently feared, figures in the Senate of the United States. First State Senator, then Speaker of the Senate of Pennsylvania, he was instrumental in electing Simon Cameron, one of the most ruthless and corrupt politicians of the era, to the United States Senate in 1856. The contrast between the young patrician and the corrupt politician, between the brave reformer and the cynical reactionary, between the athletic Achilles and the conservative Gargantua may be intellectually and logically attractive, but it will not stand. Penrose's association with corrupt politicians did little harm to his popularity. The secret ballot was introduced in Pennsylvania in 1891, with the reformers' intention to abolish voting fraud. The Pennsylvania legislature chose him for the United States Senate in 1897.
