Riley is third from left and President Roosevelt is four more to the right
with Indiana's own Vice President Charles W. Fairbanks seated next to him.
JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY.COM
THE FAMOUS FAIRBANK'S TEA PARTY
When before in American history has a poet decided a presidency?
There was an occasion when a mischievous poet James Whitcomb Riley may have done just that.
Riley is third from left and President Roosevelt is four more to the right
with Indiana's own Vice President Charles W. Fairbanks seated next to him.
It is said that President Theodore Roosevelt, a friend of Riley's and fellow member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, decided to come to Indianapolis to see how his Hoosier Vice President Charles Warren Fairbanks comported himself. Fairbanks seemed to be in line for the presidency as Roosevelt's hand-picked successor. A choice needed to be picked and Roosevelt might announce who would be his successor at any time before the 1908 Republican convention. Roosevelt had said he would not run for the presidency again but intended to pick who would be.
Hearing Roosevelt wished a reception, Vice President Fairbanks settled upon having a tea party at his Indianapolis home. Roosevelt hated alcoholic beverages. The press was invited and all of the dignitaries of Indiana, including Riley of course, were in attendance.
Someone however spiked the punch at this "tea party." The notables began getting woozy and the reporters could not help but notice. When the media tasted the punch they noticed its "kick."
Could someone have slipped some whisky into the punch? Would James Whitcomb Riley have done such a thing? Most pointed a wagging finger at our "Hoosier Poet" who was known to like a "nip" every now and then. After his "tea party" Fairbanks never had a chance with Roosevelt.
As the press accounts reported the next day, the "tea" party at the Fairbanks home was a dismal failure, Fairbanks gained the reputation of being a "lush" during a time of "Prohibitionist" sentiment, and did not get Roosevelt's nod to be his successor. Instead, Roosevelt picked William Howard Taft, his Secretary of War, to become the nation's next president.