John R. Hazel

John Raymond Hazel (December 18, 1860 – October 31, 1951) was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of New York.

He administered the oath of office to President Theodore Roosevelt following the assassination of president William McKinley by Leon Czolgosz. Twenty years later, Hazel was a figure of the First Red Scare, targeting several anarchists under dubious grounds, such as Emma Goldman or Michael Stuppiello, in order to strip them from their US citizenship.

Biography

Education and career Born on December 18, 1860, in Buffalo, New York, Hazel read law in 1882. He entered private practice in Buffalo from 1882 to 1894. He was Commissioner of Corporation Taxes for the State of New York starting in 1894. He was a delegate to the 1900 Republican National Convention.

Federal judicial service Hazel was nominated by President William McKinley on May 18, 1900, to the United States District Court for the Western District of New York, to a new seat authorized by 31 Stat. 175. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on June 5, 1900, and received his commission the same day. His service terminated on March 5, 1931, due to his retirement.

Roosevelt oath of office

On September 6, 1901, President McKinley was attending the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo when he was shot by Leon Czolgosz. Vice President Roosevelt was vacationing in Vermont, and traveled to Buffalo to visit McKinley in the hospital. It appeared that McKinley would recover, so Roosevelt went on a planned family camping and hiking trip to Mount Marcy in the Adirondacks. In the mountains, a runner notified him McKinley was on his death bed. Roosevelt pondered with his wife, Edith, how best to respond, not wanting to show up in Buffalo and wait on McKinley's death. Roosevelt was rushed by a series of stagecoaches to North Creek train station. At the station, Roosevelt was handed a telegram that said President McKinley died at 2:30 AM, September 14, 1901.The new President continued by train from North Creek to Buffalo. He arrived in Buffalo later that day, accepting an invitation to stay at the home of Ansley Wilcox (now the Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural National Historic Site). It was there, on the afternoon of September 14, 1901, that Judge Hazel administered the oath to Roosevelt.

Subsequent cases and First Red Scare activity

In 1909, Judge Hazel issued an order cancelling the naturalization of Jacob A. Kersner, at the request of the United States Attorney's Office, and thus stripping the citizenship of his ex-wife, the Anarchist orator Emma Goldman, who had gained United States citizenship in 1887 by her marriage to Kersner. Ten years later, in 1919, the Wilson Administration used Hazel's voiding of her citizenship as the basis for ruling that Goldman could be deported to Russia as an "alien anarchist", along with 248 other "undesirables," on the USAT Buford. Generally speaking, Hazel was a key figure in the First Red Scare, during which he persecuted not only Goldman but also the Italian anarchist Michael Stuppiello, using questionable evidence to strip them of their citizenship. The decision was controversial for so favorably interpreting the uniqueness and priority of the technical achievements of the Wrights, and it has been argued that this broad interpretation of their intellectual property slowed aviation developments in the U.S.

Death

Hazel died on October 13, 1951.