Parker, Alton Brooks (1852-1926), an American judge and politician, won the Democratic Party nomination for United States President in 1904. He opposed President Theodore Roosevelt, who was running for reelection. The party leaders hoped that Parker, a highly respected conservative, would win the votes of many who were opposed to Roosevelt’s progressivism. But Roosevelt’s great popularity decisively defeated Parker.
Parker was born on May 14, 1852, in Cortland, New York, and graduated from Albany Law School. He served on several lower state courts in New York. In 1897, he became chief justice of the New York Court of Appeals, the state’s highest judicial office. He died on May 10, 1926.
