Shannon Wagers

By Shannon Wagers H omebound like all of us during the present pandemic, I’ve been devoting some of my abundant free time to reading Richard Lowitt’s meticulously researched biography, Bronson M. Cutting: Progressive Politician (UNM Press, 1992) and learning a great deal more about this remarkable New Mexican than I ever knew before. This month marks the 85 th anniversary of Cutting’s untimely death, so it might be an appropriate time to review some of the highlights of his life, gleaned from Lowitt’s book.

Cutting was born at Oakdale, Long Island, N.Y., on June 23, 1888, on his family’s sprawling 931-acre estate. His father was a self-made millionaire who made his fortune in a variety of business ventures, primarily real estate development. Bronson was the third of four children. He attended Harvard College, where he excelled academically. Midway through his junior year he contracted tuberculosis and had to withdraw. He never returned to complete his degree.

Like so many others stricken with the disease, he sought relief in the dry climate of the Southwest. He arrived in Santa Fe in 1910 accompanied by an older sister who acted as his caregiver during his illness. Soon his health began to improve, and by the end of the year he had purchased land and started construction on a rambling Spanish-style house he christened “Los Siete Burros.” It became his home for the rest of his life.

The Cutting family had been active in the Progressive wing of the Republican party in New York and were personal friends of President Theodore Roosevelt and his family, so it was inevitable that Bronson Cutting would become involved in the political life of his adopted state. He was not, however, unwaveringly loyal to the Republicans. He backed candidates of either party whom he believed shared his Progressive ideals of clean government, fair elections, and respect for the rights of minorities.

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He quickly realized that to be an effective politician in New Mexico it was necessary to speak Spanish, and so he set about learning the language and became proficient in a few months. As a result, he was widely regarded as simpático by Hispanic citizens of all social classes. In 1912, he purchased the Santa Fe New Mexican and harnessed the newspaper’s influential voice to promote the causes and candidates he favored.

Some critics have charged that he used his inherited wealth to play the role of a spoiler in state politics and that he cynically manipulated Hispanic voters as shamelessly as the old-time patrones he claimed to deplore. That seems harsh. I’d prefer to think that he was genuinely interested in the welfare of all New Mexicans. He clearly wasn’t out to line his own pockets; he didn’t need to.

When the U.S. entered the First World War in 1917, Cutting volunteered and was commissioned a captain and assigned to the Army’s Military Intelligence Division in London. At the war’s end he returned to civilian life in New Mexico, where he became an organizer for the American Legion and an advocate for veterans. He continued to publish the New Mexican and to support progressive causes.

Cutting was equally at home among rural New Mexicans and the sophisticates of Santa Fe’s arts community. He was a handsome man, an impeccable dresser, a witty conversationalist, and an accomplished pianist. Women were naturally drawn to him, but he seemed indifferent to their flirtations. He never married or had any romantic involvement with women,

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which led to rumors—probably true—that he was gay. His political enemies gleefully composed scurrilous ditties about his alleged sexual proclivities.

Although friends urged him to run for office, he declined to do so, preferring to stay out of the limelight as much as possible. Possibly he did not want his personal life to come under too much public scrutiny.

Fate propelled him into high office anyway. In December 1927, New Mexico’s senior senator, Andrieus A. Jones, died in office, and Gov. Richard C. Dillon appointed Cutting to replace him. The following year Cutting ran for the seat and won handily, rumors about his sex life notwithstanding.

The onset of the Great Depression was disastrous for Republicans, and the party lost control of most statewide offices. But Cutting’s popularity crossed party lines and he won re-election in 1934, again by a comfortable margin. He remained in the Senate until his death.

The end came in the early morning hours May 6, 1935, near the town of Kirksville, Mo., as he was flying back to Washington for an important vote in the Senate later that day. Bad weather had prevented his plane from making a scheduled stop in Kansas City and it was running low on fuel. The pilot dropped beneath the cloud cover searching for an airport where he could land. In the fog and darkness, he flew too low and one wing clipped the ground. The plane flipped over, and Cutting was killed, along with the pilot and several other passengers. He was just 46 years old. We’ll never know what he might have accomplished for New Mexico had his life not been cut short.

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