LM Shaw

Leslie Mortier (L. M.) Shaw (born November 2, 1848 in Morristown , Lamoille County , Vermont , † March 28, 1932 in Washington, DC ) was an American businessman and politician in the Republican Party . In his political career, he was the 17th Governor of Iowa and Secretary of the Treasury of the United States .

Studies and professional career

L. M. Shaw was the son of a farmer and graduated from Cornell College in Mount Vernon , Iowa . After the local degree followed from 1874 to 1876 to study law at the Law College of the University of Iowa in Des Moines . He was then admitted to the Denison Bar . There he became the founder of the local bank and the Normal and Business College there . Shaw has also served as a lay Methodist preacher .

Political career

Governor of Iowa

Shaw began his political career in 1897 with a successful candidacy for governor of Iowa. He won the first election as an unknown figure from a larger circle of candidates with only 7.5 percent of the vote. He completed two full terms from January 13, 1898 to January 16, 1902.

Portrait of L. M. Shaw in the Treasury Department

Finance Minister and application for presidential candidate

On February 1, 1902, Shaw was appointed by President Theodore Roosevelt to succeed Treasury Secretary Lyman J. Gage in his cabinet . His appointment came on the one hand because of his advocacy of the so-called gold standard and on the other hand because of his support for Roosevelt in the presidential election campaign in 1900 . In part, however, this was probably due to the fact that Roosevelt saw in him a potential political rival. Like his predecessor, he also believed that the money market should be stabilized in times of crisis through the introduction of state investment funds .

On March 4, 1907, Shaw resigned as Treasury Secretary and was replaced by George B. Cortelyou .

In 1908 he competed unsuccessfully in the Republican National Convention in Chicago to the presidential nomination of the Republican in the presidential election this year. Shaw was defeated in the internal party nomination to the previous Secretary of War William Howard Taft , who was then also elected President.

Another life and death

After his loss in the presidential campaign, Shaw retired from political life and worked as a banker in New York City . In addition, he was also temporarily president of the Carnegie Trust Company . He died in Washington in 1932 at the age of 83 and was buried in Denison.

Web links and background literature

personal data
SURNAME	Shaw, LM
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Shaw, Leslie Mortier
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	American politician
DATE OF BIRTH	November 2, 1848
PLACE OF BIRTH	Morristown , Vermont
DATE OF DEATH	March 28, 1932
Place of death	Washington, DC