T. Coleman du Pont

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T. Coleman du Pont

Thomas Coleman du Pont (born December 11, 1863 in Louisville , Kentucky , †  November 11, 1930 in Wilmington , Delaware ) was an American businessman and politician ( Republican Party ) who represented the state of Delaware in the US Senate .

Early years

Thomas Coleman du Pont, best known by his middle name Coleman, was the cousin of Henry A. du Pont , who served in the US Senate for Delaware from 1906 to 1917. His great-grandfather, Eleuthère Irénée du Pont , immigrated from France and founded EI du Pont de Nemours and Company , a gunpowder manufacturer , in 1802 . It later became the global chemical company DuPont .

After attending Urbana University in Ohio and Chauncy Hall School in Boston , Coleman du Pont graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology , where he graduated in engineering . He then worked as an engineer in the coal mines that were owned by his family. Then he worked in tram construction. In 1894 he became general manager of Johnson Street Rail Company in Johnstown ( Pennsylvania ).

Rise as an entrepreneur

With his two cousins Alfred I. du Pont and Pierre S. du Pont , Coleman du Pont took financial control of their family's explosives business in Delaware. From 1902 to 1915 he was president of this company; During this time, more than 100 competing companies were merged with the Du Pont Group. With the E. I du Pont de Nemours Company , a holding company based in New Jersey was founded under his supervision . In 1907, the DuPont Company was sued for violating antitrust laws. Coleman du Pont sold his stake in the company in 1914 and left the following year.

As a result, du Pont worked in the hotel industry. Among other things, he had business control of the McAlpin Hotel in Manhattan and the Claridge Hotel in Atlantic City . Together with his business partner Lucius M. Boomer, he acquired the Waldorf-Astoria in New York in 1918 , the Willard Hotel in Washington, DC in 1920 and the Bellevue-Stratford Hotel in Philadelphia in 1925 . He was also active in the insurance industry and in 1915 took over the Equitable Life Assurance Society , the world's oldest mutual insurance company , from J. P. Morgan .

Political career

In 1908 Coleman du Pont became a member of the Republican National Committee , of which he was a member until 1930. Under his leadership, the multi-faction Republican Party of Delaware regained its unity.

After the resignation of US Senator Josiah O. Wolcott on July 2, 1921, du Pont was appointed by Governor William Denney as his successor in Congress . He took his seat in Washington, DC from July 7 of the same year, but lost both the by-election and the election for the following legislative period against the Democrat Thomas F. Bayard , so that he was initially back from the Senate on November 7, 1922 had to retire.

In 1924 he successfully applied for the nomination of his party for Delaware's second Senate seat, where he prevailed in the primary against incumbent L. Heisler Ball . He then won the actual election against the Democrat James M. Tunnell , whereupon he returned to Congress on March 4, 1925. However, health problems forced him to resign on December 9, 1928.

In the final years of his life, Coleman du Pont faced litigation over property sales in Florida . There was also discussion of his involvement in the Teapot Dome scandal . He died of esophageal cancer in November 1930 and was buried in the Greenville family cemetery.

Web links

  • T. Coleman du Pont in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)