Thomas Watt Gregory

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Thomas Watt Gregory

Thomas Watt Gregory (born November 6, 1861 in Crawfordsville , Mississippi , † February 26, 1933 in New York City ) was an American lawyer and politician ( Democratic Party ) who belonged to the cabinet of US President Woodrow Wilson as attorney general.

Studies and professional career

After a general education at the Southwestern Presbyterian University in Memphis and the University of Virginia , which he completed in 1883 with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) , the son of a major in the Confederate States Army and farmers studied law at the University of Texas in Austin . After graduating with a Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.), he began practicing as a lawyer in Austin in 1885.

From 1891 to 1894 he was Assistant Attorney General for Austin. In 1892 he declined the appointment as Assistant Attorney General of Texas as well as four years later the appeal to judge at the Texas State Court. During this time he also met the future advisor to President Woodrow Wilson , Colonel Edward Mandell House .

He later served on the board of directors of the University of Texas from 1899 to 1907 . Between 1928 and 1930 he was also chairman of the Association of Former Students. As such, he organized in particular the collection of donations for the construction of new university buildings. The newly built sports hall of the university in Gregory Gymnasium was named in his honor in 1930 .

Political career

Secretary of Justice under President Wilson and World War I

Gregory began his political career as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1904 and 1912. He was appointed Special Assistant to the Attorney General in 1913 to lead investigations and proceedings against the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad on whose route it was to be came a collision of two trains with 21 dead.

On August 29, 1914, President Wilson appointed him to succeed Attorney General James C. McReynolds in his cabinet . Despite an ongoing commitment to progressive reforms due to Wilson's election manifesto, his appearances as Attorney General aroused enormous controversy because of his close collaboration with then Secretary of the Post Albert S. Burleson . Along with Burleson and others, he launched a campaign to destroy domestic political disagreements during the First World War . As Minister of Justice, he was co-author of the Espionage Act in 1917 , which led to a restriction on freedom of speech and freedom of the press . He also encouraged the out-of-law observation and prosecution of more than 2,000 war opponents by the American Protective League and the Bureau of Investigation , the forerunner of the FBI .

When Wilson wanted to appoint him as a judge at the United States Supreme Court in 1916 , he rejected it because of his unsuccessful hearing in the Senate , his wish to continue supporting Wilson in the election campaign and not least because it did not see itself as a judge.

On March 4, 1919 he resigned at the request of the President from his office as Minister of Justice and was replaced as such by Alexander Mitchell Palmer . The background to his resignation was in particular Wilson's wish that the Minister of Justice should lead peace negotiations after the end of the First World War, which did not seem possible due to Gregory's previous behavior towards opponents of the war and pacifists .

Later offices

He was then a member of an industry conference convened by Wilson in 1919 and 1920. He was also an advisor to Wilson in the negotiations for the Versailles Peace Treaty of June 28, 1919. He died of pneumonia on the way to a conference with Franklin D. Roosevelt in New York City .

Web links and background literature

General biographical information

Article in TIME magazine after the end of his tenure as Minister of Justice

personal data
SURNAME Gregory, Thomas Watt
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American lawyer and attorney general
DATE OF BIRTH November 6, 1861
PLACE OF BIRTH Crawfordsville , Mississippi
DATE OF DEATH February 26, 1933
Place of death New York City