Wilber M. Brucker

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Wilber M. Brucker

Wilber Marion Brucker (* 23. June 1894 in Saginaw , Michigan ; †  28. October 1968 in Detroit , Michigan) was an American politician of the Republican Party . From 1931 to 1933 he was Governor of Michigan and Secretary of State of the United States from 1955 to 1961.

First stage of life

Wilber Brucker was the son of the US MP Ferdinand Brucker . He received his PhD in 1916 at the University of Michigan and joined the National Guard of Michigan (Michigan National Guard) a. Brucker served in the 33rd Infantry Regiment on the Mexican border between 1916 and 1917. He attended First Officers' Training Camp at Fort Sheridan , Illinois , where he was promoted to second lieutenant in the infantry.

Between 1917 and 1918 he served in France in the First World War in the 166th Infantry, 42nd Division, in the battles of Château-Thierry , St. Mihiel and Meuse-Argonne .

politics

After the war, Brucker was assistant prosecutor for Saginaw County . He carried out this activity between 1919 and 1923. He was then promoted to public prosecutor and held this office between 1923 and 1927. He married Clara Hantel in 1923. He was then Deputy Attorney General of Michigan between 1927 and 1928 and Attorney General between 1928 and 1930.

In 1930 he was elected 32nd Governor of Michigan. He served only one term until the Democrat William Comstock defeated him in 1932. During his two-year tenure, the Michigan police force grew. Furthermore, a new branch of the federal police in Lansing was approved. A law was also passed allowing the grand jury to investigate the urban fraud. In 1936, Brucker defeated incumbent US Senator James J. Couzens in the Republican primary. However, he lost to the Democrat Prentiss M. Brown in the general election. Between 1922 and 1937 he was a captain in the US Army Officer Reserve Corps.

He was also a member of the Clar, Klein, Brucker and Waples law firm from 1937 to 1954. He also served as General Counsel to the Department of Defense from 1954 to 1955 during the Army McCarthy hearings . 1955 Brucker was appointed Secretary of the Army by President Dwight D. Eisenhower . His tenure ran from July 21, 1955 to January 19, 1961. Brucker led the army during a period of significant technological advances, particularly in the satellite-based missile field and at a time when the army relied on national defenses supported by a philosophy of massive retaliation was overshadowed. Under his army command, he set up a five-element (pentagonal) organizational concept for the division, in particular a Strategic Army Corps for emergency strikes and the first satellite Explorer I to be launched .

Last years

After serving as Secretary of State for the Army, he returned to his work as a lawyer at the law firm Brucker and Brucker . There he worked between 1961 and 1968, as well as a member of the board of directors of the Freedoms Foundation .

Brucker died on October 28, 1968 after suffering a heart attack in the emergency room at Harper Hospital in Detroit. He was buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

literature

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Brucker, Wilber M.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Brucker, Wilber Marion
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American politician
DATE OF BIRTH June 23, 1894
PLACE OF BIRTH Saginaw , Michigan
DATE OF DEATH October 28, 1968
Place of death Detroit , Michigan