William Alden Smith

William Alden Smith

William Alden Smith (born May 12, 1859 in Dowagiac , Cass County , Michigan , † October 11, 1932 in Grand Rapids , Michigan) was an American politician . Smith served as Congressman from 1895 to 1907 and as Republican Senator from Michigan from 1907 to 1919 .

biography

Early life

William Alden Smith grew up in Dowagiac for the first 13 years and moved to Grand Rapids with his parents in 1872. At the age of 16, in 1875, he began working as an errand boy in the Michigan House of Representatives in Lansing , where he first came into contact with politics.

After studying law at Burch & Montgomery , he began practicing in Grand Rapids from 1883, and represented the Chicago-West Michigan Railway and the Detroit-Lansing Northern Railroad , among others . At first he ran his own law firm, later he founded Smiley, Smith & Stevens together with Frederick W. Stevens .

Political career

In 1883, Smith was named Assistant Secretary of State for Michigan, beginning his career in politics. On March 4, 1895, Smith was elected to Congress as representative of the 5th Congressional Constituency of Michigan and remained there for the next twelve years until February 9, 1907. On January 15, he was elected US Senator and took up his new office on February 9, the day he left the House of Representatives. During his tenure as a US Senator, Smith chaired a number of committees.

Sinking of the Titanic

The name William Alden Smith is still associated with an entirely different event today. After the sinking of the Titanic in April 1912, Smith was appointed by President William Howard Taft in May 1912 to head the US commission of inquiry that was supposed to determine the course and cause of the disaster. Together with his Senate colleagues Isidor Rayner ( Maryland ) and Francis G. Newlands ( Nevada ), the commission met at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City . In those 18 days in which the world first learned of the extent of that catastrophe, 86 witnesses were heard and over 1000 pages of minutes were made. That report is therefore still today a "Bible" for those interested in Titanic, and also formed the basis for James Cameron's 1997 film Titanic .

Later life and death

William Alden Smith's tenure ended on March 3, 1919. However, he did not retire because of numerous other obligations. In 1898 he had already given the contract to build a railway in Michigan and in 1900 was appointed chairman of the Lowell and Hastings Railroad . In 1906 he acquired the Grand Rapids Herald , a daily newspaper that he published soon after. Smith also became director of a small shipping line that he expanded. His goal was from Chicago ( Illinois ) as many ports as possible on Lake Michigan to drive. Smith devoted himself to all of these tasks until shortly before his death, at the age of 74.

Private life

William Alden Smith married Nana Osterhout, a native of the Netherlands , in 1885 . With her he had a son, William Alden Smith Jr.

Functions as a senator

• 1909–1911: Chairman of the Senate Committee on Canadian Relations
• 1911–1913: Member of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources
• 1913–1915: Member of the Senate Committee on Civil Service

Others

Alden , an unincorporated area 20 miles northeast of Traverse City , was named after the US Senator.

Web links

Commons : William Alden Smith  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• William Alden Smith in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)
• Official investigation report into the sinking of the Titanic