William Gibbs McAdoo

William Gibbs McAdoo (born October 31, 1863 in Marietta, Georgia , † February 1, 1941 in Washington, DC ) was an American Democratic politician, Senator and Treasury Secretary .

McAdoo flat share (1914)

Studies and professional career

The son of a lawyer and professor at the University of Tennessee also graduated from the University of Tennessee with a law degree. After graduation, in 1882 he became the assistant bureau chief of the Eastern Tennessee District Court. In 1885 he was admitted to the bar and opened a law firm in Chattanooga, Tennessee .

In 1892 he founded a securities trading company in New York City with Francis Rawley Pemberton, son of the inventor of Coca-Cola, John Pemberton . Later he was president of the Hudson and Manhattan Railroad Company , which planned the first tunnel under the Hudson River .

Political career

Treasury Secretary under Wilson and World War I

Portrait of WG McAdoo in the Treasury

He began his political career in 1912 as Vice Chairman of the Democratic National Committee . As such, he was a key manager of Woodrow Wilson's election campaign .

After Wilson was elected US President , he was appointed Treasury Secretary on March 6, 1913 . On May 7, 1914, he married Wilson's daughter Eleanor Randolph Wilson, so that the President also became his father-in-law. After the marriage, he offered the president his resignation, but the president declined so that McAdoo could complete the establishment of the Federal Reserve System as a central bank, which he helped initiate .

At the beginning of the First World War he was exposed to a major financial crisis in July 1914 after British and French investors sold their securities and transferred the deported gold to Europe . McAdoo continued to cover the US dollar through the so-called gold standard by closing the New York Stock Exchange for an unprecedented four months. Through these measures, the USA succeeded in becoming a world financial power.

After the USA entered the First World War in April 1917, he also became Director General of the United States Railroad Administration (USRA), whose main task was to ensure efficient railroad operations in the United States during the war. He held this office until the end of the war in November 1918.

On December 15, 1918, he resigned as Treasury Secretary and was replaced in this capacity by Carter Glass .

Unsuccessful presidential nominations and senator

After his resignation he worked again as a lawyer and, among other things, in 1919 he was the chief legal advisor to the founders of the United Artists , Charles Chaplin , Douglas Fairbanks sen. , Mary Pickford and DW Griffith .

In 1920 and 1924 he failed in his efforts to be nominated as a presidential candidate for the Democratic Party . In 1920 he was first defeated by the Governor of Ohio James Cox and four years later against the former ambassador to Great Britain, John W. Davis .

Between March 1933 and November 1938 he was elected Senator to the US Congress as representative of California . As such, was chairman of the patent committee .

He then worked as chairman of the board of a steamship line.

Publications

McAdoo, William G .: "The Challenge" . New York: Century Co., 1928.
McAdoo, William G .: "Crowded Years: The Reminiscences of William G. McAdoo" . Houghton Mifflin Company, 1931

Web links

Commons : William Gibbs McAdoo - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

personal data
SURNAME	McAdoo, William Gibbs
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	American politician, Secretary of the Treasury
DATE OF BIRTH	October 31, 1863
PLACE OF BIRTH	Marietta, Georgia
DATE OF DEATH	February 1, 1941
Place of death	Washington, DC