Franklin MacVeagh

Franklin MacVeagh
45th United States Secretary of the Treasury
In office
March 8, 1909 – March 5, 1913
President William Howard Taft
Preceded by George B. Cortelyou
Succeeded by William McAdoo
Personal details
Born (1837-11-22)November 22, 1837
Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Died July 6, 1934(1934-07-06) (aged 96)
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Resting place Graceland Cemetery
Political party Democratic (Before 1896)
Republican (1896–1934)
Spouse(s) Emily Eames
Relatives Wayne MacVeagh (Brother)
Education Yale University (BA)
Columbia University (LLB)

Franklin MacVeagh (November 22, 1837 – July 6, 1934) was an American politician, lawyer, grocer and banker. He served as the United States Secretary of the Treasury under President William Howard Taft.

Biography

MacVeagh was born on November 22, 1837, in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, to Major John MacVeagh and the former Margaret Lincoln. His brother, Isaac Wayne MacVeagh, became the U.S. Attorney General under Presidents James A. Garfield and Chester A. Arthur.

MacVeagh graduated from Yale University in 1858, where he was a member of Skull and Bones.[1]:182 He graduated from Columbia Law School in 1864. He worked as a wholesale grocer and lawyer. MacVeagh was a Methodist. He married Emily Eames in 1868; they had five children.

Franklin MacVeagh brown medal by George Morgan, (c. 1910).

He had been director of the Commercial National Bank of Chicago for 29 years when President and fellow Bonesman William Howard Taft tapped him to be Secretary of the Treasury in 1909. He did not tackle the pressing problem of currency reform, leaving it to the National Monetary Commission, which had been established by the Aldrich-Vreeland Act of 1908; he did, however, stress the urgency of reform in his annual report. He is remembered for increasing the efficiency and general progressiveness of the Treasury Department: He abolished 450 unnecessary positions, rehabilitated the U.S. Customs Service with the introduction of electric automatic weighing devices and accepted certified checks instead of currency for customs and internal revenue payments. He was also involved in the creation of the buffalo nickel.

His Washington D.C., home at 2600 16th St., NW, was designed and built in 1906 by noted architect George Oakley Totten, Jr., and was known as the "Pink Palace." It is now home to the Inter-American Defense Board. He also owned a large summer estate in Dublin, New Hampshire (now listed on the National Register of Historic Places) known as Knollwood.

Franklin MacVeagh died in Chicago, Illinois, on July 6, 1934, at age 96, and was interred in Graceland Cemetery in Chicago, Illinois.

References

  1. ↑ Robbins, Alexandra (2002). Secrets of the Tomb: Skull and Bones, the Ivy League, and the Hidden Paths of Power. Boston: Little, Brown. ISBN 0-316-72091-7.
Political offices
Preceded by
George B. Cortelyou		 U.S. Secretary of the Treasury
Served under: William Howard Taft
March 8, 1909 – March 5, 1913		 Succeeded by
William G. McAdoo


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