Frederic Mosley Sackett | |
|---|---|
 | |
| United States Senator fromKentucky | |
| In office March 4, 1925 – January 9, 1930 | |
| Preceded by | Augustus O. Stanley |
| Succeeded by | John M. Robsion |
| United States Ambassador to Germany | |
| In office February 12, 1930 – March 24, 1933 | |
| President | Herbert Hoover Franklin D. Roosevelt |
| Preceded by | Jacob Gould Schurman |
| Succeeded by | William E. Dodd |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1868-12-17)December 17, 1868 |
| Died | May 18, 1941(1941-05-18) (aged 72) |
| Political party | Republican |
Frederic Mosley Sackett (December 17, 1868 – May 18, 1941) served as aUnited States senator fromKentucky andambassador toGermany during theHoover Administration.
He was born inProvidence, Rhode Island. His father, also named Frederic Moseley, was a Civil War veteran and wealthy wools manufacturer.[1]
He attended the public schools in Providence. He graduated fromBrown University in 1890 andHarvard Law School in 1893.
He was admitted to the bar in 1893 and began practice inColumbus, Ohio. Shortly after he moved toCincinnati, Ohio and then toLouisville, Kentucky. He practiced law until 1907.
In 1898 he married Olive Speed, the daughter ofJames Breckenridge Speed, who was part of a wealthy and prominent Kentucky family.
Although he began as an attorney, he gradually became involved in his wife's family business, the mining of coal and the manufacture of cement. He served as president of the Louisville Gas Co. and of the Louisville Lighting Co. from 1907 to 1912. He was involved with the Board of Trade of Louisville, serving as president in 1917, 1922, and 1923. He was also director of the Louisville Branch of theFederal Reserve Bank from 1917 to 1924. During theFirst World War, he served as federal food administrator for Kentucky from 1917 to 1919. This led to a friendship with the directory of the national food administrator,Herbert Hoover. Afterwards he was a member of the Kentucky State Board of Charities and Corrections from 1919 to 1924.
He was elected as aRepublican to the United States Senate in 1924 and served from March 4, 1925, to January 9, 1930, when he resigned, having been appointed Ambassador to Germany by President Herbert Hoover.
Sackett served as Ambassador to Germany from February 12, 1930, to March 24, 1933. On March 23, 1933, the German Reichstag passed an Ermächtigungsgesetz (“empowering law”) which gave then-Chancellor Hitler's executive branch the authority to make laws without parliamentary approval, allowing Hitler to rule by decree.[2] The next day, Sackett sent a telegram to the State Department: "On the basis of this law the Hitler Cabinet can reconstruct the entire system of government as it eliminates practically all constitutional restraints." He then resigned his post and resumed afterwards his former business activities.
He died of a heart attack while visitingBaltimore, and is buried in Cave Hill Cemetery, Louisville.
Senator Sackett was a companion of the Ohio Commandery of theMilitary Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States by right of his father's service in theUnion Army during theAmerican Civil War.
| Party political offices | ||
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| Preceded by Ben Bruner | Republican nominee forU.S. senator fromKentucky (Class 2) 1924 | Succeeded by |
| U.S. Senate | ||
| Preceded by | United States Senator (Class 2) from Kentucky 1925–1930 | Succeeded by |
| Diplomatic posts | ||
| Preceded by | United States Ambassador to Germany February 12, 1930 – March 24, 1933 | Succeeded by |
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| Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary | ||
| Expenditures in Executive Departments (1921–1952) |  | |
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| Government Operations (1952–1977) | ||
| Governmental Affairs (1977–2005) | ||
| Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs (2005–) | ||
| International | |
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| People | |
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