Newton D. Baker | |
|---|---|
 Bakerc. 1910s | |
| 47thUnited States Secretary of War | |
| In office March 9, 1916 – March 4, 1921 | |
| President | Woodrow Wilson |
| Preceded by | Lindley Garrison |
| Succeeded by | John W. Weeks |
| 37thMayor of Cleveland | |
| In office January 1, 1912 – December 31, 1915 | |
| Preceded by | Herman C. Baehr |
| Succeeded by | Harry L. Davis |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Newton Diehl Baker Jr. (1871-12-03)December 3, 1871 |
| Died | December 25, 1937(1937-12-25) (aged 66) Shaker Heights, Ohio, U.S. |
| Resting place | Lake View Cemetery (Cleveland, Ohio) |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 3 |
| Education | Johns Hopkins University(BA) Washington and Lee University(LLB) |
Newton D. Baker speaks about Americans choice and opportunities after theGreat war (recorded 1918) | |
Newton Diehl Baker Jr. (December 3, 1871 – December 25, 1937) was an American lawyer,Georgist,[1] politician, and government official. He served as the 37thmayor ofCleveland,Ohio from 1912 to 1915. As U.S.Secretary of War from 1916 to 1921, Baker presided over theUnited States Army duringWorld War I.
Born inMartinsburg, West Virginia, Baker established a legal practice in Cleveland after graduating fromWashington and Lee University School of Law. He became aprogressiveDemocratic ally of MayorTom L. Johnson. Baker served as city solicitor of Cleveland from 1901 to 1909 before taking office as mayor in 1912. As mayor, he sought public transit reform, hospital improvement, and city beautification. Baker supportedWoodrow Wilson at the1912 Democratic National Convention, helping Wilson win the votes of the Ohio delegation. After leaving office, Baker accepted appointment as Secretary of War under President Wilson. He was one of several prominent Georgists appointed to positions in the Wilson Cabinet.[2]
Baker presided over the U.S. military's participation in World War I. He selected GeneralJohn J. Pershing to command theAmerican Expeditionary Forces, which he insisted act as an independent unit. He left office in 1921 and returned toBakerHostetler, the legal practice he co-founded. He served as an attorney inVillage of Euclid v. Ambler Realty Co., a landmark case that established the constitutionality of zoning laws. He was a strong supporter of theLeague of Nations and continued to advocate American participation in the League during the 1920s. Beginning in 1928, he served as a member of thePermanent Court of Arbitration. He was a candidate for the presidential nomination at the1932 Democratic National Convention, but the convention choseFranklin D. Roosevelt.
Newton Diehl Baker was born on December 3, 1871, inMartinsburg, West Virginia, the son of Newton Diehl Baker Sr. and Mary Ann (Dukehart) Baker. Baker's grandfather, Elias Baker, was a staunchunionist; his father, on the contrary, joined theConfederate Army, served as a cavalryman, was wounded, and became a northern prisoner of war. After returning home in 1865, he obtained a medical degree from the University of Maryland Medical School and worked as a physician in Martinsburg until his death in 1906.[3]: 19–20
Baker attended the village schools in Martinsburg through his second year in high school and finished his preparatory training atEpiscopal High School in Alexandria, Virginia.[4]
In 1892, Baker graduated with bachelor's degree fromJohns Hopkins University, where he was a member ofPhi Gamma Delta fraternity. He attended lectures ofWoodrow Wilson, who was a visiting professor at the time.[3]: 22 After receiving his law degree fromWashington and Lee University School of Law[5] in 1894, he tried for a year to establish law practice in Martinsburg, and then became private secretary toPostmaster GeneralWilliam L. Wilson,[6] who served in the Confederate cavalry with Baker's father.[3]: 21 He stayed inWashington, D.C. until June 1897, then took a vacation in Europe, and returned to Martinsburg. In January 1899, he became a junior partner at Foran, McTigne and Baker inCleveland.[3]: 23
Baker was small and thin. He was rejected for military service in theSpanish–American War because of poor eyesight.[citation needed]
When Baker moved to Cleveland, his political sympathies belonged to theDemocratic Party; he supported the so-calledGold Democrats and their platform of gold standard, free trade, and civil service reform.[3]: 23 He built a successful legal career and became involved in local politics. He helped the Democratic candidateTom L. Johnson to become the mayor of Cleveland, and under his mentorship started his own public career. Johnson was a passionate advocate ofGeorgistpolitical progressivism. Baker became exposed to Johnson's politics and also became a Georgist.[1][7] He assisted Johnson in his fights against city's utility monopolies, e.g.,Cleveland Electric Railway Company owned byMark Hanna, which made Baker popular among Clevelanders.[3]: 45
After serving as citysolicitor from 1901 to 1909, he became mayor of the city in 1911.[8] As a city official, Baker's main interests were providing Cleveland with electricity (he built a municipal light plant), public transit reform, hospital improvement, and city beautification.[6][9] He was a strong backer of Cleveland College, now a part ofCase Western Reserve University. He andAugustus Raymond Hatton helped draft Ohio's home rule amendment.[10] Its approval by voters in 1912 was Baker's crowning achievement as a mayor. It granted Cleveland a right to draw its own charter and conduct the city business without state interference.[11]
When Baker worked on Wilson's behalf at theDemocratic National Convention in Baltimore in 1912, he was considered as a possible vice-presidential contender.[6] He and Wilson had been acquaintances since they were both at Johns Hopkins in the 1890s, and Baker played a vital role during Wilson's Democratic nomination for president at the convention by securing votes from Ohio delegates.[12] Wilson wanted to bring him to Washington D.C. Though offered the post twice, Baker declined to serve asUnited States Secretary of the Interior during President Wilson's first term.
A 1993 survey of historians, political scientists and urban experts conducted by Melvin G. Holli of theUniversity of Illinois at Chicago ranked Baker as the eighteenth-best American big-city mayor to have served between the years 1820 and 1993.[13]
In 1916, following his tenure as mayor of Cleveland, Baker and two other partners founded the law firm ofBakerHostetler.
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As theUnited States considered whether to enterWorld War I, PresidentWoodrow Wilson had named BakerSecretary of War on 9 March 1916, because Baker was acceptable to advocates and opponents of American participation in the conflict. The post also required legal expertise because of the War Department's role in administering the Philippines, the Panama Canal, and Puerto Rico. TheNew York Times called him a "warm supporter" of the President. At 44, he was the youngest member of the Cabinet.[6] TheAmerican entry into World War I occurred in April 1917.
One historian described his relationship to the military:[14]
A civilian's civilian, Baker saw the military as a necessity, but he had no awe of people in uniform, no romantic feelings toward them, and no dreams of glory. ... On the day President Woodrow Wilson announced Baker's appointment as secretary of war, he admitted his ignorance of military matters. "I am an innocent," he told reporters, "I do not know anything about this job." But he had a sharp, analytical mind and considerable skill at administration.
As Secretary of War, Baker presided over the American military participation in theFirst World War in 1917 and 1918, including the creation of a nationwidemilitary draft. Baker selected Gen.John J. Pershing to head theAmerican Expeditionary Forces. At Baker's insistence, Wilson made the American forces an independent fighting partner of the Allies against theCentral Powers, rather than letting American troops be used to replenish British and French forces as those nations advised.[citation needed]
On December 15, 1917, aWar Council was formed (as distinct from theCouncil of National Defense) consisting of the Secretary of War, his Assistant, theChief of Staff of the United States Army, theQuartermaster General of the United States Army, theChief of Ordnance and possibly others.[15] The War Council was to oversee and coordinate all matters of supply and to plan for the effective use of the military power of the nation. Baker had inherited a supply chain problem of gargantuan proportions although at first in April the administration knew nothing of its scale. Problems began quickly to crop up and on 18 December, three days after its formation, Baker fired three of the five officers appointed to the War Council. He appointedGeorge Washington Goethals as Quartermaster General on that day.[16]
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He was occasionally attacked by military professionals who thought him incompetent or a pacifist at heart. He said, "I'm so much of a pacifist, I'm willing to fight for it."[17]
In 1917, Baker was elected an honorary member of the VirginiaSociety of the Cincinnati.[citation needed].
In 1918, Wilson told Baker that he hoped he would follow him into theWhite House in 1920.[citation needed].
Emmett Jay Scott served as Baker's Special Advisor of Black Affairs.
After stepping down as Secretary of War in 1921, Baker returned to practicing law at Baker & Hostetler.
For several years he was the leading proponent ofAmerican participation in the League of Nations.[17]
In 1922, theEncyclopædia Britannica published a brief account of Baker's life that drew sharp criticism. It said, in part, "The charge of pacifism was often brought against him and his career generally as Secretary was widely condemned throughout the United States." Among the prominent names who called theEncyclopedia to account wereLivingston Farrand ofCornell andErnest M. Hopkins ofDartmouth.[18]
At the1924 Democratic National Convention, during discussion of the party platform, Baker was the principal advocate of language committing the party to American membership in the League of Nations. After losing in the platform committee, which advocated a national referendum on the question, he raised the issue on the floor of the convention.
Though he had no chance of winning over the delegates to support his position, he delivered a speech that was the highlight of the convention, "political oratory at its peak" according to an exhaustive account of the convention: "According to reporters, men and women everywhere burst into tears. It was atour de force, emotional and bordering on hysteria."[19] He drew upon memories of Wilson, who had died just five months earlier and pleaded for a return to Wilsonian idealism:[20]
On fields of Europe I closed the eyes of soldiers in American uniforms who were dying ... and oh, they were so superb and splendid: never a complaint; never a regret; willing to go if only two things might be: One, that mother might know that they died bravely, and the other, that somebody would pick up their sacrifice and build on earth a permanent temple of peace. ...
And I swore an obligation to the dead that in season and out, by day and by night, in church, in political meeting, in the market-place, I intended to lift up my voice always and ever until their sacrifice were really perfected. ...
I served Woodrow Wilson for five years. He is standing at the throne of God whose approval he won and has received. As he looks down from there I say to him: "I did my best. I am doing it now. You are still the captain of my soul. I feel your spirit here palpably about me." He is standing here, through my weak voice, his presence not that crippled, shrunken, broken figure that I last saw, but the great majestic leader is standing here, using me to say to you, "Save mankind, do America's duty".
When his allotted 20 minutes expired, the crowd roared for him to continue. After an hour he left the lectern to a tremendous ovation. Speakers who tried to argue against him were booed. Yet the final vote went against him by a margin of more than 2 to 1.[21] According to aNew York Times editorial,
For a moment that vast audience was lifted from partisan thoughts to heights from which it could have a glimpse of the promised land of peace. ... Not only did Mr. Baker do his best, but he made one of the best and most moving speeches heard of late in any political meeting. He showed himself a disciple worthy to wear his master's mantle. He too has the spirit of prophecy upon him.[22]
Later at the convention, he nominated former GovernorJames M. Cox of Ohio as his state's "favorite son."[23]
In 1928, President Coolidge appointed Baker a member of thePermanent Court of Arbitration ofThe Hague, and he was reappointed to another six-year term by Roosevelt in 1935.[24][25] In 1929, PresidentHerbert Hoover appointed Baker to theWickersham Commission on issues relating to law enforcement, criminal activity, police brutality, and Prohibition.[26]
He remained active in Democratic Party affairs and was considered as a serious prospect for the Democratic nomination forPresident in 1932, when he declined to announce his candidacy but worked behind the scenes in the hope of being chosen ifFranklin D. Roosevelt failed to win the nomination.
Yale University awarded him an honorary Doctor of Laws in 1932.[27]
Baker argued before theU.S. Supreme Court as counsel for the property owner inVillage of Euclid v. Ambler Realty Co., a landmark case that established the constitutionality ofzoning laws.[28]
Baker served on the Board of Trustees of Johns Hopkins University beginning in 1918 and was considered for appointment as president of the institution in 1928.[29]
In 1936, he resigned as a member of the Cuyahoga County Democratic Committee after serving for 26 years.[17] He was elected to theAmerican Philosophical Society that same year.[30]
He published a lecture in pamphlet form asWar in the Modern World in 1935.[31]
Baker married Elizabeth Wells Leopold, a faculty member atWilson College, on July 5, 1902.[32] They had two daughters (Margaret and Elizabeth) and a son, Newton D. Baker III, all of whom survived him, as did five grandchildren.[33][34]
Confined to his bed after December 3, 1937, because of a longstanding heart condition, Baker died of a cerebral hemorrhage inShaker Heights, Ohio, on Christmas Day, December 25, 1937.[33][17] After lying in state with full military honors atTrinity Cathedral and a simple funeral at the family's request, Baker was buried inLake View Cemetery.[35] His wife died on August 24, 1951.[34]
During World War II theLiberty shipSS Newton D. Baker was built inPanama City, Florida, and named in his honor.[36]
In 1957 Western Reserve University, now Case Western Reserve, erected the Newton D. Baker Building in his honor. Located on the corner of Adelbert andEuclid, across fromSeverance Hall, it served as a large unit of general purpose classrooms and administrative offices. The building was torn down in November 2004.
TheGeorgetown mansion Baker occupied while Secretary of War, now known asNewton D. Baker House, is on theNational Register of Historic Places.[37]
The law firm he founded, Baker Hostetler, is one of the nation's 100 largest firms.
Baker High School and Newton D. Baker School of Arts located on W. 159th Street in West Park, Cleveland are both named after Baker. A dormitory atOhio State University, dedicated in 1940, is named Baker Hall(see information about the building)Archived December 16, 2016, at theWayback Machine in his honor.[38] The Newton D. Baker dormitory at Washington and Lee University is also named for him. The Veterans Administration Hospital in his hometown of Martinsburg WV was originally named the Newton D. Baker Hospital and is still referred to as such by local residents.
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| Preceded by | Mayor of Cleveland 1912–1915 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | U.S. Secretary of War Served under:Woodrow Wilson March 9, 1916 – March 4, 1921 | Succeeded by |
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