Philander C. Knox | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Knox in 1904 | |
| United States Senator fromPennsylvania | |
| In office March 4, 1917 – October 12, 1921 | |
| Preceded by | George T. Oliver |
| Succeeded by | William E. Crow |
| In office June 10, 1904 – March 4, 1909 | |
| Preceded by | Matthew Quay |
| Succeeded by | George T. Oliver |
| 40thUnited States Secretary of State | |
| In office March 6, 1909 – March 5, 1913 | |
| President | William Howard Taft Woodrow Wilson |
| Preceded by | Robert Bacon |
| Succeeded by | William Jennings Bryan |
| 44thUnited States Attorney General | |
| In office April 5, 1901 – June 30, 1904 | |
| President | William McKinley Theodore Roosevelt |
| Preceded by | John W. Griggs |
| Succeeded by | William Moody |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Philander Chase Knox (1853-05-06)May 6, 1853 |
| Died | October 12, 1921(1921-10-12) (aged 68) Washington, D.C., U.S. |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse | |
| Education | West Virginia University, Morgantown University of Mount Union(BA) |
| Signature |  |
Philander Chase Knox (May 6, 1853 – October 12, 1921) was an Americanlawyer, bank director, statesman and Republican Partypolitician. He representedPennsylvania in theUnited States Senate from 1904 to 1909 and 1917 to 1921. He was the 44thU.S. attorney general in the cabinet of William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt from 1901 to 1904 and the 40thU.S. secretary of state in the cabinet of William Howard Taft from 1909 to 1913.
Born inBrownsville, Pennsylvania, Knox became a prominent attorney inPittsburgh, forming the law firm ofKnox and Reed. With the industrialistsHenry Clay Frick andAndrew Mellon, Knox also served as a director of the Pittsburgh National Bank of Commerce.[1] In early 1901, he accepted appointment asUnited States Attorney General. Knox served under PresidentWilliam McKinley until McKinley was assassinated in September 1901, and Knox continued to serve under PresidentTheodore Roosevelt until 1904, when he resigned to accept appointment to the Senate.
Knox won re-election to the Senate in 1905 and unsuccessfully sought the 1908 Republican presidential nomination. In 1909, PresidentWilliam Howard Taft appointed Knox to the position ofUnited States Secretary of State. From that post, Knox reorganized the State Department and pursueddollar diplomacy, which focused on encouraging and protecting U.S. investments abroad. Knox returned to private practice in 1913 after Taft lost re-election. He won election to the Senate in 1916 and played a role in the Senate's rejection of theTreaty of Versailles. Knox was widely seen as a potential compromise candidate at the1920 Republican National Convention, but the party's presidential nomination instead went toWarren G. Harding. While still serving in the Senate, Knox died in October 1921.
Philander Chase Knox was born inBrownsville, Pennsylvania, one of nine children of Rebecca (née Page) and David S. Knox, a banker.[2] He was named after the Episcopal BishopPhilander Chase. He attended public school in Brownsville, graduating at the age of 15.[3] He attendedWest Virginia University for a time, and thenMount Union College, where he graduated in 1872 with a bachelor of arts degree. While there, he formed a lifelong friendship withWilliam McKinley, the future U.S. president, who at the time was a local district attorney. Knox then returned to Brownsville, and was occupied for a short while as a printer at the local newspaper, then as a clerk at the bank where his recently deceased father had worked. Soon he left for Pittsburgh, and studied law while working at the law offices of H. R. Swope & David Reed in Pittsburgh.[4]
In 1880, Knox married Lillian "Lillie" Smith, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Darsie Smith. Her father was a partner in a steel company known as Smith, Sutton and Co. The company eventually became a part of Crucible Steel. Knox and his wife had several children, includingHugh Knox, who was married toKatherine McCook Knox.[5] His extended relatives include a nephew,"Billy" Knox.[citation needed]
Knox was admitted to the bar in 1875 and practiced in Pittsburgh. From 1876 to 1877, he was Assistant United States Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania. Knox became a leading Pittsburgh attorney in partnership withJames Hay Reed, their firm being Knox and Reed (nowReed Smith LLP). In 1897 Knox became President of thePennsylvania Bar Association. Along with Jesse H. Lippencott, a fellow member of an elite hunting club (see South Fork below), Knox served as a director of the Fifth National Bank of Pittsburgh. WithHenry Clay Frick andAndrew Mellon, he was a director of the Pittsburgh National Bank of Commerce. As counsel for theCarnegie Steel Company, Knox took a prominent part in organizing theUnited States Steel Corporation in 1901.[citation needed]
Knox was a member of theSouth Fork Fishing and Hunting Club, which had a clubhouse upriver ofJohnstown, Pennsylvania. It maintained anearthen dam for a lake by the club, which was stocked for fishing. The dam failed in May 1889, causing theJohnstown Flood and severe losses of life and property downriver. When word of the dam's failure was telegraphed to Pittsburgh, Frick and other members of the South Fork Club gathered to form the Pittsburgh Relief Committee for assistance to the flood victims.[citation needed]
As its attorneys; Knox and his law partner Reed were able to fend off four lawsuits against the club; Colonel Unger, its president; and against 50 named members. The cases were "either settled or discontinued and, as far as is known, no one bringing action profited thereby."[6]
The club was never held legally responsible for the disaster. Knox and Reed successfully argued that the dam's failure was a natural disaster which was anAct of God, and no legal compensation was paid to the survivors of the flood.[6] The perceived injustice aided the acceptance of “strict, joint, and several liability,” so that a “non-negligent defendant could be held liable for damage caused by the unnatural use of land.[7][8]
In 1901, Knox was appointed asUS Attorney General by PresidentWilliam McKinley and was re-appointed by PresidentTheodore Roosevelt. He served until 1904. While serving President Roosevelt, Knox worked hard to implement the concept ofDollar Diplomacy.
He told President Roosevelt: "I think, it would be better to keep your action free from any taint of legality,"[9] made in regard to the construction of thePanama Canal.
In June 1904, Knox was appointed byGovernorSamuel W. Pennypacker ofPennsylvania to fill the unexpired term of the lateMatthew S. Quay in theUnited States Senate. In 1905, he waselected by the state legislature to fill the remainder of the full term for the US Senate seat (to 1909).[citation needed]
Knox made an unsuccessful bid for theRepublican Party nomination in the1908 U.S. presidential election.
In February 1909, President-electWilliam Howard Taft nominated Senator Knox to beSecretary of State.[10] He was at first found to be constitutionally ineligible, because Congress had increased the salary for the post during his Senate term, thus violating theIneligibility Clause.[11] In particular, Knox had been elected to serve the term from March 4, 1905 to March 3, 1911. During debate on legislation approved on February 26, 1907, as well as debate beginning on March 4, 1908, he had consistently supported pay raises for the Cabinet, which were eventually instituted for the 1908 fiscal calendar.[11][12] The discovery of the constitutional complication came as a surprise after President-elect Taft had announced his intention to nominate Knox.[11]
TheSenate Judiciary Committee proposed the remedy of resetting the salary to its pre-service level, and the Senate passed it unanimously on February 11, 1909.[12] Members of theU.S. House of Representatives mounted more opposition to the relief measure and defeated it once. After a special procedural rule was applied, the measure was passed by a 173–115 vote.[13] On March 4, 1909, the salary of the Secretary of State position was reverted from $12,000 to $8,000, and Knox took office on March 6.[11][12] Later known as the "Saxbe fix", such legislation has been passed in a number of similar circumstances.
Knox served as Secretary of State in Taft's cabinet until March 5, 1913. As Secretary of State, he reorganized the Department on a divisional basis, extended themerit system to the Diplomatic Service up to the grade of chief of mission, pursued a policy of encouraging and protecting American investments abroad, declared the ratification of theSixteenth Amendment, and accomplished the settlement of controversies related to activities in theBering Sea and the North Atlanticfisheries.
Under Taft the focus of foreign policy was the encouragement and protection of U.S. investments abroad calledDollar diplomacy. This was first applied in 1909, in a failed attempt to help China assume ownership of the Manchurian railways.[14] Knox felt that not only was the goal of diplomacy to improve financial opportunities, but also to use private capital to further U.S. interests overseas. When the Zionist Literary Society sought endorsement from the Taft administration, Knox recommended against approval, noting in his assessment that "problems of Zionism involve certain matters primarily related to the interests of countries other than our own."[15] In spite of successes, "dollar diplomacy" failed to counteract economic instability and the tide of revolution in places like Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, and China.[16]
Following his term of office, Knox resumed the practice of law in Pittsburgh. In 1916, Knox was elected by popular vote to the Senate from Pennsylvania for the first time, after passage of theSeventeenth Amendment providing for such popular elections. He served from 1917 until his death in 1921. While a Senator, he was highly critical of theTreaty of Versailles ending World War I, saying "this Treaty does not spell peace but war — war more woeful and devastating than the one we have but now closed".[17]
At the1920 Republican National Convention, Knox was considered a potential compromise candidate who could unite the progressive and conservative factions of the party. Many thought that California SenatorHiram Johnson would release his delegates to back his friend Knox, but Johnson never did.Warren G. Harding instead emerged as the compromise candidate, and Harding went on to win the1920 election.[18] After the election, Knox urged President Harding to consider Andrew Mellon for the position of Secretary of the Treasury, and Mellon ultimately took the position.[19]
In April 1921, he introduced a Senate resolution to bring a formal end to American involvement inWorld War I. It was combined with a similar House resolution to create theKnox–Porter Resolution, signed by PresidentWarren G. Harding on July 2.[20]
Knox's nickname was "Sleepy Phil," as he was said to have dozed off during board meetings, or because he wascross-eyed.[21]
Knox was a member of the eliteDuquesne Club in Pittsburgh.[22]
Knox died inWashington, D.C., on October 12, 1921, aged 68. He was buried near his house inValley Forge, Pennsylvania.[23]
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in thepublic domain.
| Legal offices | ||
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| Preceded by | United States Attorney General 1901–1904 | Succeeded by |
| U.S. Senate | ||
| Preceded by | U.S. Senator (Class 1) from Pennsylvania 1904–1909 Served alongside:Boies Penrose | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Chair of theSenate Rules Committee 1907–1909 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | U.S. Senator (Class 1) from Pennsylvania 1917–1921 Served alongside:Boies Penrose | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Chair of theSenate Rules Committee 1919–1921 | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | United States Secretary of State 1909–1913 | Succeeded by |
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| First | Republican nominee forU.S. Senator fromPennsylvania (Class 1) 1916 | Succeeded by |
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| Class 3 | ||
| Notes | † Never officially seated | |
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