Charles Edison (August 3, 1890 – July 31, 1969) was an American politician. He was the Assistant and thenUnited States Secretary of the Navy, and served as the 42ndgovernor of New Jersey. Commonly known as "Lord Edison", he was a son of the inventorThomas Edison andMina Miller Edison.
Charles Edison | |
|---|---|
 Edison in 1945 | |
| 42ndGovernor of New Jersey | |
| In office January 21, 1941 – January 18, 1944 | |
| Preceded by | A. Harry Moore |
| Succeeded by | Walter Evans Edge |
| 46thUnited States Secretary of the Navy | |
| In office January 2, 1940 – June 24, 1940 Acting: July 7, 1939 – January 2, 1940 | |
| President | Franklin D. Roosevelt |
| Preceded by | Claude A. Swanson |
| Succeeded by | Frank Knox |
| Assistant Secretary of the Navy | |
| In office January 18, 1937 – January 1, 1940 | |
| President | Franklin D. Roosevelt |
| Preceded by | Henry L. Roosevelt |
| Succeeded by | Lewis Compton |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1890-08-03)August 3, 1890 West Orange, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Died | July 31, 1969(1969-07-31) (aged 78) New York City, U.S. |
| Political party | Republican (before 1940) Democratic (1940–1962) Conservative (1962–1969) |
| Spouse | Carolyn Hawkins |
| Parent | Thomas Edison (father) |
| Signature |  |
Edison was an associate of theJohn Birch Society, serving as a member of its editorial advisory committee for its publication,American Opinion.[1]
Early life
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Charles Edison was born on August 3, 1890, at Glenmont, the Edison family home inWest Orange, New Jersey. He was Thomas Edison's fifth child and second from his marriage toMina Miller. He graduated from theHotchkiss School in 1909.[2]
In 1915–1916, he operated the 100-seat "Little Thimble Theater" withGuido Bruno at 10Fifth Avenue,New York. The theater staged the works ofGeorge Bernard Shaw andAugust Strindberg, and Charles contributed verse toBruno's Weekly under the pseudonym Tom Sleeper. Late in 1915, he brought his players toEllis Island to perform for Chief Clerk Augustus Sherman and more than four hundred detained immigrants.
These avant-garde activities came to a halt when his father put him to work. For a number of years,[when?] Charles Edison ranEdison Records. Charles became president of his father's companyThomas A. Edison, Inc. in 1927, and ran it until it was sold in 1957, when it merged with theMcGraw Electric Company to form theMcGraw-Edison Electric Company. Edison was board chairman of the merged company until he retired in 1961.[3]
Department of the U.S. Navy (1937–1940)
editOn January 18, 1937,President Roosevelt appointed Charles Edison asAssistant Secretary of the Navy, then as Secretary on January 2, 1940,Claude A. Swanson having died several months previously.[4] Edison himself only kept the job until June 24, resigning to run for Governor of New Jersey. During his time in the Navy department, he advocated construction of the largeIowa-classbattleships, and that one of them be built at thePhiladelphia Navy Yard, which secured votes for Roosevelt inPennsylvania andNew Jersey in the1940 presidential election; in return, Roosevelt had BB-62 named theUSS New Jersey.[5]
Governor of New Jersey (1941–1944)
editIn 1940, he won election as Governor of New Jersey, running in reaction to thepolitical machine run byFrank Hague, but broke with family tradition by declaring himself aDemocrat. As governor, he proposed updating theNew Jersey State Constitution. Although it failed in areferendum and nothing was changed during his tenure, state legislators did reform the constitution later.[3]
Later political life
editBetween 1951 and 1969, he lived in theWaldorf-Astoria Hotel, where he struck up a friendship withHerbert Hoover, who also lived there.[6] In 1962, Edison was one of the founders of theConservative Party of New York State.[7]
In 1967, Edison hosted a meeting at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York that led to the founding of the Charles Edison Youth Fund, later the Charles Edison Memorial Youth Fund. Attending the meeting were Rep.Walter Judd (R-MN), authorWilliam F. Buckley, organizerDavid R. Jones, and Edison's political advisorMarvin Liebman. The name of the organization was changed in 1985 toThe Fund for American Studies,[8] in keeping with Edison's request to drop his name after 20 years of use.
Personal life
editEdison married Carolyn Hawkins on March 27, 1918. They had no children.
In 1924, Edison joined the New Jersey Society of theSons of the American Revolution. He was assigned national member number 39,292 and state society number 2,894.[9]
In 1948, he established a charitable foundation, originally called "The Brook Foundation", now theCharles Edison Fund.[10]
Death
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Charles Edison died on July 31, 1969, inNew York City, three days shy of his 79th birthday.[11] He is buried inRosedale Cemetery inOrange, New Jersey.
See also
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References
edit- ^"Letter from Arthur Larson, Chairman, National Council for Civic Responsibility, NYC to Helen Keller,... September, 1964".www.afb.org. RetrievedMay 5, 2025.
- ^"Alumni Award: PREVIOUS RECIPIENTS". The Hotchkiss School. 2004. Archived fromthe original on March 10, 2015. RetrievedMarch 8, 2015.
- ^ab"GEDIS.pdf"(PDF). Archived fromthe original(PDF) on March 12, 2006. RetrievedSeptember 23, 2007.
- ^Secretaries of the NavyArchived August 1, 2014, at theWayback Machine,Naval Historical Center. Accessed August 6, 2007.
- ^Comegno, Carol."Historian details the role politics played in battleship's creation",Courier-Post, January 6, 2000. Accessed May 27, 2007. "Professor Jeffery Dorwart, of Rutgers-Camden said the ship was named after the state by President Franklin Roosevelt to repay a political debt to Charles Edison, the son of inventor Thomas Edison."
- ^John D. Venable,Out of the Shadow: the Story of Charles Edison (Charles Edison Fund, 1978), p. 271.
- ^Niels Bjerre-Poulsen,Right Face: Organizing the American Conservative Movement 1945–65 (Museum Tusculanum Press, 2002), p. 143. (ISBN 978-8772898094)
- ^HistoryArchived July 18, 2012, at theWayback Machine,The Fund for American Studies
- ^"Join Ancestry®".
- ^"Charles Edison". Archived fromthe original on September 27, 2007. RetrievedSeptember 23, 2007.
- ^"Charles Edison, 78, Ex-Governor Of Jersey and U.S. Aide, Is Dead".The New York Times. August 1, 1969. RetrievedJuly 21, 2007.
Charles Edison, former Governor of New Jersey, ... Mr. Edison, who had been admitted to the hospital on Wednesday, was 78 years ...
Further reading
edit- Richard J. Connors,State Constitutional Convention Studies, #4: The Process of Constitutional Revision in New Jersey: 1940–1947. (New York: National Municipal League, 1970).OCLC 118700
- Venable, John D. (1978).Out of the Shadow: The Story of Charles Edison : a Biography. Charles Edison Fund.OCLC 118700.
External links
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- Charles Edison atFind a Grave
- New Jersey Governor Charles Edison,National Governors Association
- Charles Edison Fund: Includes a picture of Charles Edison
- The Pragmatic Populism of a Non-Partisan Politician: An Analysis of the Political Philosophy of Charles Edison
- Fund for American Studies – History
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Assistant Secretary of the Navy 1937–1940 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | United States Secretary of the Navy 1939–1940 | Succeeded by |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Democratic nominee for Governor of New Jersey 1940 | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Governor of New Jersey 1941–1944 | Succeeded by |
| Non-profit organization positions | ||
| Preceded by | President of theNational Municipal League 1946–1950 | Succeeded by |