George Meyer
40thUnited States Secretary of the Navy
In office March 6, 1909 – March 4, 1913
President	William Howard Taft
Preceded by	Truman Handy Newberry
Succeeded by	Josephus Daniels
43rdUnited States Postmaster General
In office January 15, 1907 – March 4, 1909
President	Theodore Roosevelt
Preceded by	George B. Cortelyou
Succeeded by	Frank Harris Hitchcock
United States Ambassador to Russia
In office April 12, 1905 – January 26, 1907
President	Theodore Roosevelt
Preceded by	Robert Sanderson McCormick
Succeeded by	John W. Riddle
United States Ambassador to Italy
In office February 4, 1901 – April 1, 1905
President	William McKinley Theodore Roosevelt
Preceded by	William Draper
Succeeded by	Henry White
Speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives
In office 1894–1896
Preceded by	William Emerson Barrett
Succeeded by	John L. Bates
Member of theMassachusetts House of Representatives
In office 1892–1894
Member of theBoston Board of Aldermen
In office 1891
Member of theBoston Common Council
In office 1889–1891
Personal details
Born	George von Lengerke Meyer (1858-06-24)June 24, 1858 Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
Died	March 9, 1918(1918-03-09) (aged 59) Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
Political party	Republican
Education	Harvard University (BA)
Signature

George von Lengerke Meyer (June 24, 1858 – March 9, 1918) was aMassachusetts businessman and politician who served in the Massachusetts House of Representatives, as United States ambassador to Italy and Russia, asUnited States Postmaster General from 1907 to 1909 during the administration of PresidentTheodore Roosevelt andUnited States Secretary of the Navy from 1909 to 1913 during the administration of PresidentWilliam Howard Taft.

Meyer was a native ofBoston, reared in a patrician society.^[1]

His paternal grandfather, George Augustus Meyer (also the name of von Lengerke Meyer's father), had emigrated fromGermany toNew York City.^[2]

Meyer graduated from Harvard in 1879, and for twenty years was in business as a merchant and trustee.^[3]

He was a director of various trust companies, banks, manufacturing companies, and public utilities concerns.^[4] While managing his business affairs, he also held positions in state and local government, his public service beginning with his election as a member of theBoston Common Council, on which he represented ward 9 in 1889 and 1890. Later he served on theBoston Board of Aldermen in 1891.^[3][5][6] He then joined theMassachusetts Legislature, where for some time he served as speaker of the house.^[3][5] In 1898 he was appointed byGovernorWolcott as chairman of the MassachusettsParis Exposition managers.^[5]

He was a conservativeRepublican, and in 1899 was appointed a national committeeman.^[2] Republican PresidentsWilliam McKinley andTheodore Roosevelt appointed Meyer toambassadorships in Italy (1900–1905) and Russia (1905–1907). His patrician roots facilitated his interactions with the nobility of Europe, then in control of the continent. Roosevelt often used him to deliver messages toKaiser Wilhelm II in preference to the official ambassador,Charlemagne Tower.^[1] As ambassador to Russia, he presented Roosevelt's proposals with regard to theRusso-Japanese War directly to the Czar.^[2]Meyer also served as Roosevelt'sPostmaster General, from 1907 to 1909, where he directed the introduction of the firststamp vending machines of the country and the firstcoil stamps.^[7]

Upon taking office in March 1909, President Taft appointed Meyer to the position of Secretary of the Navy, a post which Meyer held throughout Taft's term. During this period, the Navy made its first experiments withaviation, although Meyer initially opposed the project.^{[citation needed]} In separate tests in 1910 and 1911, civilian pilotEugene Ely proved the feasibility ofcarrier-based aviation, by taking off from and landing on a Navy warship.

After 1911, Meyer was an overseer of Harvard University.^[4] He retired from national politics and returned to Massachusetts after Taft left office in 1913. He joined the effort to reelect Theodore Roosevelt in 1916.^[1] The foremost critic ofWoodrow Wilson's naval policies,^[1] on the outbreak ofWorld War I he urged preparedness and criticised America's naval administration. He was actively associated with theNational Security League and theNavy League. Among the organizations for which he was a director were the Amoskeag Manufacturing Co., Old Colony Trust Co., Puget Sound Light & Power Co., Walter Baker Co., and Ames Plow Co.^[5]

In December 1916 Meyer, Roosevelt and other philanthropists including Scottish-born industrialist John C. Moffat,William A. Chanler,Joseph Choate,Clarence Mackay,John Grier Hibben, andNicholas Murray Butler purchased theChâteau de Chavaniac, birthplace of theMarquis de Lafayette inAuvergne to serve as a headquarters for theFrench Heroes Lafayette Memorial Fund,^[8] which was managed by Chanler's ex-wife Beatrice Ashley Chanler.^[9][10]

In 1885, he married Marian Alice Appleton.^[2]

He died in Boston on March 9, 1918.

The NavydestroyerUSSMeyer (DD-279), named in his honor, was commissioned December 17, 1919 and was in service until May 15, 1929.

George von Lengerke Meyer was a brother in theDelta Kappa Epsilon fraternity (Alpha chapter).

• 115th Massachusetts General Court (1894)
• 116th Massachusetts General Court (1895)
• 117th Massachusetts General Court (1896)

• M. A. DeWolfe Howe (1919).George von Lengerke Meyer: his life and public services. New York: Dodd, Mead and Co.
• Boston Transcript, March 11, 1918
• Wayne A. Wiegand (1988).Patrician in the Progressive Era: A Biography of George von Lengerke Meyer.
• Who's who in State Politics, 1912 Practical Politics (1912) p. 9.

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