Paul McNutt | |
|---|---|
 McNutt in 1939 | |
| 1st United States Ambassador to the Philippines | |
| In office July 4, 1946 – March 22, 1947 | |
| President | Harry S. Truman |
| Preceded by | Himself (High Commissioner) |
| Succeeded by | Emmet O'Neal |
| 2nd and 5thHigh Commissioner to the Philippines | |
| In office September 14, 1945 – July 4, 1946 | |
| President | Harry S. Truman |
| Preceded by | Harold L. Ickes |
| Succeeded by | Himself (Ambassador) |
| In office April 26, 1937 – July 12, 1939 | |
| President | Franklin D. Roosevelt |
| Preceded by | J. Weldon Jones (acting) |
| Succeeded by | J. Weldon Jones (acting) |
| Chair of theWar Manpower Commission | |
| In office April 18, 1942 – September 14, 1945 | |
| President | Franklin D. Roosevelt Harry S. Truman |
| Preceded by | Position established |
| Succeeded by | Position abolished |
| 1st Administrator of theFederal Security Agency | |
| In office July 12, 1939 – September 14, 1945 | |
| President | Franklin D. Roosevelt Harry S. Truman |
| Preceded by | Position established |
| Succeeded by | Watson B. Miller |
| 34thGovernor of Indiana | |
| In office January 9, 1933 – January 11, 1937 | |
| Lieutenant | M. Clifford Townsend |
| Preceded by | Harry G. Leslie |
| Succeeded by | M. Clifford Townsend |
| Chair of theNational Governors Association | |
| In office June 2, 1934 – November 16, 1936 | |
| Preceded by | James Rolph |
| Succeeded by | George C. Peery |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Paul Vories McNutt July 19, 1891 Franklin, Indiana, U.S. |
| Died | March 24, 1955(1955-03-24) (aged 63) New York City, U.S. |
| Party | Democratic |
| Spouse | |
| Education | Indiana University, Bloomington (BA) Harvard University (LLB) |
| Military service | |
| Branch/service |  United States Army |
| Years of service | 1916–1919 |
| Rank | Colonel |
Paul Vories McNutt (July 19, 1891 – March 24, 1955) was an American diplomat and politician who served as the34th governor of Indiana,high commissioner to the Philippines, administrator of theFederal Security Agency, chairman of theWar Manpower Commission andambassador to the Philippines.
Paul Vories McNutt was born inFranklin, Indiana, on July 19, 1891, the only child of John C. and Ruth McNutt. Both his parents were school teachers when they met, but his father began practicing law just before he was born. The family moved toIndianapolis in 1893 where his father had become librarian of the Indiana Supreme Court. McNutt was enrolled in public school in the city and attended for two years. In 1898 his father resigned his position and they moved again toMartinsville where he opened a law office. McNutt was moved to a local school where he attended until graduation.[1]
In 1909, McNutt enteredIndiana University where he was active in campus politics, acted in student theater productions and was a close friend andBeta Theta Pi fraternity brother ofWendell Willkie, futureRepublican candidate forpresident of the United States who, like McNutt, was then aDemocrat. After graduating from Indiana in 1913, McNutt went toHarvard Law School where he became a member ofAcacia fraternity[2] as well as taking an extracurricular job as aUnited Press reporter and sports writer. McNutt took his law degree from Harvard in 1916, then returned to Martinsville where in a race forMorgan Countyprosecutor he was narrowly defeated.[3]
The following year he took a job as assistant professor at the Indiana University School of Law, but quit to join theUnited States Army when the United States entered World War I. McNutt completed officer candidate school atFort Benjamin Harrison, and received his commission in the fieldartillery branch.[4] He was assigned to provide instruction in field artillery skills, and served at Camp Travis,Kelly Field, andCamp Stanley, Texas, andFort Jackson,South Carolina. While in Texas, he met and married his wife, Kathleen. He was discharged as amajor in 1919, and later joined the reserves, where he rose to the rank ofcolonel.[3]
After leaving active military service, McNutt returned to his law school teaching job, becoming a full professor in 1920 and then, in 1925, the youngestdean in the school's history. He skillfully used both his university connections and his wartime experience to launch his political career. As law school dean, he forcefully attackedpacifists and opponents of compulsory military training on college campuses. He had since returning from the war been active in theAmerican Legion, an influential veterans' organization, and spoke frequently throughout the state. In 1927, he was electedcommander of the Indiana department of the American Legion. His group's lobbying brought him contact with many state leaders which began his interest in politics and began building a political base of support.[5]
McNutt became chairman of the state party and led the Indiana delegation to the Democratic National Convention in 1932. Up until the last ballot, he and the delegation refused to support the nomination ofFranklin D. Roosevelt for president. McNutt was dismissive and rude to Roosevelt when he came to personally ask for their support. Roosevelt never forgot the slight, and from then on in private he referred to McNutt as "that platinum blond S.O.B from Indiana."[6]
The same year, Indiana's Democrats nominated McNutt for governor at the state convention. In the general campaign he focused his attacks on Republicans by blaming them for doing too little to resolve the problems of theGreat Depression. His campaign created the first political club for supporters in the United States. Members could join for a small fee with the contributions going to the campaign. The idea became popular and is now employed in many campaigns nationwide. He won easily, swept along in that year's national Democraticlandslide led by Franklin D. Roosevelt. The Democrats swept theIndiana General Assembly as well, taking 91 out of 100 house seats, and 43 of the 50 senate seats.[7]
McNutt was a forceful and controversial governor. With an overwhelming Democratic majority in thelegislature, he completely reorganized state government with the passage of the Executive Reorganization Act. The act effectively rolled back over fifty years of restrictions the legislation had placed on the governor in appointing officials, in having control over policy, giving him a measure of control over the more independent branches of the administration, and also granting new and expanded powers to the Lieutenant Governor of Indiana.[8]
To remedy the state funding problem, he was able to have constitutional amendments passed that legalized a grossincome tax. Previously almost all state revenue had come from property tax which fell disproportionately on farmers and rural citizens, while since the 1920s the majority of citizens were living in Indiana's cities. In the city, most people owned much less property, leading few city dwellers to pay any taxes at all. To provide another source of revenue, he advocated creating a state-issued franchise license, so that licensees would be the only business that could sell liquor in the state. The General Assembly approved and legalized beer and wine sales in the store in anticipation of the repeal offederalprohibition. The revenue increases had the desired effect and balanced the state budget and paid off the $3.4 million debt created during World War I. He left office with state possessing a $17 million surplus.[9]
Ideologically liberal,[10][11] McNutt was very involved in joining the state to the new federal welfare programs. Legislation was passed to allow the state to participate inSocial Security and worker's unemployment programs. Additionally, he was most active in pursuing federal jobs and created the administrative framework necessary for Indiana to participate in theWorks Progress Administration programs. More than 75,000Hoosiers were working in the government program before he left office. This created a massivepatronage system that made McNutt one of the most powerful governors in the state's history.[9]
McNutt earned the reputation of an old-stylemachine politician by using the reorganization of state government to oust his opponents, both Republican and Democratic, from state jobs and by forcing state employees to pay two percent of their salaries to theIndiana Democratic Party. The "Two Percent" club scandals would hinder McNutt's chances of obtaining a place on the 1940 and 1944 national tickets. The system for exclusivefranchises for beer distribution were sold to his campaign contributors who in turn made large donations to him and the party. He also had the legislature postpone the 1933municipal elections as a cost-saving measure, adding an extra year to the terms of local officials, a majority of whom were Democrats.[9] McNutt took up the cause of gettingJohn Dillinger paroled from the Michigan City State Penitentiary. He submitted a false record of Dillinger's criminal and prison activities and excluded two letters from law enforcers. Dillinger was granted clemency and later was named the first "Public Enemy Number One."[12]
McNutt also took up the cause of welfare reform. The new welfare laws passed effectively made charitable giving by the government an entirely state level controlled operation. Previously, local governments had been in charge of identifying needs and carrying out relief. McNutt began his term with the support of several key labor groups, but soon lost that support. Although McNutt's administration curtailed the use of courtinjunctions to prevent labor picketing, McNutt did not hesitate to declaremartial law in eleven coal-mining counties where major violence accompaniedunion efforts to organize the miners. In all, McNutt called out theIndiana National Guard three times in response to labor-related violence.[13]
In the 1934 mid-term elections, Republicans gained seats in both houses of the General Assembly and narrowed the Democratic majority. They began an attempt to rein in McNutt's power by creating a merit system to limit McNutt's control of the current patronage system. Publicly, McNutt supported the legislation, but once enacted it had very little effect on the operation of the government as many parts were simply ignored. Over time though, the system was gradually implemented in some state bureaus.[13]
Indiana'sconstitution kept McNutt from seeking reelection as governor in 1936, and he launched a bid to be nominated to run for president on the Democratic ticket. He was considered the front-runner until Roosevelt announced he would seek a second term. McNutt was overwhelmingly defeated, but attempted to be nominated for vice president. Roosevelt, however, still recalled McNutt's lack of support in his previous reelection bid and refused to accept him. Despite the rejection, McNutt campaigned strongly for Roosevelt's reelection as president. Roosevelt made himHigh Commissioner to the Philippines in 1937, a post that McNutt thought would help him in a presidential bid in 1940 and which Roosevelt, contemplating a third term for himself, thought would effectively sideline McNutt.[14]
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With the Philippines largely self-governing, the post of high commissioner was mostly ceremonial. Nevertheless, McNutt managed to stir controversy by appearing fussy over details ofprotocol. He also questioned the wisdom of giving early independence to the islands as promised in the 1934Tydings–McDuffie Act, believing that the small country could not defend itself. McNutt was also the target of criticism from Republicans, notably RepresentativeAlbert J. Engel of Michigan, for a proposal to construct a "summer palace" in the mountains nearBaguio.[15]
In a notable humanitarian act, McNutt, in cooperation withCommonwealthPresidentManuel L. Quezon, quietly side-stepped theU.S. Department of State in allowing the entry into the Philippines of 1,300 Jewish refugees fleeingfascist regimes in Europe. This was at a time when the refugees could not legally enter the United States itself in large numbers.[16][17] McNutt's role was documented in the 2013 filmRescue in the Philippines: Refuge from the Holocaust.[18]
By 1938 the press speculated that McNutt would, despite opposition from Roosevelt supporters, "have to be reckoned with" for the 1940 Democratic nomination for president because of his military and American Legion service, gubernatorial record, and "astonishingly good looks."[19] He left the Philippines in 1939 to become head of Roosevelt's newFederal Security Agency, an umbrella office that managed an array ofNew Deal programs that ranged from theCivilian Conservation Corps toSocial Security. It also served as a cover agency from 1942 to 1944 for theWar Research Service, a secret program to developchemical andbiological weapons. The FSA job gave McNutt high visibility, but his presidential hopes ended because Roosevelt decided to seek a third term. Although McNutt's name was floated as a possiblevice-presidential running mate, Roosevelt apparently did not seriously consider the possibility, preferring the moreliberalSecretary of AgricultureHenry A. Wallace. Coincidentally, Roosevelt's opponent in 1940 was McNutt's Indiana University classmate and Beta Theta Pi fraternity brother Wendell Willkie, now a Republican.
McNutt loyally supported Roosevelt in 1940 and was given added responsibilities at the FSA in managing defense-related health and safety programs. In 1942, Roosevelt appointed him chairman of theWar Manpower Commission, which was charged with planning to balance the labor needs of agriculture, industry and the armed forces, but the position carried little real power. While in this capacity, McNutt publicly urged "the extermination of the Japanesein toto". When asked for clarification, McNutt indicated that he was referring to the Japanese people as a whole—not just the Japanese military—"for I know the Japanese people." In a further qualification one week after the original statement, McNutt stated that the comments reflected his personal views and not official U.S. government policy.[20]
McNutt was among 12 nominated at the1944 Democratic National Convention to serve as Roosevelt's running mate in thepresidential election that year, receiving one vote.[21] After Japan's surrender in 1945, PresidentHarry S. Truman sent him back to the Philippines for a second tour as high commissioner. Following Philippine independence on July 4, 1946, McNutt served as America's first ambassador to the islands, a post he left in 1947 to take up law practice in New York City and Washington, D.C. After serving as ambassador, he also chaired the Philippine-American Trade Council, a business organization, and was a director of several firms inManila. McNutt's prominence was demonstrated by his appearance on the covers ofLife andTime magazines in 1939 when he returned from the Philippines, and on aTime cover in 1942 when he took the chair of the War Manpower Commission.
In 1950, McNutt became chairman of the board ofUnited Artists Corporation.[22] His involvement with the company was short-lived, as he and his management team stepped aside in favor ofArthur B. Krim andRobert Benjamin within less than a year.[23]
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While in Texas, he met and married his wife, Kathleen. He was discharged as amajor in 1919, and later joined the reserves, where he rose to the rank ofcolonel.[3]
McNutt fell ill in 1955 and decided to travel on a cruise to the Philippines to recover in the warm climate after a surgery. His condition only worsened and after arriving in Manila he flew to New York for better care. He died March 24, 1955, in New York City, aged 63, and is buried inArlington National Cemetery.[24]
Paul V. McNutt Quadrangle, a residence hall complex atIndiana University Bloomington, is named for him[25] and has a bust of him in the front foyer of the main building.
The Indiana University Board of Trustees has announced the naming of buildings on the Bloomington campus for four distinguished alumni Paul V. McNutt, Dean William A. Rawles, Wendell L. Willkie and Prof. James A. Woodburn. President Elvis J. Stahr jr. said the residence hall center which has been known temporarily as Fee Lane West will become the Paul V. McNutt Quadrangle in honor of the former dean of. law, governor of the state and high commissioner to the Philippines.
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