Truman Handy Newberry

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Truman Handy Newberry
39th United States Secretary of the Navy
In office December 1, 1908 – March 4, 1909
Preceded by	Victor H. Metcalf
Succeeded by	George von L. Meyer
Born	November 5, 1864(1864-11-05) Detroit, Michigan, U.S.
Died	October 3, 1945 (aged 80) Grosse Pointe, Michigan, U.S.
Political party	Republican
Profession	Politician, Industrialist

Truman Handy Newberry (November 5, 1864 – October 3, 1945) was a U.S. businessman and political figure. He served as the Secretary of Navy between 1908 and 1909. He was a U.S. Senator from Michigan between 1919 and 1922.

Newberry was born in Detroit, the son of John Stoughton Newberry (a U.S. Representative from Michigan) and his second wife, Helen P. Handy, the daughter of Truman P. Handy, a well known financier and banker in Cleveland. Newberry attended Michigan Military Academy before graduating from Yale College's Sheffield Scientific School, where he was a member of St. Anthony Hall, in 1885. He became superintendent of construction, paymaster, general freight and passenger agent, and eventually manager of the Detroit, Bay City & Alpena Railway from 1885 to 1887. He was then president and treasurer of the Detroit Steel & Spring Company from 1887 to 1901. In 1902, he helped organize the Packard Motor Car Company. He engaged in various other manufacturing activities, including the Union Trust Company, the Union Elevator Company, and the Michigan State Telephone Company.

In 1893, he organized the Michigan State Naval Brigade, serving as landsman in 1895; lieutenant and navigator in 1897 and 1898. He was commissioned lieutenant (junior grade) in the United States Navy in May 1898 and served on the U.S.S. Yosemite during the Spanish-American War. He then served as Assistant Secretary of the Navy 1905-1908. Filled in for the ill secretary Victor H. Metcalf, who resigned November 13, 1908. Truman Newberry, ad interim Secretary of the Navy. Appointed Secretary of the Navy in the Cabinet of President Theodore Roosevelt from December 1, 1908 to March 5, 1909. He became lieutenant commander United States Navy Fleet Reserve, June 6, 1917, and was assistant to the commandant of the third naval district of New York until January 9, 1919.

He was elected as a Republican to the United States Senate and served from March 4, 1919, until his resignation on November 18, 1922. In 1921, Newberry was tried and convicted under the Federal Corrupt Practices Act of election "irregularities". The conviction was reversed by the Supreme Court in Newberry v. U.S., 256 U.S. 232 (1921), 41 S. Ct. 469, 65 L. Ed. 913, and, following an investigation, the Senate declared Newberry entitled to his seat but expressed disapproval of the sum spent in his race against automaker Henry Ford. [1] In the face of a new movement to unseat him, Newberry resigned. Thereafter, he engaged in manufacturing. Newberry died in Grosse Pointe, Michigan and is interred in Elmwood Cemetery in Detroit.

[edit] References

• Truman Handy Newberry at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress Retrieved on 2008-02-11
• The Political Graveyard

[edit] Further reading

• Spencer Ervin. Henry Ford vs. Truman H. Newberry; the famous Senate election contest. New York, R.R. Smith, 1935. Reprint. New York: Arno Press, 1974.

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