Charles W. Sawyer

Charles W. Sawyer (February 10, 1887 – April 7, 1979) was United States Secretary of Commerce from May 6, 1948 to January 20, 1953 in the administration of Harry Truman.

Sawyer was born in Cincinnati, Ohio. He served as a member of Cincinnati City Council from 1912–1916. Prior to his political career, he worked at the Cincinnati law firm of Dinsmore & Shohl.^[1] Between the world wars, he was a prominent Democratic politician in Ohio. In the 1930s, a faction led by Sawyer vied with a faction led by Martin L. Davey for control of the state Democratic party.^[2] He was the 44th Lieutenant Governor of Ohio from 1933–1935. In 1938, Sawyer was the unsuccessful Democratic candidate for Ohio governor.

Charles Sawyer authored the repeal of the Eighteenth Amendment.Sawyer, Concerns of a Conservative Democrat,Southern Illinois University Press, Pgs 48-51.

He was also appointed as United States Ambassador to Belgium by Franklin Delano Roosevelt and was Minister to Luxembourg during the difficult period 1944–1946 in this country, the beginning of the Belgian royal question concerning King Leopold III of Belgium.^[3]

While Secretary of Commerce, Sawyer was ordered by Truman to seize and operate the steel mills in 1952. This seizure was executed to prevent a labor strike which Truman believed would hamper the ability of the United States to proceed in the war in Korea.

When he returned to Cincinnati after serving for President Truman, he joined the law firm Taft, Stettinius, and Hollister, which had been founded by another prominent Cincinnati politician, Robert Taft, and became its managing partner.

In 1968, he authored Concerns of a Conservative Democrat (Southern Illinois University Press). Charles Sawyer served on the following commissions, Hoover Commission on Overseas Task Force, the Commission on Money and Credit, and the World's Fair Site Committee. He had five children.

Sawyer died in Palm Beach, Florida.

Political offices
Preceded by W. Averell Harriman	United States Secretary of Commerce Served under: Harry S. Truman May 6, 1948 – January 20, 1953	Succeeded by Sinclair Weeks

References

Governors and Lieutenant Governors of Ohio

	Governors	Tiffin Kirker Huntington Meigs Looker Worthington E. Brown Trimble Morrow Trimble McArthur Lucas Vance Shannon Corwin Shannon T. Bartley M. Bartley Bebb Ford Wood Medill Chase Dennison Tod Brough Anderson J. D. Cox Hayes Noyes Allen Hayes Young Bishop Foster Hoadly Foraker Campbell McKinley Bushnell Nash Herrick Pattison Harris Harmon J. M. Cox Willis J. M. Cox Davis Donahey Cooper White Davey Bricker Lausche Herbert Lausche J. Brown O'Neill DiSalle Rhodes Gilligan Rhodes Celeste Voinovich Hollister Taft Strickland Kasich

	Lieutenant Governors	Medill Myers Ford Welker Kirk Stanton Anderson McBurney Lee Mueller Hart Young Curtiss Fitch Hickenlooper Richards Warwick Kennedy Conrad Lyon Lampson Marquis Harris Jones Caldwell Nippert Gordon Harding Harris Treadway Pomerene Nichols Greenlund Arnold Bloom C. Brown Bloom Lewis Bloom Pickrel Braden J. T. Brown Pickrel Sawyer Mosier Yoder Herbert Nye Herbert Nye J. W. Brown Herbert Donahey J. W. Brown Celeste Voinovich Shoemaker Leonard DeWine Hollister O'Connor Bradley Johnson Fisher Taylor

United States Secretaries of Commerce

Secretaries of Commerce & Labor	Cortelyou • Metcalf • Straus • Nagel

Secretaries of Commerce	Redfield • Alexander • Hoover • Whiting • Lamont • Chapin • Roper • Hopkins • Jones • Wallace • Harriman • Sawyer • Weeks • Strauss • Mueller • Hodges • Connor • Trowbridge • Smith • Stans • Peterson • Dent • Morton • Richardson • Kreps • Klutznick • Baldrige • Verity • Mosbacher • Franklin • Brown • Kantor • Daley • Mineta • Evans • Gutierrez • Locke • Bryson

Cabinet of President Harry S. Truman (1945–1953)

Vice President	None (1945–1949) • Alben W. Barkley (1949–1953)

Secretary of State	Edward Stettinius, Jr. (1945) • James F. Byrnes (1945–1947) • George Marshall (1947–1949) • Dean Acheson (1949–1953)

Secretary of War	Henry L. Stimson (1945) • Robert P. Patterson (1945–1947) • Kenneth Claiborne Royall (1947)

Secretary of Defense	James Forrestal (1947–1949) • Louis Arthur Johnson (1949–1950) • George Marshall (1950–1951) • Robert A. Lovett (1951–1953)

Secretary of the Treasury	Henry Morgenthau, Jr. (1945) • Fred M. Vinson (1945–1946) • John W. Snyder (1946–1953)

Attorney General	Francis Biddle (1945) • Tom C. Clark (1945–1949) • J. Howard McGrath (1949–1952) • James P. McGranery (1952–1953)

Postmaster General	Frank Comerford Walker (1945) • Robert E. Hannegan (1945–1947) • Jesse M. Donaldson (1947–1953)

Secretary of the Navy	James Forrestal (1945–1947)

Secretary of the Interior	Harold L. Ickes (1945–1946) • Julius A. Krug (1946–1949) • Oscar L. Chapman (1949–1953)

Secretary of the Agriculture	Claude R. Wickard (1945) • Clinton P. Anderson (1945–1948) • Charles F. Brannan (1948–1953)

Secretary of Commerce	Henry A. Wallace (1945–1946) • William Averell Harriman (1946–1948) • Charles W. Sawyer (1948–1953)

Secretary of Labor	Frances Perkins (1945) • Lewis B. Schwellenbach (1945–1948) • Maurice J. Tobin (1948–1953)

Persondata
Name	Sawyer, Charles W.
Alternative names
Short description	American politician
Date of birth	February 10, 1887
Place of birth
Date of death	April 7, 1979
Place of death