George B. Cortelyou

George B. Cortelyou
1st United States Secretary of Commerce and Labor
In office February 18, 1903 – June 30, 1904
President	Theodore Roosevelt
Preceded by	None
Succeeded by	Victor H. Metcalf
42nd United States Postmaster General
In office March 6, 1905 – January 14, 1907
President	Theodore Roosevelt
Preceded by	Robert J. Wynne
Succeeded by	George von L. Meyer
44th United States Secretary of the Treasury
In office March 4, 1907 – March 7, 1909
President	Theodore Roosevelt
Preceded by	Leslie M. Shaw
Succeeded by	Franklin MacVeagh
Personal details
Born	(1862-07-26)July 26, 1862 New York City, New York, United States
Died	October 23, 1940(1940-10-23) (aged 78) Long Island City, New York, United States
Resting place	Memorial Cemetery of St. John's Church, Cold Spring Harbor, New York, United States
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Lilly Morris Hinds Cortelyou
Alma mater	Massachusetts State Normal School Georgetown University George Washington University
Profession	Politician

George Bruce Cortelyou (July 26, 1862 – October 23, 1940) was an American Presidential Cabinet secretary of the early twentieth century.

Biography

Early life

Cortelyou was born in New York City to Rose (née Seary) and Peter Crolius Cortelyou, Jr. He was part of an old New Netherland family whose immigrant ancestor arrived in 1652. He was educated at public schools in Brooklyn, the Nazareth Hall Military Academy in Pennsylvania, and the Hempstead Institute on Long Island.

At the age of 20, Cortelyou received a BA degree from Westfield Normal School, now Westfield State University, a teacher's college in Westfield, Massachusetts. He graduated from the law schools of George Washington University and Georgetown University. He was a member of Phi Sigma Kappa fraternity while at George Washington University.^[1] Courtelyou then began teaching, later taking a stenography course and mastering shorthand. Cortelyou married the former Lily Morris Hinds on September 15, 1888, with whom he had five children.

In 1891, he obtained a position as secretary to the chief postal inspector of New York. The following year a promotion led to a job as the secretary to the Fourth Assistant Postmaster General in Washington, D.C. In 1895 President Grover Cleveland hired Cortelyou as his chief clerk on the recommendation of Postmaster General Wilson S. Bissell. President Cleveland recommended him as a personal secretary to his successor, William McKinley. Cortelyou was working on improvements in office efficiency in 1901, when President McKinley was assassinated.

McKinley was greeting visitors in the Temple of Music at the Pan-American Exposition on September 6, 1901, in Buffalo, New York, when he was shot twice at close range by lone assassin Leon Czolgosz. As McKinley collapsed, he was caught and supported by his aides, among them Cortelyou. As he was held in their arms he whispered, "My wife... be careful, Cortelyou, how you tell her. Oh, be careful."

After succeeding as President, Theodore Roosevelt tasked Cortelyou with transforming the White House into a more professional organization. Cortelyou developed procedures and rules that guided White House protocol and established processes where there had been only personal prerogative. Cortelyou is also credited with establishing an improved line of communication between the President's office and the press; he provided reporters with their own workspace, briefed journalists on notable news and handed out press releases. Cortelyou is credited with instituting the first systematic gathering of press commentary for a sitting president's perusal. These "current clippings" were the first attempt by a President to gauge public opinion through the media. Cortelyou selected items objectively, a practice that would not be consistently followed by his successors.

Roosevelt's administration

Cortelyou served as the first Secretary of Commerce and Labor, from February 18, 1903 to June 30, 1904. He also served as Postmaster General from March 6, 1905 to January 14, 1907 and was the Secretary of the Treasury, all under Theodore Roosevelt. From 1904 through 1907, Cortelyou also served as Chairman of the Republican National Committee, working for the successful re-election of Theodore Roosevelt.

He was made an honorary member of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Fraternity on April 9, 1903. He had attended the New England Conservatory of Music, where the fraternity was founded.

Cortelyou served as the Secretary of the Treasury, from March 4, 1907 to March 7, 1909. This was during the devastating Panic of 1907. Like his resignation of Treasury Secretary Leslie M. Shaw, Cortelyou believed it was Treasury's duty to protect the banking system, but he realized that the Treasury was not equipped to maintain economic stability. He eased the crisis by depositing large amounts of government funds in national banks and buying government bonds. To prevent further crises, Cortelyou advocated a more elastic currency and recommended the creation of a central banking system.

In 1908, the Aldrich-Vreeland Act was passed, providing special currency to be issued in times of panic, and creating a commission, which led to the creation of the Federal Reserve in 1913.

Later life, death and legacy

He returned to private enterprise as the president of the Consolidated Gas Company, later known as the Consolidated Edison. He was also one of the chairmen of the Con Edison Energy Museum, which is now closed. He lived at his home "Harbor Lights" in Halesite Long Island, New York, until his death in October 1940. Edith Roosevelt attended the wake at his home, as she was a best friend of his wife. He is buried at the Memorial Cemetery of St. John's Church in Cold Spring Harbor, New York. Brooklyn's Cortelyou Road and the Cortelyou Road Station, in the Flatbush section, are named for him. Cortelyou, an unincorporated community in Washington County, Alabama, changed its name from Richardson to Cortelyou while George Cortelyou was United States Postmaster General.^[2]

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to George B. Cortelyou.

• George B. Cortelyou at Find a Grave

United States Secretaries of Commerce Secretaries of Commerce and 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 Pritzker

United States Secretaries of Labor Secretaries of Commerce and Labor Cortelyou Metcalf Straus Nagel Secretaries of Labor Wilson Davis Doak Perkins Schwellenbach Tobin Durkin Mitchell Goldberg Wirtz Shultz Hodgson Brennan Dunlop Usery Marshall Donovan Brock McLaughlin Dole Martin Reich Herman Chao Solis Perez

United States Postmasters General Confederal Franklin Bache Hazard Federal Osgood Pickering Habersham G. Granger Meigs McLean Cabinet level Post Office Department Barry Kendall Niles F. Granger Wickliffe Johnson Collamer Hall Hubbard Campbell A. Brown Holt King Blair Dennison Randall Creswell Marshall Jewell Tyner Key Maynard James Howe Gresham Hatton Vilas Dickinson Wanamaker Bissell Wilson Gary Smith Payne Wynne Cortelyou Meyer Hitchcock Burleson Hays Work New W. Brown Farley Walker Hannegan Donaldson Summerfield Day Gronouski O'Brien Watson Blount U.S. Postal Service Blount Klassen Bailar Bolger Carlin Casey Tisch Frank Runyon Henderson Potter Donahoe Brennan

United States Secretaries of the Treasury 18th century Hamilton Wolcott Dexter 19th century Gallatin Campbell Dallas Crawford Rush Ingham McLane Duane Taney Woodbury Ewing Forward Spencer Bibb Walker Meredith Corwin Guthrie Cobb Thomas Dix Chase Fessenden McCulloch Boutwell Richardson Bristow Morrill Sherman Windom Folger Gresham McCulloch Manning Fairchild Windom Foster Carlisle Gage 20th century Shaw Cortelyou MacVeagh McAdoo Glass Houston Mellon Mills Woodin Morgenthau Vinson Snyder Humphrey Anderson Dillon Fowler Barr Kennedy Connally Shultz Simon Blumenthal Miller Regan Baker Brady Bentsen Rubin Summers 21st century O'Neill Snow Paulson Geithner Lew