James William Good

James William Good
James W. Good in 1919
50th United States Secretary of War
In office March 6, 1929 – November 18, 1929
President	Herbert Hoover
Preceded by	Dwight F. Davis
Succeeded by	Patrick J. Hurley
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Iowa's 5th district
In office March 4, 1909 – June 15, 1921
Preceded by	Robert G. Cousins
Succeeded by	Cyrenus Cole
Personal details
Born	(1866-09-24)September 24, 1866 Cedar Rapids, Iowa, United States
Died	November 18, 1929(1929-11-18) (aged 63) Washington, D.C., United States
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Lucy Good
Children	James William Good, Jr. Robert Edmund Good
Education	Coe College University of Michigan Law School
Profession	Politician, Lawyer

James William Good (September 24, 1866 – November 18, 1929) was an American politician from the state of Iowa, who served in the U.S. House of Representatives and the Cabinet of President Herbert Hoover as Secretary of War. He was a member of the Republican Party.

Biography

James William Good was born near Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to Henry and Margaret Coombs Good. He studied at Coe College, graduating in 1892. He later studied at University of Michigan Law School, graduating in 1893. He was admitted to the bar in 1893 and commenced practice in Indianapolis, Indiana, the same year. He married Lucy Deacon on October 4, 1894. They had two sons, James William, Jr. and Robert Edmund Good.

In 1896, Good returned to Cedar Rapids, where he continued to practice law. Good served as the Cedar Rapids City Attorney from 1906 to 1908.

Good was a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1909 to 1921, where he represented Iowa's 5th congressional district (then made up of Linn, Grundy, Benton, Marshall, Tama, Jones, and Cedar counties). He became chairman of the House Appropriations Committee in 1919, and continued to serve in that position until the end of his service. He was re-elected seven times, and never defeated. But soon after his fellow Republican, Warren G. Harding, was elected president in November 1920, Good disclosed that he would likely resign his seat in Congress and join a Chicago, Illinois law firm, once Good's plan to reorganize the budgetary process was adopted.^[1] Good resigned on June 10, 1921.^[2] Republican Cyrenus Cole of Cedar Rapids won a special election to fill his vacancy, and was sworn in August 1, 1921.

Good (right) being to sworn in as the Secretary of War, by John B. Randolph. Outgoing with former Secretary of War Dwight F. Davis (left).

In 1928 Good worked to elect Herbert Hoover, a fellow Iowa Republican, as President of the United States. When Hoover took office in March 1929, he appointed Good to be the United States Secretary of War and Good was soon confirmed by the United States Senate. He served in that position for eight months until his sudden death from peritonitis caused by a ruptured appendix.

He died in Washington, D.C. on November 18, 1929, shortly after the Wall Street Crash of 1929, at the beginning of the Great Depression. He was succeeded by the Under Secretary of War Patrick J. Hurley.

References

• United States Congress. "James William Good (id: G000275)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. 

Members of the U.S. House of Representatives from Iowa
1st	W. Thompson Miller Henn A. Hall S. Curtis J. F. Wilson McCrary Stone McCoid B. Hall Gear Seerley Gear S. Clark Hedge Kennedy Kopp Eicher Martin Schwengel Schmidhauser Schwengel Mezvinsky Leach Nussle Braley Blum
2nd	Leffler L. Clark J. P. Cook Thorington Davis Vandever Price Smyth W. Wolf Cotton Tufts Price Farwell Murphy Hayes G. Curtis Lane Rumple Wade Dawson Pepper Vollmer Hull Letts B. Jacobsen W. Jacobsen Talle L. Wolf Bromwell Culver Blouin Tauke Nussle Leach Loebsack
3rd	Allison Donnan Ainsworth Burdick Updegraff Henderson Birdsall Pickett Connolly Sweet Robinson Willford Gwynne Gross Grassley Evans Nagle Lightfoot Boswell Latham Young
4th	Grinnell Loughridge Walden Pratt Deering Weller Fuller Sweney Butler Updegraff Haugen Biermann Talle Le Compte Carter Kyl Bandstra Kyl N. Smith Ganske Latham King
5th	Kasson G. Dodge Palmer J. Wilson R. Clark W. G. Thompson J. Wilson Frederick Kerr J. Hamilton Cousins Good Cole Thurston Le Compte Cunningham N. Smith Scherle Harkin Lightfoot Grandy Latham King
6th	A. Hubbard Pomeroy Orr Loughridge Sampson Weaver Cutts J. C. Cook Cutts J. C. Cook Weaver Lacey White Lacey D. Hamilton Kendall Kirkpatrick Ramseyer Dowell Utterback Dowell Goodwin Cunningham Gilchrist J. I. Dolliver Coad Hoeven Greigg Mayne Bedell Grandy
7th	Kasson Cummings E. Gillette Kasson H. Smith Conger Hays Hull Prouty Dowell Wearin Jensen Hansen Scherle
8th	McDill Sapp Hepburn Anderson Flick Hepburn Jamieson Towner Evans Thurston Gilchrist Hoeven
9th	Orr Oliver Carpenter Pusey Lyman Reed Bowman Hager McPherson W. Smith Green Vincent Swanson G. Gillette Harrington Narey
10th	Holmes J. P. Dolliver Conner Woods Dickinson Gilchrist
11th	Struble Perkins Thomas E. Hubbard Scott Steele Scott Boies Campbell
AL	Hastings and Leffler
Terr	Chapman A. Dodge

United States Secretaries of War and the Army
Department of War (1789–1949)	Secretaries of War B. Lincoln Knox Pickering McHenry Dexter Dearborn Eustis Armstrong Monroe W. Crawford Calhoun Barbour P. Porter Eaton Cass Poinsett Bell Spencer J. Porter Wilkins Marcy G. Crawford Conrad J. Davis Floyd Holt S. Cameron Stanton Schofield Rawlins Belknap A. Taft J. Cameron McCrary Ramsey R. Lincoln Endicott Proctor Elkins Lamont Alger Root W. Taft Wright Dickinson Stimson Garrison Baker Weeks D. Davis Good Hurley Dern Woodring Stimson Patterson Royall Assistant Secretaries of War Scott Watson Tucker Wolcott Dana Eckert Grant Doe Meiklejohn Sanger Oliver Breckinridge Ingraham Crowell Williams Wainwright D. Davis MacNider Robbins Hurley Payne Woodring L. Johnson Patterson McCloy Petersen
Department of the Army (1949–present)	Secretaries of the Army Royall Gray Pace Stevens Brucker Stahr Vance Ailes Resor Froehlke Callaway Hoffmann C. Alexander Marsh Stone West Caldera White Harvey Geren McHugh Fanning Under Secretaries of the Army Draper Gray Voorhees A. Alexander Bendetsen E. Johnson Slezak Finucane Milton Ailes Ignatius Resor McGiffert Beal BeLieu Staudt Augustine LaBerge Ambrose Stone Shannon Reeder Walker Rostker Dahlberg Brownlee Geren Ford Westphal Carson Murphy McCarthy

Cabinet of President Herbert Hoover (1929–33)
Vice President	Charles Curtis (1929–33)
Secretary of State	Frank B. Kellogg (1929) Henry L. Stimson (1929–33)
Secretary of the Treasury	Andrew W. Mellon (1929–32) Ogden L. Mills (1932–33)
Secretary of War	James W. Good (1929) Patrick J. Hurley (1929–33)
Attorney General	William DeWitt Mitchell (1929–33)
Postmaster General	Walter F. Brown (1929–33)
Secretary of the Navy	Charles F. Adams, III (1929–33)
Secretary of the Interior	Ray Lyman Wilbur (1929–33)
Secretary of Agriculture	Arthur M. Hyde (1929–33)
Secretary of Commerce	Robert P. Lamont (1929–32) Roy D. Chapin (1932–33)
Secretary of Labor	James J. Davis (1929–30) William N. Doak (1930–33)

Chairmen of the United States House Committee on Appropriations
Stevens Washburne Dawes Garfield Randall Clymer Holman Atkins Hiscock Randall J. Cannon Holman Sayers J. Cannon Hemenway Tawney Fitzgerald Sherley Good Davis Madden Anthony Wood Byrns Buchanan Taylor C. Cannon Taber C. Cannon Taber C. Cannon Mahon Whitten Natcher Obey Livingston Young Lewis Obey Rogers Frelinghuysen