Newton D. Baker

Newton Diehl Baker Jr. (December 3, 1871 – December 25, 1937) was an American lawyer, Georgist,<ref name="jstor.org">Noble, Ransom E. "Henry George and the Progressive Movement." The American Journal of Economics and Sociology, vol. 8, no. 3, 1949, pp. 259–269. www.jstor.org/stable/3484179.</ref> politician, and government official. He served as the 37th mayor of Cleveland, Ohio from 1912 to 1915. As U.S. Secretary of War from 1916 to 1921, Baker presided over the United States Army during World War I.

Born in Martinsburg, West Virginia, Baker established a legal practice in Cleveland after graduating from Washington and Lee University School of Law. He became a progressive Democratic ally of Mayor Tom L. Johnson. Baker served as city solicitor of Cleveland from 1901 to 1909 before taking office as mayor in 1912. As mayor, he sought public transit reform, hospital improvement, and city beautification. Baker supported Woodrow Wilson at the 1912 Democratic National Convention, helping Wilson win the votes of the Ohio delegation. After leaving office, Baker accepted appointment as Secretary of War under President Wilson. He was one of several prominent Georgists appointed to positions in the Wilson Cabinet.<ref>Johnston, Robert D. The Radical Middle Class: Populist Democracy and the Question of Capitalism in Progressive Era Portland, Oregon. Princeton, N.J: Princeton University Press, 2003</ref>

Baker presided over the U.S. military's participation in World War I. He selected General John J. Pershing to command the American Expeditionary Forces, which he insisted act as an independent unit. He left office in 1921 and returned to BakerHostetler, the legal practice he co-founded. He served as an attorney in Village of Euclid v. Ambler Realty Co., a landmark case that established the constitutionality of zoning laws. He was a strong supporter of the League of Nations and continued to advocate American participation in the League during the 1920s. Beginning in 1928, he served as a member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration. He was a candidate for the presidential nomination at the 1932 Democratic National Convention, but the convention chose Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Early years

Newton Diehl Baker was born on December 3, 1871, in Martinsburg, West Virginia, the son of Newton Diehl Baker Sr. and Mary Ann (Dukehart) Baker. Baker's grandfather, Elias Baker, was a staunch unionist; his father, on the contrary, joined the Confederate Army, served as a cavalryman, was wounded, and became a northern prisoner of war. After returning home in 1865, he obtained a medical degree from the University of Maryland Medical School and worked as a physician in Martinsburg until his death in 1906.<ref name="Progressives at War">Craig, Douglas B. Progressives at War: William G. Mcadoo and Newton D. Baker, 1863-1941. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2013.</ref>Template:Rp

Baker attended the village schools in Martinsburg through his second year in high school and finished his preparatory training at Episcopal High School in Alexandria, Virginia.<ref>Template:Cite bookTemplate:Open access</ref>

In 1892, Baker graduated with bachelor's degree from Johns Hopkins University, where he was a member of Phi Gamma Delta fraternity. He attended lectures of Woodrow Wilson, who was a visiting professor at the time.<ref name="Progressives at War" />Template:Rp After receiving his law degree from Washington and Lee University School of Law<ref>Cramer, C. H. "Newton D. Baker." Newton D. Baker (1871-1937). Washington and Lee Law School, n.d. Web. June 4, 2017. http://law2.wlu.edu/alumni/bios/baker.asp</ref> in 1894, he tried for a year to establish law practice in Martinsburg, and then became private secretary to Postmaster General William L. Wilson,<ref name=ally /> who served in the Confederate cavalry with Baker's father.<ref name="Progressives at War" />Template:Rp He stayed in Washington, D.C. until June 1897, then took a vacation in Europe, and returned to Martinsburg. In January 1899, he became a junior partner at Foran, McTigne and Baker in Cleveland.<ref name="Progressives at War" />Template:Rp

Baker was small and thin. He was rejected for military service in the Spanish–American War because of poor eyesight.Template:Citation needed

Cleveland politics

Template:Georgism When Baker moved to Cleveland, his political sympathies belonged to the Democratic Party; he supported the so-called Gold Democrats and their platform of gold standard, free trade, and civil service reform.<ref name="Progressives at War" />Template:Rp He built a successful legal career and became involved in local politics. He helped the Democratic candidate Tom L. Johnson to become the mayor of Cleveland, and under his mentorship started his own public career. Johnson was a passionate advocate of Georgist political progressivism. Baker became exposed to Johnson's politics and also became a Georgist.<ref name="jstor.org"/><ref>Dawley, Alan. Changing the World: American Progressives in War and Revolution. Princeton, N.J: Princeton University Press, 2003.</ref> He assisted Johnson in his fights against city's utility monopolies, e.g., Cleveland Electric Railway Company owned by Mark Hanna, which made Baker popular among Clevelanders.<ref name="Progressives at War" />Template:Rp

After serving as city solicitor from 1901 to 1909, he became mayor of the city in 1911.<ref>Baker, Newton Diehl - The Encyclopedia of Cleveland History</ref> As a city official, Baker's main interests were providing Cleveland with electricity (he built a municipal light plant), public transit reform, hospital improvement, and city beautification.<ref name=ally /><ref>Wilson, Richard L. American Political Leaders. New York: Facts on File, 2002, p. 25.</ref> He was a strong backer of Cleveland College, now a part of Case Western Reserve University. He and Augustus Raymond Hatton helped draft Ohio's home rule amendment.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Its approval by voters in 1912 was Baker's crowning achievement as a mayor. It granted Cleveland a right to draw its own charter and conduct the city business without state interference.<ref>Home Rule - The Encyclopedia of Cleveland History</ref>

When Baker worked on Wilson's behalf at the Democratic National Convention in Baltimore in 1912, he was considered as a possible vice-presidential contender.<ref name=ally /> He and Wilson had been acquaintances since they were both at Johns Hopkins in the 1890s, and Baker played a vital role during Wilson's Democratic nomination for president at the convention by securing votes from Ohio delegates.<ref>O'Brien, Steven, Paula McGuire, James M. McPherson, and Gary Gerstle. American Political Leaders: From Colonial Times to the Present. Santa Barbara, Calif: ABC-CLIO, 1991, p. 18.</ref> Wilson wanted to bring him to Washington D.C. Though offered the post twice, Baker declined to serve as United States Secretary of the Interior during President Wilson's first term.

A 1993 survey of historians, political scientists and urban experts conducted by Melvin G. Holli of the University of Illinois at Chicago ranked Baker as the eighteenth-best American big-city mayor to have served between the years 1820 and 1993.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

In 1916, following his tenure as mayor of Cleveland, Baker and two other partners founded the law firm of BakerHostetler.

Secretary of War

File:Secretary of War Newton D. Baker on 6 December 1918, 111-SC-26463 - NARA - 55212437 (cropped).jpg

Baker in 1918 as Secretary of War

As the United States considered whether to enter World War I, President Woodrow Wilson had named Baker Secretary of War on 9 March 1916, because Baker was acceptable to advocates and opponents of American participation in the conflict. The post also required legal expertise because of the War Department's role in administering the Philippines, the Panama Canal, and Puerto Rico. The New York Times called him a "warm supporter" of the President. At 44, he was the youngest member of the Cabinet.<ref name=ally>Former Cleveland Mayor and Militant Political Ally of Wilson Gets Post, The New York Times, March 7, 1916. Accessed February 6, 2011.</ref> The American entry into World War I occurred in April 1917.

One historian described his relationship to the military:<ref>James P. Tate, The Army and its Air Corps: Army Policy Toward Aviation 1919-1941 (Air University Press, 1998), 3</ref> Template:Cquote

File:111-SC-24739 - NARA - 55209089-cropped.jpg

Secretary of War Newton D. Baker (right), Major General Andre Brewster (left) and Major General James W. McAndrew (center) with a group of German prisoners who have just arrived from the front, September 26, 1918.

As Secretary of War, Baker presided over the American military participation in the First World War in 1917 and 1918, including the creation of a nationwide military draft. Baker selected Gen. John J. Pershing to head the American Expeditionary Forces. At Baker's insistence, Wilson made the American forces an independent fighting partner of the Allies against the Central Powers, rather than letting American troops be used to replenish British and French forces as those nations advised.Template:Fact

On December 15, 1917, a War Council was formed (as distinct from the Council of National Defense) consisting of the Secretary of War, his Assistant, the Chief of Staff of the United States Army, the Quartermaster General of the United States Army, the Chief of Ordnance and possibly others.<ref name="wc">Template:Cite journal</ref> The War Council was to oversee and coordinate all matters of supply and to plan for the effective use of the military power of the nation. Baker had inherited a supply chain problem of gargantuan proportions although at first in April the administration knew nothing of its scale. Problems began quickly to crop up and on 18 December, three days after its formation, Baker fired three of the five officers appointed to the War Council. He appointed George Washington Goethals as Quartermaster General on that day.<ref name="nyt17">Template:Cite news</ref>

File:Decorations - Presentations - DSM and CM of Honor - American Generals decorated by Secretary of War, Newton D. Baker, for war Service - NARA - 26433231 (cropped) (cropped).jpg

The Army Distinguished Service Medal presented by Secretary of War Newton D. Baker to several American generals for service in the world war, January 22, 1919. General Peyton C. March, the Army Chief of Staff (far left), is wearing his Army DSM, with Secretary Baker and Assistant Secretary Benedict Crowell to his left.

He was occasionally attacked by military professionals who thought him incompetent or a pacifist at heart. He said, "I'm so much of a pacifist, I'm willing to fight for it."<ref name=nytobit />

In 1917, Baker was elected an honorary member of the Virginia Society of the Cincinnati.Template:Citation needed.

In 1918, Wilson told Baker that he hoped he would follow him into the White House in 1920.Template:Citation needed.

Emmett Jay Scott served as Baker's Special Advisor of Black Affairs.

Later years

After stepping down as Secretary of War in 1921, Baker returned to practicing law at Baker & Hostetler.

For several years he was the leading proponent of American participation in the League of Nations.<ref name=nytobit />

In 1922, the Encyclopædia Britannica published a brief account of Baker's life that drew sharp criticism. It said, in part, "The charge of pacifism was often brought against him and his career generally as Secretary was widely condemned throughout the United States." Among the prominent names who called the Encyclopedia to account were Livingston Farrand of Cornell and Ernest M. Hopkins of Dartmouth.<ref>Indignation Grows over Baker Article, The New York Times, October 9, 1922. Accessed February 6, 2011.</ref>

At the 1924 Democratic National Convention, during discussion of the party platform, Baker was the principal advocate of language committing the party to American membership in the League of Nations. After losing in the platform committee, which advocated a national referendum on the question, he raised the issue on the floor of the convention.

File:Members of President W. Wilson's cabinet who went out on the USS Pennsylvania - NH 17.jpeg

Members of Wilson's cabinet who went out on the USS Pennsylvania to receive him on 9 July 1919

Though he had no chance of winning over the delegates to support his position, he delivered a speech that was the highlight of the convention, "political oratory at its peak" according to an exhaustive account of the convention: "According to reporters, men and women everywhere burst into tears. It was a tour de force, emotional and bordering on hysteria."<ref>Murray, 144-6, 151-2</ref> He drew upon memories of Wilson, who had died just five months earlier and pleaded for a return to Wilsonian idealism:<ref>Text of Debate on League, The New York Times, June 29, 1924. Accessed February 6, 2011.</ref>

When his allotted 20 minutes expired, the crowd roared for him to continue. After an hour he left the lectern to a tremendous ovation. Speakers who tried to argue against him were booed. Yet the final vote went against him by a margin of more than 2 to 1.<ref>Murray, 153</ref> According to a New York Times editorial,

For a moment that vast audience was lifted from partisan thoughts to heights from which it could have a glimpse of the promised land of peace. ... Not only did Mr. Baker do his best, but he made one of the best and most moving speeches heard of late in any political meeting. He showed himself a disciple worthy to wear his master's mantle. He too has the spirit of prophecy upon him.<ref>Mr. Baker's Speech, The New York Times, June 30, 1924. Accessed February 6, 2011.</ref>

Later at the convention, he nominated former Governor James M. Cox of Ohio as his state's "favorite son."<ref>Robert K. Murray, The 103rd Ballot: Democrats and the Disaster in Madison Square Garden (NY: Harper & Row, 1976), 138</ref>

In 1928, President Coolidge appointed Baker a member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration of The Hague, and he was reappointed to another six-year term by Roosevelt in 1935.<ref>Baker is Reappointed to The Hague Court, The New York Times, January 6, 1935. Accessed February 6, 2011.</ref><ref>President Appoints Newton D. Baker a Member of Hague Arbitration Court, The New York Times, June 3, 1928. Accessed February 6, 2011.</ref> In 1929, President Herbert Hoover appointed Baker to the Wickersham Commission on issues relating to law enforcement, criminal activity, police brutality, and Prohibition.<ref>Encyclopedia of Crime and Punishment, Volume 1, edited by David Levinson, page 1708.</ref>

He remained active in Democratic Party affairs and was considered as a serious prospect for the Democratic nomination for President in 1932, when he declined to announce his candidacy but worked behind the scenes in the hope of being chosen if Franklin D. Roosevelt failed to win the nomination.

Yale University awarded him an honorary Doctor of Laws in 1932.<ref name=yale>$3,192,297 in Gifts Announced at Yale, The New York Times, June 23, 1932. Accessed February 6, 2011.</ref>

Baker argued before the U.S. Supreme Court as counsel for the property owner in Village of Euclid v. Ambler Realty Co., a landmark case that established the constitutionality of zoning laws.<ref>Euclid v. Ambler Realty Co., 272 U.S. 365 (1926).</ref>

Baker served on the Board of Trustees of Johns Hopkins University beginning in 1918 and was considered for appointment as president of the institution in 1928.<ref>Baker Considered for Johns Hopkins, The New York Times, April 4, 1928. Accessed February 6, 2011.</ref>

In 1936, he resigned as a member of the Cuyahoga County Democratic Committee after serving for 26 years.<ref name=nytobit /> He was elected to the American Philosophical Society that same year.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

He published a lecture in pamphlet form as War in the Modern World in 1935.<ref>Miscellaneous Brief Reviews, The New York Times, October 13, 1935. Accessed February 6, 2011. War in the Modern World, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1935. (Milton Academy Alumni War Memorial Series.)</ref>

Personal life

File:Elizabeth Leopold Baker.jpg

Elizabeth Leopold Baker

Baker married Elizabeth Wells Leopold, a faculty member at Wilson College, on July 5, 1902.<ref name="marriage">Template:Cite web</ref> They had two daughters (Margaret and Elizabeth) and a son, Newton D. Baker III, all of whom survived him, as did five grandchildren.<ref name="wvculture.org">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=eliz>Mrs. Newton Baker, Widow of Wilson Aide, The New York Times, August 24, 1951.</ref>

Confined to his bed after December 3, 1937, because of a longstanding heart condition, Baker died of a cerebral hemorrhage in Shaker Heights, Ohio, on Christmas Day, December 25, 1937.<ref name="wvculture.org"/><ref name=nytobit>Newton D. Baker Dies in Cleveland, The New York Times, December 26, 1937. Accessed February 6, 2011.</ref> After lying in state with full military honors at Trinity Cathedral and a simple funeral at the family's request, Baker was buried in Lake View Cemetery.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> His wife died on August 24, 1951.<ref name=eliz />

File:Secretary of War Newton D. Baker Gravesite.jpg

The gravesite of Secretary Newton D. Baker

Legacy

During World War II the Liberty ship Template:SS was built in Panama City, Florida, and named in his honor.<ref>Template:Cite book </ref>

In 1957 Western Reserve University, now Case Western Reserve, erected the Newton D. Baker Building in his honor. Located on the corner of Adelbert and Euclid, across from Severance Hall, it served as a large unit of general purpose classrooms and administrative offices. The building was torn down in November 2004.

The Georgetown mansion Baker occupied while Secretary of War, now known as Newton D. Baker House, is on the National Register of Historic Places.<ref>District of Columbia Inventory of Historic Sites, 2009 Template:Webarchive. Accessed February 6, 2011.</ref>

The law firm he founded, Baker Hostetler, is one of the nation's 100 largest firms.

Baker High School and Newton D. Baker School of Arts located on W. 159th Street in West Park, Cleveland are both named after Baker. A dormitory at Ohio State University, dedicated in 1940, is named Baker Hall (see information about the building) Template:Webarchive in his honor.<ref name="herrick">John H. Herrick Archives: Baker Hall Template:Webarchive. Accessed February 6, 2011.</ref> The Newton D. Baker dormitory at Washington and Lee University is also named for him. The Veterans Administration Hospital in his hometown of Martinsburg WV was originally named the Newton D. Baker Hospital and is still referred to as such by local residents.

Further reading

• Beaver, Daniel R. "Newton D. Baker and the Genesis of the War Industries Board, 1917-1918." Journal of American History (1965) 52#1 pp: 43–58. in JSTOR
• Beaver, Daniel R. Newton D. Baker and the American War Effort, 1917-1919 (University of Nebraska Press, 1966)
• Craig, Douglas B. Progressives at War: William G. McAdoo and Newton D. Baker, 1863-1941. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2013.
• Cuff, Robert D. The War Industries Board: Business-Government Relations During World War I (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1973.)
• Palmer, Frederick. Newton D. Baker: America at War. 2 vols. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1931.
• Van Tassel, David D. and John J. Grabowski, eds., The Encyclopedia Of Cleveland History. Cleveland Bicentennial Commission.

Primary sources

• Baker, Newton D. Frontiers of freedom (1918) online
• Palmer, Frederick. Newton D. Baker: America at war, based on the personal papers of the secretary of war in the world war; his correspondence with the President and important leaders at home and abroad; the confidential cablegrams between the War department and headquarters in France; the minutes of the War industries board, and other first-hand material (Dodd, Meade & Company, 1931)

External links

• Template:Internet Archive author
• Template:Find a Grave
• Adler, Jessica L.: Baker, Newton D., in: 1914-1918-online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War.