He served as Secretary of the Treasury under Wilson from 1913–1918, and was instrumental in forging the legislation that founded the Federal Reserve. After leaving the Wilson Cabinet, he ran twice for the Democratic nomination for President, losing to James M. Cox in 1920, and to John W. Davis in 1924, even though in both years he led on the first ballot. He served as Senator for California from 1933–1938. He and Eleanor were divorced in 1934.
McAdoo once famously said that the speeches of President Warren Harding "leave the impression of an army of pompous phrases moving over the landscape in search of an idea; sometimes these meandering words would actually capture a straggling thought and bear it triumphantly, a prisoner in their midst, until it died of servitude and overwork."
WilliamGibbsMcAdoo, a leading figure in American politics in the early twentieth century, began his political career in Chattanooga in the 1880s.
McAdoo enthusiastically backed Wilson's bid for the presidency in 1914 and served as vice-chairman of his national election committee.
In 1919 McAdoo left Wilson's administration, but he remained active in national politics and was a leading candidate for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination in 1920 and 1924.
WilliamGibbsMcAdoo (October 31, 1863–February 1, 1941) was a U.S. Senator, United States Secretary of the Treasury and director of the United States Railroad Administration (USRA).
McAdoo was born in Marietta, Georgia, and moved to Knoxville, Tennessee, in 1877, when his father, WilliamGibbsMcAdoo, Sr., became a professor at the University of Tennessee.
McAdoo was a "Dry" with respect to Prohibition, and was the favored candidate of the Ku Klux Klan in 1924 when the other front-runner appeared to be the Catholic Al Smith of New York.
Feeds |
Contact