Arthur Ellsworth Summerfield

Infobox US Cabinet official
name=Arthur Ellsworth Summerfield


image_width=
order=54th
title=United States Postmaster General
term_start=1953
term_end=1961
predecessor=Jesse M. Donaldson
successor=J. Edward Day
birth_date=March 17, 1899
birth_place=Pinconning, Michigan, USA
death_date=April 26, 1972
death_place=West Palm Beach, Florida, USA
party=Republican
spouse=
profession=Politician
religion=

Arthur Ellsworth Summerfield (Pinconning, Michigan, 17 March 1899 – 26 April 1972 in West Palm Beach, Florida) was a U.S. political figure. He ran (unsuccessfully) for the governorship of his home state of Michigan in 1946 and served as the chairman of the Republican National Committee between 1952 and 1953. At the 1952 Republican National Convention he played a key role in winning the GOP presidential nomination for General Dwight Eisenhower. As Michigan's delegate chairman Summerfield convinced the large, uncommitted Michigan delegation to support Eisenhower, thus providing "Ike" with a major boost before the voting. As a reward for his support, in December 1952 President-Elect Eisenhower chose Summerfield as the federal Postmaster General; he served in that post from 1953 to 1961.

As postmaster general, he oversaw the United States Postal Service's brief experiment with rocket-delivered mail, a flirtation that crystallized into reality for the first and only time as "missile mail" with the 8 June 1959 launch of a letter-stuffed Regulus cruise missile from the USS "Barbero", a submarine of the United States Navy.

Before embarking on his political career, Summerfield had become well-known in Michigan as the owner of one of the largest General Motors automobile dealerships in the state; and one of the largest in the Midwest.

Quote

:"Before man reaches the moon your mail will be delivered within hours from New York to California, to England, to India or to Australia by guided missiles.... We stand on the threshold of rocket mail."

External links

* [http://www.eisenhower.archives.gov/listofholdingshtml/finding_aids_s.html Papers of Arthur E. Summerfield, Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library]
* [http://www.retrofuture.com/rocketmail.html Retrofuture]
* [http://www.postalmuseum.si.edu/airmail/historicplanes/unusual/historicplanes_unusual_missile.html Postal Museum]
* [http://www.usps.com/history/his2_75.htm United States Postal Service]
* [http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/sullivant-summit.htm The Political Graveyard]