- Henry S. Breckinridge
Infobox US Cabinet official
name=Henry S. Breckinridge
order=
title=United States Assistant Secretary of War
term_start=1913
term_end=1916
president=Woodrow Wilson
predecessor=Robert Shaw Oliver
successor=William Ingraham
birth_date=May 25 ,1886
birth_place=Chicago, Illinois
death_date=May 2 ,1960 (aged 73)
death_place=New York City ,New York
party=DemocraticHenry Skillman Breckinridge (
May 25 ,1886 -May 2 ,1960 ) was aUnited States lawyer andpolitician , best known asCharles Lindbergh 's attorney during theLindbergh kidnapping trial and the only serious opponent of PresidentFranklin D. Roosevelt in the 1936 Democratic primaries.Born in
Chicago, Illinois to a prominent family, he graduated fromPrinceton University andHarvard Law School . In 1913 at the age of 27, he was appointedUnited States Assistant Secretary of War by PresidentWoodrow Wilson , a fellow Democrat. At the same time, theAssistant Secretary of the Navy was Roosevelt himself. Breckinridge resigned, along with SecretaryLindley M. Garrison , in 1916.He was also a member of the
fencing teams at the 1912 and1928 Summer Olympics , and was captain of the latter. DuringWorld War I he served as commander of abattalion .After the war, he went to
New York and soon became a prominent attorney. He was president of theNavy League of the United States from 1919 to 1921 and at that time organized the firstNavy Day , which was celebrated in 1920. In 1933 he was counsel to the Joint Congressional Committee to Investigate Dirigible Disasters.He ran for the
United States Senate fromNew York as the nominee of the minor Constitutional Party, temporarily breaking with the Democrats.Breckinridge, a strong opponent of the
New Deal , was the only serious candidate opposing the highly popular incumbent Roosevelt in the 1936 Democratic primaries. FDR was otherwise opposed within the party only byfavorite son candidates. Breckinridge's test of the popularity of the New Deal among Democrats failed, as he lost by wide margins. However, inNew Jersey , President Roosevelt did not file for the preference vote and lost that primary to Breckinridge. Roosevelt did receive 19% of the vote on write-ins. Roosevelt's candidates for delegate swept the race in New Jersey and elsewhere. In other primaries, Breckinridge's best showing was his 15% in Maryland.Roosevelt won a total of 4,830,730 votes in all state primaries combined (93.19%) against Breckinridge's 136,407 (2.63%).
Breckinridge endorsed Republican nominee
Alf Landon against Roosevelt in the general election [ [http://www.ourcampaigns.com/CandidateDetail.html?CandidateID=18814 Our Campaigns - Candidate - Henry Skillman Breckinridge ] ] .Breckinridge was married three times: First on
July 7 ,1910 , to Ruth Bradley and by this marriage had two daughters: Elizabeth Foster, who married John Stephens Graham, and Louise Dudley; he was divorced from his first wife in 1925; Second inWashington, D.C. , Aug. 5, 1927, toAida de Acosta ; he was divorced from his second wife in 1947 and third onMarch 27 ,1947 , to Margaret Lucy, daughter of John Raymond Smith of Gloucestershire, England, a horticulturist, and by this marriage had a daughter, Madeline Houston.He died in
New York City .Electoral history
New York Senate election, 1934 [ [http://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=36424 Our Campaigns - NY US Senate Race - Nov 06, 1934 ] ]
*Royal S. Copeland (Democratic, Incumbent) - 2,046,377 (55.34%)
*Ernest Harold Cluett (Republican) - 1,363,440 (36.87%)
*Norman Thomas (Socialist) - 194,952 (5.27%)
*Max Bedacht (Communist) - 45,396 (1.23%)
*Henry S. Breckinridge (Constitutional) - 24,241 (0.66%)
*William S. Chase (Law Preservation) - 16,769 (0.45%)
*Olive M. Johnson (Socialist Labor) - 6,622 (0.18%)United States presidential election, 1936 (Democratic primaries) [ [http://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=55176 Our Campaigns - US President - D Primaries Race - Feb 01, 1936 ] ]
*Franklin D. Roosevelt (Incumbent ) - 4,830,730 (93.19%)
*Henry S. Breckinridge - 136,407 (2.63%)
*Upton Sinclair - 106,068 (2.05%)
*John S. McGroarty - 61,391 (1.18%)
*Joseph A. Coutremarsh - 39,730 (0.77%)
*Al Smith - 2,974 (0.06%)
*Charles Coughlin - 2,854 (0.06%)
*John Nance Garner - 108 (0.00%)
*William E. Borah - 87 (0.00%)References
* [http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=6215905 Find a Grave]
* [http://www.ourcampaigns.com/CandidateDetail.html?CandidateID=18814 Our Campaigns]
* [http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/breckinridge.html Political Graveyard]
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