Ernest Harold Cluett (July 13, 1874 – February 4, 1954) was an American businessman and politician from

Troy, New York Troy is a city in the U.S. state of New York and the county seat of Rensselaer County. The city is located on the western edge of Rensselaer County and on the eastern bank of the Hudson River. Troy has close ties to the nearby cities of Albany a ...

. A Republican, he was most notable for his service as a

United States representative The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

from 1937 to 1943. Cluett was a native of Troy, and was educated at

The Albany Academy The Albany Academy is an independent college preparatory day school for boys in Albany, New York, USA, enrolling students from Preschool (age 3) to Grade 12. It was established in 1813 by a charter signed by Mayor Philip Schuyler Van Rensselae ...

Williams College Williams College is a Private college, private liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Williamstown, Massachusetts. It was established as a men's college in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim Williams, a col ...

, and

Christ Church, Oxford Christ Church ( la, Ædes Christi, the temple or house, '' ædēs'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, the college is uniqu ...

. He then joined his family's business, clothing manufacturers

Cluett Peabody & Company Cluett Peabody & Company, Inc. once headquartered in Troy, New York, was a longtime manufacturer of shirts, detachable shirt cuffs and collars, and related apparel. It is best known for its Arrow brand collars and shirts and the related Arrow Coll ...

. Cluett served successively as the company's treasurer, vice president, and chairman of the board. In addition to his business career, Cluett was active in government and civic causes, including promoting improvements to the Port of Albany–Rensselaer and

Hudson River The Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between N ...

. He was a candidate for presidential elector in 1912, and was an elector in 1916. In 1934, he was an unsuccessful candidate for the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

. In 1936, Cluett was a successful candidate for the U.S. House. He was reelected twice and served from 1937 to 1943. During his congressional service, Cluett secured federal approval for the waterways improvements he had long supported, as well as new post office buildings for Troy and several nearby towns. In addition, he obtained passage of measures for

flood control Flood control methods are used to reduce or prevent the detrimental effects of flood waters."Flood Control", MSN Encarta, 2008 (see below: Further reading). Flood relief methods are used to reduce the effects of flood waters or high water level ...

and soil erosion control in upstate New York. After leaving Congress, Cluett lived in retirement in Troy and in

Palm Beach, Florida Palm Beach is an incorporated town in Palm Beach County, Florida. Located on a barrier island in east-central Palm Beach County, the town is separated from several nearby cities including West Palm Beach and Lake Worth Beach by the Intracoas ...

. He died in Troy on February 4, 1954. Cluett was buried at Oakwood Cemetery in Troy.

Early life

Ernest Harold Cluett was born in

on July 13, 1874, a son of George Bywater Cluett and Amanda (Rockwell) Cluett. He attended the public schools and graduated from

in 1892. In 1896, he received his

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

degree from

, where he was a member of Delta Psi (

St. Anthony Hall St. Anthony Hall or the Fraternity of Delta Psi is an American fraternity and literary society. Its first chapter was founded at Columbia University on , the Calendar of saints, feast day of Anthony the Great, Saint Anthony the Great. The frater ...

). Cluett also studied in England at

Business and civic career

From 1900 to 1916, Cluett served as treasurer of

, his family's clothing manufacturing company. He became a company vice president in 1916, and served until 1929. From 1929 to 1937, Cluett served as Cluett, Peabody's chairman of the board of directors. During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, Cluett was head of the employment division of the federal government's Watervliet Arsenal. He also traveled to France in 1918 on a special mission for the

Y.M.C.A. YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams in London, originally ...

, and was a member of the Y.M.C.A.'s National War Work Council. In addition, he served as vice chairman of the Rensselaer County chapter of the

American Red Cross The American Red Cross (ARC), also known as the American National Red Cross, is a non-profit humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance, disaster relief, and disaster preparedness education in the United States. It is the desi ...

. From 1917 to 1918, Cluett was president of the Troy Chamber of Commerce. He was also a longtime director of the National City Bank of Troy. In addition, he was a trustee of Troy's Central Y.M.C.A,

Samaritan Hospital Samaritan Hospital or ''variant'', may refer to: * , WWII US Navy hospital ship * Samaritan Health Services, Corvallis, Oregon, US; a hospital network ** Samaritan Albany General Hospital, Albany, Oregon, US ** Samaritan Lebanon Community Hospita ...

, and Vanderheyden Hall. Cluett was active in the Navy League as a member of the advisory board for the league's Troy section.

Political career

A Republican, in 1912, Cluett was a candidate for presidential elector; he was pledged to incumbent

William Howard Taft William Howard Taft (September 15, 1857March 8, 1930) was the 27th president of the United States (1909–1913) and the tenth chief justice of the United States (1921–1930), the only person to have held both offices. Taft was elected pr ...

, but New York was carried by the Democratic nominee,

Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was an American politician and academic who served as the 28th president of the United States from 1913 to 1921. A member of the Democratic Party, Wilson served as the president of ...

. In 1916, he was a again candidate for elector; Cluett was pledged to Charles Evans Hughes, who carried New York in the general election, and he cast his ballot for the Republican ticket of Hughes and

Charles W. Fairbanks Charles Warren Fairbanks (May 11, 1852 – June 4, 1918) was an American politician who served as a senator from Indiana from 1897 to 1905 and the 26th vice president of the United States from 1905 to 1909. He was also the Republican vice presid ...

. He was a longtime member of the Rensselaer County Republican Committee's steering committee, and served as chairman of Troy's planning commission. In 1917, Cluett was a delegate to the annual convention of the Atlantic Deeper Waterways Association. In 1924, he was a delegate to the National Rivers and Harbors Congress that advocated for commercial improvements to America's waterways. In 1934, Cluett was an unsuccessful candidate for election to the

. He was elected to the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the Lower house, lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States Senate, Senate being ...

in 1936, and was reelected in 1938 and 1940. Cluett served in the 75th, 76th and 77th United States Congresses, January 3, 1937 to January 3, 1943. He was not a candidate for reelection in 1942. During his U.S. House service, Cluett was most prominent as a member of the Committee on Post Office and Post Roads. As a congressman, Cluett was credited with passage of a federal flood control program for Rensselaer,

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...

, and

Warren A warren is a network of wild rodent or lagomorph, typically rabbit burrows. Domestic warrens are artificial, enclosed establishment of animal husbandry dedicated to the raising of rabbits for meat and fur. The term evolved from the medieval Angl ...

Counties, as well as a soil erosion control program for

Saratoga County Saratoga County is a county in the U.S. state of New York, and is the fastest-growing county in Upstate New York. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the county's population was enumerated at 235,509, representing a 7.2% increase from the 2010 popul ...

. Cluett also secured passage of the law that preserved the sites of the

American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revolut ...

Battles of Saratoga The Battles of Saratoga (September 19 and October 7, 1777) marked the climax of the Saratoga campaign, giving a decisive victory to the Americans over the British in the American Revolutionary War. British General John Burgoyne led an invasion ...

as the Saratoga National Historical Park. In addition, he obtained navigation and shipping improvements to the Port of Albany–Rensselaer and

, and new post office buildings in Troy and several other nearby communities. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, he supported American involvement in the conflict, including voting for the

Lend-Lease Lend-Lease, formally the Lend-Lease Act and introduced as An Act to Promote the Defense of the United States (), was a policy under which the United States supplied the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and other Allied nations with food, oil, ...

Program, and advocating for greater support from the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

to commercial shipping.

Retirement and death

In retirement, Cluett resided in Troy and

. He died in Troy on February 5, 1954. Cluett was buried at Oakwood Cemetery in Troy.

Family

In October 1899, Cluett married Margaret Robertson Gorham (1877–1943) of

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from South ...

. They were the parents of three sons and three daughters—John, William, Gorham, Margaret (Mrs. Page Chapman), Ann ("Nancy") (Mrs. Nelson M. Burroughs), and Jean. Cluett married Catharine Haven ReQua in 1946; she was the widow of diplomat Stewart Johnson.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cluett, E Harold 1874 births 1954 deaths Politicians from Troy, New York Williams College alumni Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from New York (state) The Albany Academy alumni Burials at Oakwood Cemetery (Troy, New York)