Martin Withington Clement (December 5, 1881 – August 30, 1966) was the 11th President of the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR), from 1935 to 1948.

Background

Clement was born and raised in

Sunbury, Pennsylvania Sunbury is a city and county seat of Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is located in Central Pennsylvania's Susquehanna Valley on the east bank of the Susquehanna River, just downstream of the confluence of its main and west ...

. He was the son of

Major General Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of ...

Charles M. Clement Charles Maxwell Clement (October 28, 1855 – September 9, 1934) was a Pennsylvania attorney and Army National Guard officer who attained the rank of major general as commander of the 28th Infantry Division. Early life Charles M. Clement was ...

. He attended

Trinity College Trinity College may refer to: Australia * Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales * Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...

in Hartford, Connecticut, graduating in the Class of 1901 with a degree in civil engineering. While there, he was a member of the Fraternity of Delta Psi. Martin W. Clement was a veteran of the

Pennsylvania National Guard The Pennsylvania National Guard is one of the oldest and largest National Guards in the United States Department of Defense. It traces its roots to 1747 when Benjamin Franklin established the Associators in Philadelphia. With more than 18,000 pe ...

’s 12th Regiment.

Career

Clement joined the Pennsylvania Railroad as a rodman for the principal assistant engineer of a ;Pennsylvania Railroad subsidiary. Rising through the railroad's engineering ranks, he assisted in surveying the floor of the

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 ...

during construction of

Pennsylvania Station Pennsylvania Station (often abbreviated Penn Station) is a name applied by the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) to several of its grand passenger terminals. Several are still in active use by Amtrak and other transportation services; others have been ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

in the 1900s. During World War I he was superintendent of transportation to the U.S. Railroad Administration. After

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 ...

, Clement was tapped to become head of the Pennsylvania Railroad's Lake Division in

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

, and steadily rose through the corporate ranks to executive vice-presidency. Clement was formally nominated to the Pennsylvania Railroad's presidency in April 1935. His retiring predecessor was

William Wallace Atterbury William Wallace Atterbury (January 31, 1866 – September 20, 1935) Cited at New Albany Floyd County Public Library. Gale Biography In Context. was a brigadier general in the United States Army during World War I, who began his career with the Pe ...

, in whose capacity Clement had acted since July 1934. Under Clement, operating revenues grew from $368 million in 1935 to a peak of over $1 billion in 1944. One of his great accomplishments was the continuation of

electrification Electrification is the process of powering by electricity and, in many contexts, the introduction of such power by changing over from an earlier power source. The broad meaning of the term, such as in the history of technology, economic histor ...

of the PRR mainlines, begun under General Atterbury, from

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

Washington, DC ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan ...

, and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. He also oversaw the introduction of more streamlined

locomotives A locomotive or engine is a rail transport vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. If a locomotive is capable of carrying a payload, it is usually rather referred to as a multiple unit, motor coach, railcar or power car; the ...

, new and old

passenger cars A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods. The year 1886 is regarded as ...

that were air-conditioned, and the beginning of

dieselization Dieselisation (US: dieselization) is the process of equipping vehicles with a diesel engine or diesel engines. It can involve replacing an internal combustion engine powered by petrol (gasoline) fuel with an engine powered by diesel fuel, as o ...

. By the end of

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 opposing ...

, PRR controlled more than 20 percent of American passenger traffic and 11 percent of freight traffic. On March 16, 1936, he was on the cover of Time magazine. During World War II he was an advisor to the War Department about railroads. Succeeded by Walter S. Franklin in the railroad's presidency, Clement continued to serve as Chairman of the Board until 1951, and as a Pennsylvania Railroad director until 1957.

Personal

Clement retired to his home in Rosemont, Pennsylvania, where he died on August 30, 1966. Two days later, all Pennsylvania Railroad trains systemwide came to a stop for one minute at 3:00 PM

Eastern Time The Eastern Time Zone (ET) is a time zone encompassing part or all of 23 states in the eastern part of the United States, parts of eastern Canada, the state of Quintana Roo in Mexico, Panama, Colombia, mainland Ecuador, Peru, and a small por ...

in his honor. Clement was buried at Church of the Redeemer Cemetery in Bryn Mawr. Annually, the Trinity Chapter of St. Anthony Hall (the Fraternity of Delta Psi), host the Martin Withington Clement Lecture in his honor.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clement, Martin W. 1881 births 1966 deaths People from Philadelphia People from Sunbury, Pennsylvania Trinity College (Connecticut) alumni St. Anthony Hall 20th-century American railroad executives Businesspeople from Philadelphia Pennsylvania Railroad people

Background

Career

Personal

See also

References

External links