Thomas Watt Gregory (November 6, 1861February 26, 1933) was an American politician and lawyer. He was a progressive and attorney who served as US Attorney General from 1914 to 1919 under US President

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 ...

Early life

Gregory was born in Crawfordsville, Mississippi. He graduated from the

Webb School (Bell Buckle, Tennessee) The Webb School is a private coeducational college preparatory boarding and day school in Bell Buckle, Tennessee, USA, founded in 1870. It has been called the oldest continuously operating boarding school in the South. Under founder Sawney Webb' ...

in 1881 and

Southwestern Presbyterian University Rhodes College is a private liberal arts college in Memphis, Tennessee. Historically affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (USA), it is a member of the Associated Colleges of the South and is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleg ...

, today known as Rhodes College, in 1883, and was a special student at the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United S ...

. Gregory entered the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

in 1884 and graduated a year later with a degree in law. He began the practice of law in

Austin Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...

in 1885 and served as a regent of the University of Texas for eight years.

Gregory Gymnasium Gregory Gymnasium is the 4,000-seat current home of the University of Texas Longhorn women's volleyball team, and former home of the Longhorn basketball and swimming teams. The basketball teams moved out in 1977 to the Erwin Center. It also serve ...

was named in honor of his efforts to provide an adequate exercise facility for the students and faculty of the university. He declined appointment as assistant attorney general of Texas in 1892 and an appointment to the state bench in 1896, but he "gained experience as a trust prosecutor as a special counsel for the state of Texas." He embraced the progressive rhetoric of the early 20th century by his condemnations of "plutocratic power," "predatory wealth," and "the greed of the party spoilsmen" and participated in

Edward M. House Edward Mandell House (July 26, 1858 – March 28, 1938) was an American diplomat, and an adviser to President Woodrow Wilson. He was known as Colonel House, although his rank was honorary and he had performed no military service. He was a highl ...

's Democratic coalition. Gregory was a delegate to the

Democratic National Convention The Democratic National Convention (DNC) is a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years since 1832 by the United States Democratic Party. They have been administered by the Democratic National Committee since the 1852 ...

at St. Louis and at state delegate at-large at the Baltimore convention. He was appointed Special Assistant to the US Attorney General in 1913 in the investigation and proceedings against the

New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad Company The New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad , commonly known as The Consolidated, or simply as the New Haven, was a railroad that operated in the New England region of the United States from 1872 to December 31, 1968. Founded by the merger of ...

Attorney General

In 1914, US President

appointed him US Attorney General, an office that Gregory held until 1919. Despite a continuing commitment to progressive reform, Gregory provoked enormous controversy performance as attorney general because of his collaboration with Postmaster General

Albert S. Burleson Albert Sidney Burleson (June 7, 1863 – November 24, 1937) was a progressive Democrat who served as United States Postmaster General and Representative in Congress. He was a strong supporter of William Jennings Bryan and Woodrow Wilson, so Wil ...

and others in orchestrating a campaign to crush domestic dissent 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 ...

. Gregory helped frame the

Espionage and Sedition Acts The Espionage Act of 1917 is a United States federal law enacted on June 15, 1917, shortly after the United States entered World War I. It has been amended numerous times over the years. It was originally found in Title 50 of the U.S. Code (War ...

, which compromised the constitutional guarantees of freedom of speech and press, and he lobbied for their passage. He encouraged extralegal surveillance by the American Protective League and directed the federal prosecutions of more than 2000 opponents of the war: "By 1918 the Attorney General was able to declare, 'It is safe to say that never in its history has this country been so thoroughly policed.'" In 1916, Wilson wanted to appoint Gregory to the

US Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point of ...

, but Gregory declined the offer because of his impaired hearing, his eagerness to participate in Wilson's re-election campaign, and his belief that he lacked the necessary temperament to be a judge. He was a member of Wilson's

Second Industrial Conference The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds eac ...

in 1919 and 1920.

Death and legacy

During a trip to New York to confer with

Franklin Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...

, Gregory contracted pneumonia and died. He is buried in

. His portrait was painted in 1917 by the Swiss-born American artist Adolfo Müller-Ury (1862–1947) and hangs in the Department of Justice in Washington, DC.

References

External links

Handbook of Texas Online: Thomas W. Gregory
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gregory, Thomas Watt 1861 births 1933 deaths Texas lawyers United States Attorneys General Woodrow Wilson administration cabinet members 20th-century American politicians Webb School (Bell Buckle, Tennessee) alumni People from Austin, Texas People born in the Confederate States