Herbert Spencer Hadley (February 20, 1872 – December 1, 1927) was an American lawyer and a Republican Party politician from

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

. Born in

Olathe, Kansas Olathe ( ) is the county seat of Johnson County, Kansas, United States. It is the fourth-most populous city in both the Kansas City metropolitan area and the state of Kansas, with a 2020 population of 141,290. History 19th century Olathe wa ...

, he was

Missouri Attorney General The Office of the Missouri Attorney General was created in 1806 when Missouri was part of the Louisiana Territory. Missouri's first Constitution in 1820 provided for an appointed attorney general, but since the 1865 Constitution, the Attorney Gen ...

from 1905 to 1909 and in 1908 was elected the 32nd Governor of Missouri, serving one term from 1909 to 1913. As Attorney General, he successfully prosecuted Standard Oil Company for violating Missouri

antitrust law Competition law is the field of law that promotes or seeks to maintain market competition by regulating anti-competitive conduct by companies. Competition law is implemented through public and private enforcement. It is also known as antitrust ...

. Entering the 1912 Republican convention, the Roosevelt and Taft forces seemed evenly matched, and a compromise candidate seemed possible. President Taft was willing to compromise with Hadley as presidential nominee; TR said no.

Early life and family

Herbert Spencer Hadley was born on February 20, 1872, in

. He was the son of Major John Milton Hadley and Harriet Beach Jones Hadley. He attended the

University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States, and several satellite campuses, research and educational centers, medical centers, and classes across the state of Kansas. T ...

, where he was a member of

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fraternity and received a

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 year ...

in 1892. He earned his law degree from

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

with first honors in 1894. While at Northwestern, he helped establish the

Northwestern University Law Review The ''Northwestern University Law Review'' is a law review and student organization at Northwestern University School of Law. The ''Law Review''s primary purpose is to publish a journal of broad legal scholarship. The ''Law Review'' publishes s ...

. In 1891 and 1894, Hadley won first prize in Missouri's oratorical contest. On October 8, 1901, Hadley married Agnes Lee. Their children were John Milton, Henrietta, and Herbert Spencer.

Career

Hadley practiced law in Kansas City, Missouri. His first public office as Kansas City assistant city counselor began in 1898. He was the prosecuting attorney for Jackson County, Missouri from 1901 to 1903. In this position, Hadley developed a reputation for vigorous prosecution, including an investigation of jury tampering in the civil courts and a campaign against public gambling. Although he was not re-elected as prosecuting attorney, Hadley was elected as attorney general for Missouri and served in that capacity from 1905 to 1909. As attorney general, he prosecuted successful cases against Standard Oil Company, railroads, several trusts, and St. Louis racetrack gamblers. During his term as attorney general, Hadley was the highest-ranking elected Republican official in Missouri. This, combined with Hadley's success with the Standard Oil Company suit and his record for reform, contributed to his 1908 election as governor of Missouri. His administration enacted penal reform, expanded safety and public health regulations, and established a nurse examiners' board, a fish and game commission, a game protection board, and a Missouri waterways commission. Many of Hadley's recommendations for change in other government sectors, such as revenue and public service, were not supported by the

Missouri General Assembly The Missouri General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Missouri. The bicameral General Assembly is composed of a 34-member Senate and a 163-member House of Representatives. Members of both houses of the General Assembly are ...

. In 1912, Hadley served as floor leader for Theodore Roosevelt's wing of the Republican Party at the

1912 Republican National Convention The 1912 Republican National Convention was held at the Chicago Coliseum, Chicago, Illinois, from June 18 to June 22, 1912. The party nominated President William H. Taft and Vice President James S. Sherman for re-election for the 1912 Unit ...

. After the death of Vice President James S. Sherman in October 1912, President

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 ...

strongly considered naming Hadley as Sherman's replacement on the 1912 Republican ticket, but Taft ultimately did not select a replacement before the election was held. Following his gubernatorial term, Hadley resumed his law practice and worked on a federal railroad valuation project. In 1917, he moved to Colorado for health reasons and was professor of law at the

University of Colorado The University of Colorado (CU) is a system of public universities in Colorado. It consists of four institutions: University of Colorado Boulder, University of Colorado Colorado Springs, University of Colorado Denver, and the University o ...

through 1923.

Washington University

Hadley became the seventh Chancellor of

Washington University in St. Louis Washington University in St. Louis (WashU or WUSTL) is a private research university with its main campus in St. Louis County, and Clayton, Missouri. Founded in 1853, the university is named after George Washington. Washington University is r ...

in 1923. He was recruited for the position by Robert S. Brookings who helped establish the Graduate School of Economics and Government, which became part of the

Brookings Institution The Brookings Institution, often stylized as simply Brookings, is an American research group founded in 1916. Located on Think Tank Row in Washington, D.C., the organization conducts research and education in the social sciences, primarily in e ...

in 1927. During his four years as chancellor, the University also founded the George Warren Brown Department of Social Work, which later became its own school within the university and one of the top-ranked social-work programs in the United States. As a law professor, he authored ''Rome and the World Today'' (Putnam, 1922).

Advocacy and death

Throughout his later years, Hadley was an advocate of legal reform and participated in reform initiatives of the

American Bar Association The American Bar Association (ABA) is a voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students, which is not specific to any jurisdiction in the United States. Founded in 1878, the ABA's most important stated activities are the setting of aca ...

, American Law Institute, and National Crime Commission. He was one of the authors of the ''Missouri Crime Survey'', which recommended and successfully led to the intermediate reformatories and parole boards as part of Missouri's penal system. Hadley was the recipient of honorary degrees from Northwestern University (1909), the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou, MU, or Missouri) is a public land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus University of Missouri System. MU was founded in ...

(1910), and

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

(1925). He died in 1927 of heart disease in St Louis, Missouri, and is buried at the Riverview Cemetery in Jefferson City, Missouri.

Sources

* "Herbert Spencer Hadley
"Dictionary of American Biography Base Set. American Council of Learned Societies, 1928–1936"
Reproduced in History Resource Center. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale Group.

External links