William E. Chandler
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William Eaton Chandler (December 28, 1835November 30, 1917), also known as Bill Chandler, was a lawyer who served as
United States Secretary of the Navy The secretary of the Navy (or SECNAV) is a statutory officer () and the head (chief executive officer) of the United States Department of the Navy, Department of the Navy, a military department (component organization) within the United States D ...
and as a
U.S. Senator 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 powe ...
from
New Hampshire New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...
. In the 1880s, he was a member of the Republican " Half-Breed" faction,Weisberger, Bernard A
James A. Garfield and Chester A. Arthur
''Encyclopedia.com''. Retrieved March 4, 2022.
the wing of the party which advocated civil service reform. His credentials were established as moderate in comparison to most of the Republican Party, particularly in his opposition towards
sound money In macroeconomics, hard currency, safe-haven currency, or strong currency is any globally traded currency that serves as a reliable and stable store of value. Factors contributing to a currency's ''hard'' status might include the stability and r ...
.Guide to the William E. Chandler Papers, 1820-1917
''New Hampshire Historical Society''. Retrieved March 4, 2022.
Chandler, who continued to advocate civil rights following the end of
Reconstruction Reconstruction may refer to: Politics, history, and sociology *Reconstruction (law), the transfer of a company's (or several companies') business to a new company *''Perestroika'' (Russian for "reconstruction"), a late 20th century Soviet Union ...
, criticized the policies of President Rutherford B. Hayes, whose actions pertaining to the South he viewed as too lenient. Chandler started the U.S. Naval resurgence and the precedent of the U.S. Navy being constructed with modern steel ships.


Early life

William E. Chandler was born in
Concord, New Hampshire Concord () is the capital city of the U.S. state of New Hampshire and the seat of Merrimack County. As of the 2020 census the population was 43,976, making it the third largest city in New Hampshire behind Manchester and Nashua. The village of ...
to Nathan S. Chandler and Mary Ann (Tucker) Chandler. William's elder brother, John Chandler, was a successful East India merchant, and his younger brother George Chandler, an attorney who served as a major during the Civil War.John Badger Clarke
''Sketches of successful New Hampshire men...''
(J.B. Clarke, 1882) pp. 261-265
William Chandler attended the common schools, Thetford Academy and
Pembroke Academy Pembroke Academy is a public secondary school in Pembroke, New Hampshire. History Pembroke Academy was incorporated on June 25, 1818, as a private school, and on May 25, 1819, the first building was dedicated. The academy opened with 48 students o ...
before attending
Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each class ...
, where he began a romantic correspondence with Lucy Lambert Hale, daughter of Senator
John Parker Hale John Parker Hale (March 31, 1806November 19, 1873) was an American politician and lawyer from New Hampshire. He served in the United States House of Representatives from 1843 to 1845 and in the United States Senate from 1847 to 1853 and again fro ...
. He graduated in 1854, was admitted to the bar in 1855, and commenced practice in Concord. In 1859 Chandler married Ann Gilmore, the daughter of Governor Joseph A. Gilmore. In 1874, after his first wife's death, Chandler resumed his romance with Lucy Hale, who had been secretly betrothed in 1865 to John Wilkes Booth,
Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...
's assassin. Chandler and Hale were married in 1874, and in March 1875, their only son, John Parker Hall Chandler, was born.


Political career

In 1859, Chandler was appointed reporter of the decisions of the
Supreme Court of New Hampshire The New Hampshire Supreme Court is the supreme court of the U. S. state of New Hampshire and sole appellate court of the state. The Supreme Court is seated in the state capital, Concord. The Court is composed of a Chief Justice and four Associate ...
. He then served in the
New Hampshire House of Representatives The New Hampshire House of Representatives is the lower house in the New Hampshire General Court, the bicameral legislature of the state of New Hampshire. The House of Representatives consists of 400 members coming from 204 legislative district ...
from 1862 to 1864 and was the Speaker during the last two years. In 1865, Chandler was appointed by
President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...
Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...
solicitor A solicitor is a legal practitioner who traditionally deals with most of the legal matters in some jurisdictions. A person must have legally-defined qualifications, which vary from one jurisdiction to another, to be described as a solicitor and ...
and judge advocate general of the
Navy Department Navy Department or Department of the Navy may refer to: * United States Department of the Navy, * Navy Department (Ministry of Defence), in the United Kingdom, 1964-1997 * Confederate States Department of the Navy, 1861-1865 * Department of the Na ...
. Subsequently, he was appointed First Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, until he resigned in 1867. During Chandler's tenure as First Assistant, referendums for black suffrage in most states failed, and he explained to a Radical Republican that President
Andrew Johnson Andrew Johnson (December 29, 1808July 31, 1875) was the 17th president of the United States, serving from 1865 to 1869. He assumed the presidency as he was vice president at the time of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Johnson was a Dem ...
believed the Republicans: Like most Republicans, Chandler advocated suffrage for blacks. However, he broke from the party's loyalists in his opposition to the perceived influence of trusts and railroad interests. Chandler also opposed the
gold standard A gold standard is a monetary system in which the standard economic unit of account is based on a fixed quantity of gold. The gold standard was the basis for the international monetary system from the 1870s to the early 1920s, and from the la ...
. Among intraparty disputes on civil rights between the Radical and " Conservative" factions, Chandler stated: During Reconstruction, Chandler expressed pessimism about Republican efforts to safeguard Southern blacks from Democratic terrorism, viewing a demise of military protection as inevitable. As chairman of the
Republican National Committee The Republican National Committee (RNC) is a U.S. political committee that assists the Republican Party of the United States. It is responsible for developing and promoting the Republican brand and political platform, as well as assisting in fu ...
, he wrote: On April 2, 1868, Chandler
testified In law and in religion, testimony is a solemn attestation as to the truth of a matter. Etymology The words "testimony" and "testify" both derive from the Latin word ''testis'', referring to the notion of a disinterested third-party witness. La ...
in the impeachment trial of President
Andrew Johnson Andrew Johnson (December 29, 1808July 31, 1875) was the 17th president of the United States, serving from 1865 to 1869. He assumed the presidency as he was vice president at the time of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Johnson was a Dem ...
, having been called as a
witness In law, a witness is someone who has knowledge about a matter, whether they have sensed it or are testifying on another witnesses' behalf. In law a witness is someone who, either voluntarily or under compulsion, provides testimonial evidence, e ...
by the prosecution. Amidst controversies that ensued in the wake of the
1876 United States presidential election The 1876 United States presidential election was the 23rd quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 7, 1876, in which Republican nominee Rutherford B. Hayes faced Democrat Samuel J. Tilden. It was one of the most contentious ...
, Chandler aided Republican efforts to ensure an ultimate victory for Rutherford B. Hayes over
Samuel J. Tilden Samuel Jones Tilden (February 9, 1814 – August 4, 1886) was an American politician who served as the 25th Governor of New York and was the Democratic candidate for president in the disputed 1876 United States presidential election. Tilden was ...
. In the state of Florida, the Tallahassee canvassing board tossed out 1,500 Democratic votes under the urging of Chandler, who believed the results tainted by Democratic election fraud and voter suppression, to "manufacture a Hayes victory." Chandler returned to New Hampshire and became a newspaper publisher and editor during the 1870s and 1880s. Continuing in politics, he was a member of the State constitutional convention in 1876 and a member of the State house of representatives in 1881.


Secretary of Navy

Chandler, a Half-Breed and ally of
James G. Blaine James Gillespie Blaine (January 31, 1830January 27, 1893) was an American statesman and Republican politician who represented Maine in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1863 to 1876, serving as Speaker of the U.S. House of Representative ...
, was appointed by President
Chester A. Arthur Chester Alan Arthur (October 5, 1829 – November 18, 1886) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 21st president of the United States from 1881 to 1885. He previously served as the 20th vice president under President James A ...
as Secretary of the Navy in 1882. He took charge in 1883 in planning for the rescue of Lt. Adolphus Greely's Lady Franklin Bay Expedition. Chandler served until 1885. Chandler also began U.S. naval resurgence modernizing the navy with the production of steel ships.


U.S. Naval resurgence

Chandler took office during the momentous turning point of the U.S. Navy. Both President Arthur, in his 1881 annual address, and Chandler, in his 1882 annual report, believed that the U.S. Navy, as a premier fighting force, was extinct. In fact, the U.S. Navy's top warship was the ''USS Tennessee'', a wooden vessel that weighed 4,840 tons. The U.S. had refrained from modernizing its navy, as other nations had done. By contrast, the British Navy had laid down the first all-steel warship the HMS ''Iris'' in 1875. On August 5, 1882, during Chandler's first year of office, Congress authorized the building of two modern steel cruizers. On March 3, 1883, Congress authorized the funding for these vessels and for two more steel vessels. Under Chandler's direction plans were drawn up and keels laid for the ''USS Chicago'', ''USS Boston'', ''USS Atlanta'', and the despatch ship ''USS Dophin'', collectively known as the ''ABCDs''. The warships were to be constructed by the John Roach Company. The new ships and their armament were to be built in the United States at a pace that American resources could supply, rather than be built by a foreign country. However, several years elapsed before shipyards and foundries would be ready to construct cruizers and battleships. One ship, the ''USS Chicago'', was still built with antiquated boilers over brick furnaces and furnished with sailing equipment, in addition to steam power. Although Chandler was charged with favoritism in the construction of the ''USS Dolphin'', he established the precedent for a modern navy made of steel ships.


Greely polar expedition rescue (1884)

By 1883, the ill-fated crew of the U.S. Army 1881 Greely polar expedition was stranded at
Fort Conger Fort Conger is a former settlement, military fortification, and scientific research post in the Qikiqtaaluk Region, Nunavut, Canada. It was established in 1881 as an Arctic exploration camp, notable as the site of the first major northern polar r ...
on Lady Franklin Bay. In August 1881, the crew arrived at Lady Franklin Bay on the private whaling ship the ''Proteus'' without incident. However, after the ''Proteus'' dropped off the men and provisions, the ship immediately departed and left the expedition to fend for themselves. Two U.S. supply efforts, in 1882 and 1883, to reach the Greely party, ended in dismal failure. The first, on July 8, 1882, led by William Beebe, on the private steamship ''Neptune'', left St. John's, but was trapped by ice and forced to turn around. On June 29, 1883, the second left St. John's, with two ships, the ''Proteus'', commanded by First Lieutenant Ernest Garlington, U.S. 7th Calvary, and the steam gunboat USS ''Yantic''. The ''Proteus'' was crushed by an ice pack, whose stranded crew was rescued by the USS ''Yantic''. Afterward, no attempt was made to rescue Greely and the crew at Fort Conger. On September 1, 1883, with no relief in sight, Greely and his party left the safety of Fort Conger on small boats, and made a permanent camp, Fort Clay, at Cape Sabine, on
Pim Island Pim Island (previously Bedford Pim Island) is located off the eastern coast of Ellesmere Island, part of the Qikiqtaaluk Region of the Canadian territory of Nunavut. Located within the Arctic Archipelago, it is a part of the Queen Elizabeth ...
, off the eastern shores of the Johan Peninsula,
Ellesmere Island Ellesmere Island ( iu, script=Latn, Umingmak Nuna, lit=land of muskoxen; french: île d'Ellesmere) is Canada's northernmost and List of Canadian islands by area, third largest island, and the List of islands by area, tenth largest in the world. ...
, where rations had been placed by the British a few years earlier. However, an attempt to retrieve the vital food cache over a long distance by two of Greely's men failed. In December 17, 1883, President Arthur established a joint Army-Navy commission to make recommendations to Secretary of War Lincoln and Secretary of Navy Chandler on how to rescue the Greely party. Secretary Lincoln had no interest in participating in the Greely rescue. Chandler, however, was determined to accomplish a successful rescue of Greely and to restore the honor of the U.S. Navy. Chandler assigned Commander
Winfield Schley Winfield Scott Schley (9 October 1839 – 2 October 1911) was a rear admiral in the United States Navy and the hero of the Battle of Santiago de Cuba during the Spanish–American War. Biography Early life Born at "Richfields" (his father's fa ...
to command the 1884 Greely Relief Mission. Chandler spared no expense in the rescue effort and had purchased one of the finest sealers afloat, the USS ''Bear'', from Scottish owner Walter Grieve, for $100,000. This was done without authority, prior to the passage of the Greely relief bill. Chandler vigorously demanded that all of his subordinates in the Naval Department be committed to the relief of the Greely expedition and he drew support from Navy officers. On July 17, 1884, after rescuing the Greely party, Schey arrived at Saint John's, New Foundland and telegraphed to Chandler that the rescue operation was successful. Of the seven rescued, Joseph Elison died on July 8th following multiple amputations. Evidence suggested that the men had survived through
cannibalism Cannibalism is the act of consuming another individual of the same species as food. Cannibalism is a common ecological interaction in the animal kingdom and has been recorded in more than 1,500 species. Human cannibalism is well documented, b ...
.


U.S. Senator (New Hampshire)

As a Republican, he was elected to 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 ...
to fill the vacancy caused by the death of
Austin F. Pike Austin Franklin Pike (October 16, 1819October 8, 1886) was a United States representative and Senator from New Hampshire. Born in Hebron, New Hampshire, he pursued an academic course, studied law, and was admitted to the bar of Merrimack Count ...
and served from June 14, 1887, to March 3, 1889. Subsequently, elected for the term beginning March 4, 1889, he was reelected in 1895 and served from June 18, 1889, to March 3, 1901. He was an unsuccessful candidate for renomination. He served as chairman of the Committee on Immigration (Fifty-first and Fifty-second Congresses), Committee on Census (Fifty-fourth Congress), and Committee on Privileges and Elections (Fifty-fifth and Fifty-sixth Congresses). In 1892, Chandler proposed a one-year ban on immigration, to keep out "undesirables," which included cholera carriers, Anarchists, nihilists, polygamists, Mafia members, illiterates, "blind or crippled" persons, "persons without means," etc. Among the solutions Chandler proposed for addressing the "evils which have been made apparent by the vast increase, within recent years, of degraded immigrants from Italy, Turkey, Hungary, Poland and Russia proper" were the addition of an educational requirement and property qualification for all persons or families seeking to emigrate to the United States. The strongest opponents of the bill were the steamship companies, who stood to lose a major portion of their business. A watered-down version of The Chandler Immigration and Contract Labor Bill became law on March 3, 1893. It simply required steamship companies to prepare lists of their passengers containing full information, and thus very likely served as a compromise to get the steamship companies to back down on Immigration Reform at this time. In 1900, he was one of only two Republicans and the only Senator from the Northeast to vote against the
Gold Standard Act The Gold Standard Act was an Law_of_the_United_States#Federal_law, Act of the United States Congress, signed by President William McKinley and effective on March 14, 1900, defining the United States dollar by gold weight and requiring the United ...
.


Later (20th Century)

Chandler was appointed by President
William McKinley William McKinley (January 29, 1843September 14, 1901) was the 25th president of the United States, serving from 1897 until his assassination in 1901. As a politician he led a realignment that made his Republican Party largely dominant in ...
to the Spanish Treaty Claims Commission in 1901. He was the president of the Commission from its inception until 1907 when its work was nearly complete. In 1907, Chandler served as the lead counsel during the Next Friends Suit, a legal challenge over the estate of Mary Baker Eddy, the leader of the Christian Science church. The trial was headline news across the country. Leaving public office, Chandler resumed the practice of law in Concord and
Washington, D.C. ) , 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, ...


Death and burial

He died at Concord in 1917 and was buried in Blossom Hill Cemetery in Concord.


Legacy

USS ''Chandler'' (DD-206) was named for him. Chandler's grandson Theodore E. Chandler joined the U.S. Navy in 1911 while his grandparents were both still alive, and later distinguished himself as a rear admiral in
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 ...
. While aboard the cruiser USS ''Louisville'', he was killed in action by a Japanese
kamikaze , officially , were a part of the Japanese Special Attack Units of military aviators who flew suicide attacks for the Empire of Japan against Allied naval vessels in the closing stages of the Pacific campaign of World War II, intending to d ...
aircraft during the Battle of Lingayen Gulf in January 1945.


References


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External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Chandler, William E. 1835 births 1917 deaths Activists for African-American civil rights United States Secretaries of the Navy Harvard Law School alumni Politicians from Concord, New Hampshire New Hampshire lawyers Republican Party United States senators from New Hampshire Speakers of the New Hampshire House of Representatives Republican Party members of the New Hampshire House of Representatives Arthur administration cabinet members 19th-century American politicians Thetford Academy, Vermont alumni Half-Breeds (Republican Party) Testifying witnesses of the impeachment trial of Andrew Johnson