William Nuckles Doak (December 12, 1882October 23, 1933) was an American labor leader. He was the Vice-President of the

Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen The Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen (BRT) was a labor organization for railroad employees founded in 1883. Originally called the Brotherhood of Railroad Brakemen, its purpose was to negotiate contracts with railroad management and to provide in ...

and served as Secretary of Labor. He died of cardiovascular disease in

McLean, Virginia McLean ( ) is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Fairfax County in Northern Virginia. McLean is home to many diplomats, military, members of Congress, and high-ranking government officials partially due to its proxi ...

six months after retiring.

Biography

Early life

Doak was born in

Rural Retreat, Virginia Rural Retreat is a town in Wythe County, Virginia, United States. The population was 1,483 at the 2010 census. History The Kimberling Lutheran Cemetery was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980; the Rural Retreat Depot was l ...

, on December 12, 1882, the son of Elizabeth (''née'' Dutton) and Canaro Draton Doak. He attended from Virginia public and business, and was a

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's ...

. Doak married Emma Maria Cricher, on October 15, 1908. Doak served as the Vice-President of the

from 1916 to 1928.

Department of Labor

On December 9, 1930, Doak was appointed by President Hoover to serve as Secretary of Labor, succeeding Senator James J. Davis. He encouraged the passing of the Davis-Bacon Act, which determined the prevailing wage to be paid on a government contract or federally funded construction project.

Mexican repatriation

After President Herbert Hoover appointed Doak as secretary of labor, the

Bureau of Immigration Bureau of Immigration may refer to: *Bureau of Immigration (India) *Bureau of Immigration (Philippines) * Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization (Liberia) *Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforc ...

launched intensive raids to identify immigrants liable for deportation. Doak believed that removal of undocumented workers would reduce relief expenditures and free jobs for native-born citizens during the Great Depression. Though there is no evidence that Doak made any effort to single out any specific ethnic group, this resulted in the targeting of the Mexican community. In 1931, the National Commission on Law Observance and Enforcement, (the Wickersham Commission) found the methods employed by Doak's underlings to be unconstitutional. Doak retired at the end of President Hoover's administration on March 4, 1933. He died of cardiovascular disease in

, on October 23, 1933. He is interred in

Blacklick, Virginia Blacklick is an unincorporated community in Wythe County, Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Ap ...

References

External links