Charles W. Tobey
Charles William Tobey | |
---|---|
Foster W. Stearns | |
Member of the New Hampshire House of Representatives | |
Personal details | |
Born | Roxbury, Massachusetts | July 22, 1880
Died | July 24, 1953 Bethesda, Maryland | (aged 73)
Political party | Republican |
Spouse(s) | Francelia Lovett (desc.) Loretta Capell Rabenhorst (desc.) Lillian Crompton |
Charles William Tobey (July 22, 1880 – July 24, 1953) was an American politician, who was the 62nd governor of New Hampshire from 1929 to 1931, and a United States senator.
Early life
He was born in
On June 4, 1902, Tobey married Francelia Lovett. A year later they began to spend summers in Temple, New Hampshire, on an old farm that they had purchased.
Career
For several years Tobey commuted during the summers to Boston, where he worked as a clerk for various insurance and banking firms. In 1911, however, he decided to move to Temple and become a full-time farmer. He was a good poultryman and considered himself a farmer for the remainder of his life, although in 1916 he moved to Manchester, New Hampshire, to resume a career as a bond salesman. His four children were born in Temple, which Tobey always maintained as his legal residence.
Tobey served on the Temple school board and the board of selectmen. In 1914 he was elected to the
Tobey's experience in the bonding business as well as his general reputation and political contacts led to his selection as New Hampshire Liberty Loan chairman during World War I. Later, as a member of the New Hampshire Food Administration, he came to know Herbert Hoover, who, together with Bass and Charles Evans Hughes, greatly influenced Tobey's political beliefs.
In 1924 Tobey was elected to the New Hampshire Senate, and he served as president of that body during the administration of progressive governor John Gilbert Winant. In 1928, despite opposition in the primary from the old guard, led by George Moses, Tobey won the governorship. During the first two years of the Great Depression, he retained a progressive approach to government operation and continued the state road-building program. But Tobey resembled President Hoover in his budget-tightening approach to economic disaster.
Tobey did not run for re-election in 1930, in part because of personal financial problems. In 1932, however, he won a seat in the United States House of Representatives and was re-elected in 1934 and 1936. Tobey supported early New Deal relief measures, but became an increasingly outspoken foe of Franklin D. Roosevelt. He opposed efforts to restructure the economy, and he expressed great concern over the growth of executive power. In 1938 he joined Styles Bridges, another Bass protégé and the manager of Tobey's 1928 gubernatorial victory, in the United States Senate.
Tobey joined with the
After the
Tobey joined with Wayne Morse and George Aiken in opposing Robert A. Taft's leadership of the Senate Republicans and supporting President Harry S. Truman on several important votes during the 80th Congress. The illness and death of his wife in 1947 restricted his role in the Marshall Plan debate, but by then he had clearly become an advocate of interdependence. On May 26, 1948, Tobey married Loretta Capell Rabenhorst. After his second wife's death, he married Lillian Crompton in 1952.
The same year Tobey supported the presidential election of
Tobey's politics were variously described as liberal, conservative, and progressive. None of these terms is quite adequate. A quiet, non-aggressive nationalism and an unwavering belief in the dignity of the individual capped his values. But his views altered with changing contexts, new definitions of governmental responsibility, and new understanding of the international role of the United States. He was not always on the side of the majority. A New York Times obituary noted that his "independence and sharp tongue made him one of the more colorful figures in American public life."
See also
- List of United States Congress members who died in office (1950–99)
References
- "Charles William Tobey". Dictionary of American Biography, Supplement 5: 1951-1955. American Council of Learned Societies, 1977.