Charles Evans Hughes Sr. (April 11, 1862 – August 27, 1948) was a
lawyer and
Republican politician from the State of New York. He served as
Governor of New York (1907-1910),
United States Secretary of State (1921-1925),
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (1910-1916) and
Chief Justice of the United States (1930-1941). He was the Republican candidate in the
1916 U.S. Presidential election, losing to
Woodrow Wilson.
After attending Madison College (now
Colgate University), Hughes graduated from
Brown University,
Phi Beta Kappa in 1881 and taught school to earn money for law school. He graduated from
Columbia Law School in 1884 and entered law practice. A high-profile case in which he uncovered corruption in the New York State utility industry positioned him to win elected office in 1906; he defeated
William Randolph Hearst to become
Governor of New York. Hughes was offered the
vice-presidential nomination in 1908 by
William Howard Taft but declined. In October 1910, Hughes was appointed by Taft as an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court. Hughes resigned from the Supreme Court on June 16, 1916 to be the Republican candidate for
President of the United States in the
U.S. presidential election, 1916; after losing the election he returned to the practice of law, and he re-entered government service as
United States Secretary of State under President
Harding.
Herbert Hoover, who had appointed Hughes' son as the
Solicitor General in 1929, appointed Hughes as the
Chief Justice of the United States in 1930, in which capacity he served until 1941. On August 27, 1948, Hughes died in
Osterville,
Massachusetts. His
New York City law firm is now known as
Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP.
Early life
Charles Evans Hughes, age 16
Hughes was born in
Glens Falls, New York. In 1859, his family moved to
New York City, where his mother enrolled him in a private school. His great grandfather was a
Methodist preacher from
Buffalo, who became a
Christian following his arrival in Japan, and Charles followed the Christian religion.
Hughes went to Madison University (now
Colgate University) where he became a member of
Delta Upsilon fraternity, then transferred to
Brown University, where he continued as a member of Delta Upsilon and graduated in 1881 at age 19, youngest in his class, receiving second-highest honors. For the next two years he worked at
Stevens Institute Academy in
Davenport, Florida, where he taught the
Japanese language,
Latin, and
Calculus in order to earn money for
law school. He entered
Columbia Law School in 1882, and he graduated in 1884 with highest honors.
In 1885, he met Antoinette Carter, the daughter of a senior partner of the law firm where he worked, and the were married in 1888. They had one son,
Charles Evans Hughes, Jr. and two daughters, one of whom was
Elizabeth Hughes Gossett, one of the first humans injected with insulin, and who later served as president of the
Supreme Court Historical Society.
In 1891, Hughes left the practice of law to become a professor at the
Cornell University Law School, but in 1893 he returned to his old law firm in New York City. At that time, in addition to practicing law he taught at
New York Law School with
Woodrow Wilson. In 1905, he was appointed as counsel to a
New York state legislative committee investigating utility rates. His uncovering of corruption led to lower gas rates in New York City. As a result, he was appointed to investigate the
insurance industry in New York
Governor of New York
Governor Charles Evans Hughes
Hughes served as the
Governor of New York from 1907 to 1910. He defeated
William Randolph Hearst in the
1906 election to gain the position, and he was the only
Republican statewide candidate to win office. In
1908, he was offered the
vice-presidential nomination by
William Howard Taft, but he declined it to run again for Governor.
As Governor, he pushed the passage of the
Moreland Act, which gave him the power as governor to oversee civic officials as well as officials in state bureaucracies. This allowed him to fire many corrupt officials. He also managed to have the powers of the state's Public Service Commissions increased, and he attempted unsuccessfully to have their decisions exempted from judicial review. When two bills were passed to reduce railroad fares, Hughes vetoed them on that grounds that the rates should be set by expert commissioners rather than by elected ones. In his final year as the Governor, he had the state comptroller draw up an executive budget. This began a rationalization of state government and eventually it led to an enhancement of executive authority.
When Hughes left office, a prominent journal remarked "One can distinctly see the coming of a New Statism ... [of which] Gov. Hughes has been a leading prophet and exponent".
In 1909, he led an effort to incorporate Delta Upsilon fraternity. This was the first
fraternity to incorporate, and he served as its first international president.
In 1926, Hughes was appointed by Governor
Alfred E. Smith to be the chairman of a
State Reorganization Commission through which Smith's plan to place the Governor as the head of a rationalized state government, was accomplished, bringing to realization what Hughes himself had envisioned.
Supreme Court
In October 1910, Hughes was appointed as an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court. He wrote for the court in
Bailey v. Alabama , which held that involuntary servitude encompassed more than just
slavery, and
Interstate Commerce Comm. v. Atchison T & SF R Co. , holding that the
Interstate Commerce Commission could regulate intrastate rates if they were significantly intertwined with interstate commerce.
Presidential candidate
Hughes during the
1916 presidential campaign
He resigned from the Supreme Court on June 10, 1916,
[ Accessed December 13, 2007.] to be the Republican candidate for
President in
1916. He was also endorsed by the Progressive Party. Hughes was defeated by
Woodrow Wilson in a close election (separated by 23 electoral votes and 594,188 popular votes). The election hinged on
California, where Wilson managed to win by 3,800 votes and its 13
electoral votes and thus Wilson was returned for a second term.
Hughes returned to private law practice, again at his old firm, Hughes, Rounds, Schurman & Dwight, today known as
Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP.
Secretary of State
Hughes returned to government office in 1921 as
Secretary of State under President
Harding. As Secretary of State, in 1921 he convened the
Washington Naval Conference for the limitation of naval armament among the
Great Powers. He continued in office after Harding died and was succeeded by
Coolidge, but resigned after Coolidge was elected to a full term. In 1922, September 23, he signed the
Hughes - Peynado agreement, that ended the occupation of
Dominican Republic by the
United States (since 1916).
Various appointments
In 1907, Gov. Charles Evans Hughes became the first president of newly formed
Northern Baptist Convention.
After leaving the
State Department, he again rejoined his old partners at the Hughes firm, which included his son and future
United States Solicitor General Charles E. Hughes, Jr., and was one of the nation's most sought-after advocates. From 1925 to 1930, for example, Hughes argued over 50 times before the U.S. Supreme Court. From 1926 to 1930, Hughes also served as a member of the
Permanent Court of Arbitration and as a judge of the
Permanent Court of International Justice in
The Hague,
The Netherlands from 1928 to 1930. He was additionally a delegate to the
Pan American Conference on Arbitration and Conciliation from 1928 to 1930. He was one of the co-founders in 1927 of the National Conference on Christians and Jews, now known as the
National Conference for Community and Justice (NCCJ), along with
S. Parkes Cadman and others, to oppose the
Ku Klux Klan,
anti-Catholicism, and
anti-Semitism in the 1920s and 1930s.
In 1928 conservative business interests tried to interest Hughes in the GOP presidential nomination of 1928 instead of Herbert Hoover. Hughes, citing his age, turned down the offer.
Chief Justice
thumb|Hughes' residence in 1921Herbert Hoover, who had appointed Hughes' son as
Solicitor General in 1929, appointed Hughes
Chief Justice of the United States in 1930, in which capacity he served until 1941. Hughes replaced former President
William Howard Taft, a fellow Republican who had also lost a presidential election to Woodrow Wilson (in 1912).
His appointment was opposed by progressive elements in both parties who felt that he was too friendly to big business. Idaho Republican
William E. Borah said on the
United States Senate floor that confirming Hughes would constitute "placing upon the Court as Chief Justice one whose views are known upon these vital and important questions and whose views, in my opinion, however sincerely entertained, are not which ought to be incorporated in and made a permanent part of our legal and economic system." Nonetheless Hughes was confirmed as Chief Justice with a vote of 52 to 26.
As Chief Justice, he led the fight against
Franklin D. Roosevelt's attempt to
pack the Supreme Court. He wrote the opinion for the Court in
Near v. Minnesota , which held prior restraints against the press are unconstitutional. He was often aligned with Justices
Louis Brandeis,
Harlan Fiske Stone, and
Benjamin Cardozo in finding President Roosevelt's
New Deal measures to be Constitutional. Although he wrote the opinion invalidating the
National Recovery Administration in
Schechter Poultry Corp. v. United States , he wrote the opinions for the Court in
NLRB v. Jones & Laughlin Steel Corp. ,
NLRB v. Friedman-Harry Marks Clothing Co., , and
West Coast Hotel v. Parrish which looked favorably on New Deal measures.
Later life
For many years, he was a member of the
Union League Club of New York and served as its president from 1917 to 1919. The Hughes Room in the club is named for him.
On August 27, 1948, Hughes died in
Osterville,
Massachusetts. He was laid to rest in
Woodlawn Cemetery in Bronx, New York.
Tributes
thumb|[[Charles Evans Hughes House, a
National Historic Landmark]]
- A bust length portrait of Hughes by the Swiss-born American portrait painter Adolfo Müller-Ury (1862-1947) is in the Michigan Historical Museum in Lansing, Michigan. It was accessioned by them in 1939-1940, but probably acquired earlier.
See also
