Elliot Hersey Goodwin (January 6, 1874 – February 16, 1931), was the

secretary A secretary, administrative assistant, executive assistant, personal secretary, or other similar titles is an individual whose work consists of supporting management, including executives, using a variety of project management, program evalu ...

of the

United States Chamber of Commerce The United States Chamber of Commerce (USCC) is a business association advocacy group and is the largest lobbying group in the United States. The group was founded in April 1912 out of local chambers of commerce at the urging of President Will ...

, Secretary of the

National Civil Service Reform League The National Civil Service Reform League was a non-profit organization in the United States founded in 1881 for the purpose of investigating the efficiency of the civil service. Among its founders were George William Curtis, chairman of the first Un ...

, and Chairman of

Civil Service Commission A civil service commission (also known as a Public Service Commission) is a government agency or public body that is established by the constitution, or by the legislature, to regulate the employment and working conditions of civil servants, overse ...

Biography

He was born in

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is a suburb in the Greater Boston metropolitan area, located directly across the Charles River from Boston. The city's population as of the 2020 United States census, ...

on January 6, 1874, the son of Hersey Bradford and Ellen Christina (''née'' Hopkinson) Goodwin. After graduating from Browne & Nichols school, he attended

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

where he earned a

Bachelor's A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ( ...

(1895) and

Master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

(1896) in History. He then attended the

Leipzig University Leipzig University (), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 December 1409 by Frederick I, Electo ...

from 1896 to 1898, returned to Harvard as an assistant teacher for a year, then returned to Leipzig to earn his

Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of Postgraduate education, graduate study and original resear ...

in 1900. After working with the National Civil Service Reform League and New York Civil Service Reform Association for two years, he became secretary of the two organizations in 1902. During his time there, in 1910 he lectured courses in municipal government at Harvard. In August 1912, he became general secretary of the United States Chamber of Commerce and moved to

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

On February 19, 1914, he married Isabel Montague Geer. He died on February 16, 1931.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Goodwin, Elliot Hersey 1874 births 1931 deaths Buckingham Browne & Nichols School alumni Harvard College alumni Leipzig University alumni United States Chamber of Commerce people Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni American expatriates in the German Empire