Fred Herbert Brown (April 12, 1879February 3, 1955) was an American lawyer, baseball player, and politician from

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a 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 to the nor ...

. A member of the

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

, Brown was the 59th

governor of New Hampshire The governor of New Hampshire is the head of government of New Hampshire. The governor is elected during the biennial state general election in November of even-numbered years. New Hampshire is one of only two states, along with bordering Verm ...

and a

United States 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 ...

. Brown attended

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native ...

and played for the Boston Beaneaters of

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

’s

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team ...

in 1901 and 1902. He earned a law degree at

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with ...

and went into legal practice after he retired from baseball. Brown was elected

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well ...

Somersworth, New Hampshire Somersworth is a city in Strafford County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 11,855 at the 2020 census. Somersworth has the smallest area and third-lowest population of New Hampshire's 13 cities. History Somersworth, originally ca ...

, and appointed

United States Attorney United States attorneys are officials of the U.S. Department of Justice who serve as the chief federal law enforcement officers in each of the 94 U.S. federal judicial districts. Each U.S. attorney serves as the United States' chief federal ...

for the District of New Hampshire. Brown was elected Governor in 1922, but was defeated for reelection in 1924. After serving on the Public Service Commission, he was elected to the Senate in 1932. He lost his reelection bid in 1938, and served as

Comptroller General of the United States The Comptroller General of the United States is the director of the Government Accountability Office (GAO, formerly known as the General Accounting Office), a legislative-branch agency established by Congress in 1921 to ensure the fiscal and man ...

from 1939 to 1940, when he resigned due to poor health.

Early life

Brown was born on April 12, 1879, to Dana and Nellie Brown in

Ossipee, New Hampshire Ossipee is a town in Carroll County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 4,372 at the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Carroll County. Ossipee, which includes several villages, is a resort area and home to part of Pine River S ...

. He was an only child. Brown attended Dow Academy, and graduated in 1897. He played semi-professional baseball in

, before he enrolled at

. He played

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. In comparison to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a smaller role in developing professional p ...

for the

Dartmouth Big Green The Dartmouth College Big Green are the varsity and club athletic teams representing Dartmouth College, an American university located in Hanover, New Hampshire. Dartmouth's teams compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) ...

team as a

catcher Catcher is a position in baseball and softball. When a batter takes their turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the ( home) umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. In addition to this primary duty, the ca ...

Professional baseball career

Frank Selee Frank Gibson Selee (October 26, 1859 – July 5, 1909) was an American Major League Baseball manager in the National League (NL). In his 16-year Major League career, he managed the Boston Beaneaters (1890–1901) and Chicago Orphans / Cubs (1902 ...

of the Boston Beaneaters, who played in the

, signed Brown before the 1901 season. Brown made his major league debut on May 4, 1901, as a

right fielder A right fielder, abbreviated RF, is the outfielder in baseball or softball who plays defense in right field. Right field is the area of the outfield to the right of a person standing at home plate and facing towards the pitcher's mound. In the ...

. He played in seven games for the Beaneaters in 1901, before he was demoted to the

Providence Grays The Providence Grays were a Major League Baseball team based in Providence, Rhode Island who played in the National League from until . The Grays played at the Messer Street Grounds in the Olneyville neighborhood. The team won the National Leag ...

of the Class A Eastern League. He played in two games for the Beaneaters in 1902, and spent the majority of the 1902 season with Providence. He played nine games for the Beaneaters over the course of those two seasons, seven in the

outfield The outfield, in cricket, baseball and softball is the area of the field of play further from the batsman or batter than the infield. In association football, the outfield players are positioned outside the goal area. In cricket, baseball a ...

batting Batting may refer to: * Batting (baseball), the act of attempting to hit a ball thrown by the pitcher with a baseball bat, in order to score runs * Batting (cricket), the act of defending one's wicket with the cricket bat while attempting to score ...

.200 (4-for-20) and not making an

error An error (from the Latin ''error'', meaning "wandering") is an action which is inaccurate or incorrect. In some usages, an error is synonymous with a mistake. The etymology derives from the Latin term 'errare', meaning 'to stray'. In statistics ...

in 10 chances in the field. In 1903, Brown coached the Dartmouth Big Green, and played for Providence and the

Jersey City Skeeters The Jersey City Skeeters were a minor league baseball team which operated in Jersey City, New Jersey. The club started in the 1860s and by 1870 joined the National Association of Base Ball Players. By 1885, Jersey City had joined the Eastern Lea ...

, also of the Eastern League. He played for the

Haverhill Hustlers The Haverhill Hustlers were a minor league baseball team located in Haverhill, Massachusetts. They played in the New England League The New England League was a mid-level league in American minor league baseball that played intermittently in ...

of the Class B

New England League The New England League was a mid-level league in American minor league baseball that played intermittently in five of the six New England states (Vermont excepted) between 1886 and 1949. After 1901, it existed in the shadow of two Major League B ...

in 1904, and returned to Haverhill in 1905 and 1906. Brown suffered from

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severi ...

early in 1906, and was not at full strength even after he recovered. Haverhill released him during the season. Brown played baseball as a semi-professional in Somersworth in 1907.

Political career

During his baseball career, Brown attended the Boston University School of Law in 1904 and 1905, earning a law degree. He moved to Somersworth in August 1906 to work in law for James A. Edgerly. He entered into a partnership with Edgerly, passed the

bar examination A bar examination is an examination administered by the bar association of a jurisdiction that a lawyer must pass in order to be admitted to the bar of that jurisdiction. Australia Administering bar exams is the responsibility of the bar associ ...

in June 1907, and took over the practice after Edgerly's death. He served as city solicitor for Somersworth from 1908 to 1914. He was a

presidential elector The United States Electoral College is the group of presidential electors required by the Constitution to form every four years for the sole purpose of appointing the president and vice president. Each state and the District of Columbia app ...

in the 1912 election and was elected

of Somersworth in March 1914.

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 ...

Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was an American politician and academic who served as the 28th president of the United States from 1913 to 1921. A member of the Democratic Party, Wilson served as the president of ...

nominated Brown to be the

for the District of New Hampshire in June 1914, and reappointed him in July 1918. Brown resigned in April 1922. Senator Fred H

Brown entered the 1922 election for

Governor of New Hampshire The governor of New Hampshire is the head of government of New Hampshire. The governor is elected during the biennial state general election in November of even-numbered years. New Hampshire is one of only two states, along with bordering Verm ...

. He faced two candidates in the

primary election, and won. He defeated

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

Windsor H. Goodnow in the general election. As governor, he cut spending below the levels estimated by the

New Hampshire Legislature The General Court of New Hampshire is the bicameral state legislature of the U.S. state of New Hampshire. The lower house is the New Hampshire House of Representatives with 400 members. The upper house is the New Hampshire Senate with 24 memb ...

and advocated for tax cuts. Brown was entered into nomination at the

1924 Democratic National Convention The 1924 Democratic National Convention, held at the Madison Square Garden in New York City from June 24 to July 9, 1924, was the longest continuously running convention in United States political history. It took a record 103 ballots to nominat ...

. He ran for reelection as governor in

1924 Events January * January 12 – Gopinath Saha shoots Ernest Day, whom he has mistaken for Sir Charles Tegart, the police commissioner of Calcutta, and is arrested soon after. * January 20– 30 – Kuomintang in China holds ...

, and he was renominated without opposition. He lost the general election to Republican

John Gilbert Winant John Gilbert Winant (February 23, 1889 – November 3, 1947) was an American diplomat and politician with the Republican party after a brief career as a teacher in Concord, New Hampshire. John Winant held positions in New Hampshire, national, an ...

, while Republican Calvin Coolidge carried the state in the 1924 presidential election. After Winant took office in 1925, he nominated Brown for a six-year term on the New Hampshire Public Service Commission. He succeeded Thomas Worthen on the commission on June 1, 1925. In January 1932, Democrats from Strafford County began to recruit Brown to enter the 1932 election for 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 ...

. He ran, facing two candidates in the Democratic primary election, and won. Brown defeated Republican incumbent

George H. Moses George Higgins Moses (February 9, 1869December 20, 1944) was a U.S. diplomat and political figure. He served as a United States senator from New Hampshire and was chosen as the Senate's President pro tempore. Biography George H. Moses was bor ...

in the general election, with the assistance of

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...

's landslide victory in the 1932 presidential election. In the Senate, Brown supported Roosevelt's New Deal, served on the joint committee that investigated the

Tennessee Valley Authority The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is a federally owned electric utility corporation in the United States. TVA's service area covers all of Tennessee, portions of Alabama, Mississippi, and Kentucky, and small areas of Georgia, North Carolin ...

, voted to confirm Hugo Black to the Supreme Court of the United States and chaired the

Senate Commerce Committee The United States Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation is a standing committee of the United States Senate. Besides having broad jurisdiction over all matters concerning interstate commerce, science and technology policy, a ...

's Subcommittee on Communications. Brown was not opposed when he ran for renomination in the 1938 election, but he lost in the general election to Republican Charles W. Tobey. Roosevelt appointed Brown to a 15-year term as

in March 1939, and his nomination was approved in April. As comptroller general, he supported the decision to use marble from Vermont in the construction of the

Jefferson Memorial The Jefferson Memorial is a presidential memorial built in Washington, D.C. between 1939 and 1943 in honor of Thomas Jefferson, the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence, a central intellectual force behind the A ...

and ruled that states could not collect taxes from the federal government. He also approved an $11 million contract ($ in current dollar terms) for cement to use in the construction of the

Shasta Dam Shasta Dam (called Kennett Dam before its construction) is a concrete arch-gravity dam across the Sacramento River in Northern California in the United States. At high, it is the List of tallest dams in the United States, eighth-tallest dam in ...

. Brown suffered a stroke in December 1939, and resigned as Comptroller General due to poor health in June 1940. The next month, Roosevelt nominated Brown to the United States Tariff Commission, and he was confirmed on August 1. He resigned the position in 1941. Brown remained in New Hampshire, where he met with President

Harry S. Truman Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. A leader of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 34th vice president from January to April 1945 under Franklin ...

during his tour through New Hampshire during the 1952 presidential election.

Personal life

Brown married Edna McHarg, who worked as a secretary in the

New Hampshire State House The New Hampshire State House, located in Concord at 107 North Main Street, is the state capitol building of New Hampshire. The capitol houses the New Hampshire General Court, Governor, and Executive Council. The building was constructed on a ...

, in May 1925. They did not have children. Brown died from

cardiac arrest Cardiac arrest is when the heart suddenly and unexpectedly stops beating. It is a medical emergency that, without immediate medical intervention, will result in sudden cardiac death within minutes. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and poss ...

in his home in Somersworth on February 3, 1955.

References

External links