Philander Chase Knox (May 6, 1853October 12, 1921) was an American

lawyer A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solicit ...

, bank director and

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, ...

. A member of the

Republican Party Republican Party is a name used by many political parties around the world, though the term most commonly refers to the United States' Republican Party. Republican Party may also refer to: Africa * Republican Party (Liberia) *Republican Party ...

, Knox served in the

Cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filin ...

of three different presidents and represented

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

in 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 po ...

. Born in

Brownsville, Pennsylvania Brownsville is a borough in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, United States, first settled in 1785 as the site of a trading post a few years after the defeat of the Iroquois enabled a post-Revolutionary war resumption of westward migration. The Tradin ...

, Knox became a prominent attorney in

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

, forming the law firm of Knox and Reed. With the industrialists

Henry Clay Frick Henry Clay Frick (December 19, 1849 – December 2, 1919) was an American industrialist, financier, and art patron. He founded the H. C. Frick & Company coke manufacturing company, was chairman of the Carnegie Steel Company, and played a maj ...

and

Andrew Mellon Andrew William Mellon (; March 24, 1855 – August 26, 1937), sometimes A. W. Mellon, was an American banker, businessman, industrialist, philanthropist, art collector, and politician. From the wealthy Mellon family of Pittsburgh, Pennsylv ...

, Knox also served as a director of the Pittsburgh National Bank of Commerce. In early 1901, he accepted appointment as

United States Attorney General The United States attorney general (AG) is the head of the United States Department of Justice, and is the chief law enforcement officer of the federal government of the United States. The attorney general serves as the principal advisor to the p ...

. Knox served under President

William McKinley William McKinley (January 29, 1843September 14, 1901) was the 25th president of the United States, serving from 1897 until his assassination in 1901. As a politician he led a realignment that made his Republican Party largely dominant in t ...

until McKinley was assassinated in September 1901, and Knox continued to serve under President

Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...

until 1904, when he resigned to accept appointment to the Senate. Knox won re-election to the Senate in 1905 and unsuccessfully sought the 1908 Republican presidential nomination. In 1909, President

William Howard Taft William Howard Taft (September 15, 1857March 8, 1930) was the 27th president of the United States (1909–1913) and the tenth chief justice of the United States (1921–1930), the only person to have held both offices. Taft was elected pr ...

appointed Knox to the position of

United States Secretary of State The United States secretary of state is a member of the executive branch of the federal government of the United States and the head of the U.S. Department of State. The office holder is one of the highest ranking members of the president's Ca ...

. From that post, Knox reorganized the State Department and pursued dollar diplomacy, which focused on encouraging and protecting U.S. investments abroad. Knox returned to private practice in 1913 after Taft lost re-election. He won election to the Senate in 1916 and played a role in the Senate's rejection of the

Treaty of Versailles The Treaty of Versailles (french: Traité de Versailles; german: Versailler Vertrag, ) was the most important of the peace treaties of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June 1 ...

. Knox was widely seen as a potential compromise candidate at the

1920 Republican National Convention The 1920 Republican National Convention nominated Ohio Senator Warren G. Harding for president and Massachusetts Governor Calvin Coolidge for vice president. The convention was held in Chicago, Illinois, at the Chicago Coliseum from June 8 to ...

, but the party's presidential nomination instead went to Warren G. Harding. While still serving in the Senate, Knox died in October 1921.

Early life, education, and marriage

Philander Chase Knox was born in

, one of nine children of Rebecca (née Page) and David S. Knox, a banker. He was named after the Episcopal Bishop Philander Chase. He attended public school in Brownsville, graduating at the age of 15. He attended

West Virginia University West Virginia University (WVU) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Morgantown, West Virginia. Its other campuses are those of the West Virginia University Institute of Technology in Beckley, Potomac State Coll ...

for a time, and then

Mount Union College The University of Mount Union is a private university in Alliance, Ohio. Founded in 1846, the university was affiliated with the Methodist Church until the spring of 2019. In the fall of 2020, Mount Union had an enrollment of 1,958 undergraduate ...

, where he graduated in 1872 with a bachelor of arts degree. While there, he formed a lifelong friendship with

, the future U.S. president, who at the time was a local district attorney. Knox then returned to Brownsville, and was occupied for a short while as a printer at the local newspaper, then as a clerk at the bank where his recently deceased father had worked. Soon he left for Pittsburgh, and studied law while working at the law offices of H. R. Swope & David Reed in Pittsburgh.

Marriage and family

In 1880, Knox married Lillian "Lillie" Smith, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Darsie Smith. Her father was a partner in a steel company known as Smith, Sutton and Co. The company eventually became a part of Crucible Steel. Knox and his wife had several children, including Hugh Knox. His extended relatives include a nephew, "Billy" Knox.

Legal career

Knox was admitted to the bar in 1875 and practiced in Pittsburgh. From 1876 to 1877, he was Assistant United States Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania. Knox became a leading Pittsburgh attorney in partnership with James Hay Reed, their firm being Knox and Reed (now

Reed Smith LLP Reed Smith LLP is a global law firm headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with more than 1,500 lawyers in 30 offices throughout the United States, Europe, the Middle East and Asia. History Reed Smith was founded in Pittsburgh in 187 ...

). In 1897 Knox became President of the

Pennsylvania Bar Association The Pennsylvania Bar Association (PBA) is a voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students in Pennsylvania, United States. The association offers membership benefits, including publications, practice support, networking, and continuing ...

. Along with Jesse H. Lippencott, a fellow member of an elite hunting club (see South Fork below), Knox served as a director of the Fifth National Bank of Pittsburgh. With

and

, he was a director of the Pittsburgh National Bank of Commerce. As counsel for the

Carnegie Steel Company Carnegie Steel Company was a steel-producing company primarily created by Andrew Carnegie and several close associates to manage businesses at steel mills in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area in the late 19th century. The company was form ...

, Knox took a prominent part in organizing the

United States Steel Corporation United States Steel Corporation, more commonly known as U.S. Steel, is an American integrated steel producer headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with production operations primarily in the United States of America and in several countries ...

in 1901.

Johnstown Flood

Knox was a member of the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club, which had a clubhouse upriver of

Johnstown, Pennsylvania Johnstown is a city in Cambria County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 18,411 as of the 2020 census. Located east of Pittsburgh, Johnstown is the principal city of the Johnstown, Pennsylvania, Metropolitan Statistical Area, whi ...

. It maintained an earthen dam for a lake by the club, which was stocked for fishing. The dam failed in May 1889, causing the

Johnstown Flood The Johnstown Flood (locally, the Great Flood of 1889) occurred on Friday, May 31, 1889, after the catastrophic failure of the South Fork Dam, located on the south fork of the Little Conemaugh River, upstream of the town of Johnstown, Pennsylv ...

and severe losses of life and property downriver. When word of the dam's failure was telegraphed to Pittsburgh, Frick and other members of the South Fork Club gathered to form the Pittsburgh Relief Committee for assistance to the flood victims. As its attorneys; Knox and his law partner Reed were able to fend off four lawsuits against the club; Colonel Unger, its president; and against 50 named members. The cases were "either settled or discontinued and, as far as is known, no one bringing action profited thereby." The club was never held legally responsible for the disaster. Knox and Reed successfully argued that the dam's failure was a natural disaster which was an

Act of God In legal usage in the English-speaking world, an act of God is a natural hazard outside human control, such as an earthquake or tsunami, for which no person can be held responsible. An act of God may amount to an exception to liability in co ...

, and no legal compensation was paid to the survivors of the flood. The perceived injustice aided the acceptance of “

strict In mathematical writing, the term strict refers to the property of excluding equality and equivalence and often occurs in the context of inequality and monotonic functions. It is often attached to a technical term to indicate that the exclusive ...

, joint, and several liability,” so that a “non-negligent defendant could be held liable for damage caused by the unnatural use of land.

Political career

U.S. Attorney General

In 1901, Knox was appointed as

US Attorney General The United States attorney general (AG) is the head of the United States Department of Justice, and is the chief law enforcement officer of the federal government of the United States. The attorney general serves as the principal advisor to the p ...

by President

and was re-appointed by President

. He served until 1904. While serving President Roosevelt, Knox worked hard to implement the concept of Dollar Diplomacy. He told President Roosevelt: "I think, it would be better to keep your action free from any taint of legality," made in regard to the construction of the

Panama Canal The Panama Canal ( es, Canal de Panamá, link=no) is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean and divides North and South America. The canal cuts across the Isthmus of Panama and is a condui ...

U.S. Senator

In June 1904, Knox was appointed by

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

Samuel W. Pennypacker Samuel Whitaker Pennypacker (April 9, 1843 – September 2, 1916) was an American politician serving as the 23rd Governor of Pennsylvania from 1903 to 1907. He also served Pennsylvania as a judge and wrote about aspects of Pennsylvania history ...

to fill the unexpired term of the late Matthew S. Quay in the

. In 1905, he was

elected Elected may refer to: * "Elected" (song), by Alice Cooper, 1973 * ''Elected'' (EP), by Ayreon, 2008 *The Elected, an American indie rock band See also *Election An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population ...

by the state legislature to fill the remainder of the full term for the US Senate seat (to 1909). Knox made an unsuccessful bid for the

nomination in the 1908 U.S. presidential election.

U.S. Secretary of State

In February 1909, President-elect

nominated Senator Knox to be Secretary of State. He was at first found to be constitutionally ineligible, because Congress had increased the salary for the post during his Senate term, thus violating the

Ineligibility Clause The Ineligibility Clause (sometimes also called the Emoluments Clause, or the Incompatibility Clause, or the Sinecure Clause) is a provision in Article 1, Section 6, Clause 2 of the United States Constitution that makes each incumbent member of ...

. In particular, Knox had been elected to serve the term from March 4, 1905 to March 3, 1911. During debate on legislation approved on February 26, 1907, as well as debate beginning on March 4, 1908, he had consistently supported pay raises for the Cabinet, which were eventually instituted for the 1908 fiscal calendar. The discovery of the constitutional complication came as a surprise after President-elect Taft had announced his intention to nominate Knox. The

Senate Judiciary Committee The United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, informally the Senate Judiciary Committee, is a standing committee of 22 U.S. senators whose role is to oversee the Department of Justice (DOJ), consider executive and judicial nominations ...

proposed the remedy of resetting the salary to its pre-service level, and the Senate passed it unanimously on February 11, 1909. Members of the U.S. House of Representatives mounted more opposition to the relief measure and defeated it once. After a special procedural rule was applied, the measure was passed by a 173–115 vote. On March 4, 1909, the salary of the Secretary of State position was reverted from $12,000 to $8,000, and Knox took office on March 6. Later known as the "

Saxbe fix The Saxbe fix ( ), or salary rollback, is a mechanism by which the President of the United States, in appointing a current or former member of the United States Congress whose elected term has not yet expired, can avoid the restriction of the Uni ...

", such legislation has been passed in a number of similar circumstances. Knox served as Secretary of State in Taft's cabinet until March 5, 1913. As Secretary of State, he reorganized the Department on a divisional basis, extended the

merit system The merit system is the process of promoting and hiring government employees based on their ability to perform a job, rather than on their political connections. It is the opposite of the spoils system. History The earliest known example of a me ...

to the Diplomatic Service up to the grade of chief of mission, pursued a policy of encouraging and protecting American investments abroad, declared the ratification of the Sixteenth Amendment, and accomplished the settlement of controversies related to activities in the

Bering Sea The Bering Sea (, ; rus, Бе́рингово мо́ре, r=Béringovo móre) is a marginal sea of the Northern Pacific Ocean. It forms, along with the Bering Strait, the divide between the two largest landmasses on Earth: Eurasia and The Am ...

and the North Atlantic

fisheries Fishery can mean either the enterprise of raising or harvesting fish and other aquatic life; or more commonly, the site where such enterprise takes place ( a.k.a. fishing ground). Commercial fisheries include wild fisheries and fish farms, ...

. Under Taft the focus of foreign policy was the encouragement and protection of U.S. investments abroad called Dollar diplomacy. This was first applied in 1909, in a failed attempt to help China assume ownership of the Manchurian railways. Knox felt that not only was the goal of diplomacy to improve financial opportunities, but also to use private capital to further U.S. interests overseas. In spite of successes, "dollar diplomacy" failed to counteract economic instability and the tide of revolution in places like Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, and China.

Return to the Senate

Following his term of office, Knox resumed the practice of law in Pittsburgh. In 1916, Knox was elected by popular vote to the Senate from Pennsylvania for the first time, after passage of the Seventeenth Amendment providing for such popular elections. He served from 1917 until his death in 1921. While a Senator, he was highly critical of the

ending World War I, saying "this Treaty does not spell peace but war — war more woeful and devastating than the one we have but now closed". At the

, Knox was considered a potential compromise candidate who could unite the progressive and conservative factions of the party. Many thought that California Senator

Hiram Johnson Hiram Warren Johnson (September 2, 1866August 6, 1945) was an American attorney and politician who served as the 23rd governor of California from 1911 to 1917. Johnson achieved national prominence in the early 20th century. He was elected in 191 ...

would release his delegates to back his friend Knox, but Johnson never did. Warren G. Harding instead emerged as the compromise candidate, and Harding went on to win the 1920 election. After the election, Knox urged President Harding to consider Andrew Mellon for the position of Secretary of the Treasury, and Mellon ultimately took the position. In April 1921, he introduced a Senate resolution to bring a formal end to American involvement in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

. It was combined with a similar House resolution to create the

Knox–Porter Resolution The Knox–Porter Resolution () was a joint resolution of the United States Congress signed by President Warren G. Harding on July 2, 1921, officially ending United States involvement in World War I. The documents were signed on the estate of Jo ...

, signed by President Warren G. Harding on July 2.

Personal

Knox's nickname was "Sleepy Phil," as he was said to have dozed off during board meetings, or because he was cross-eyed. Knox was a member of the elite

Duquesne Club The Duquesne Club is a private social club in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, founded in 1873. History The Duquesne Club was founded in 1873. Its first president was John H. Ricketson. The club's present home, a Romanesque structure designed by Lon ...

in Pittsburgh. File:Exterior of home of Senator Philander Knox, 1527 K Street, NW, Washington, D.C. LCCN90710376.jpg, Exterior of home of Senator Philander Knox, 1527 K Street, NW, Washington, DC File:Office in Senator Philander Knox house, Washington, D.C. LCCN2001704536.jpg, Office in Senator Philander Knox house in Washington, DC File:Staircase in home of Senator Philander Knox, Washington, D.C. LCCN90710377.jpg, Staircase in home of Senator Philander Knox File:Dining hall in home of Senator Philander Knox, Washington, D.C. LCCN90710378.jpg, Dining hall in home of Senator Philander Knox

Death

Knox died in Washington, D.C. on October 12, 1921, aged 68.

References

External links

Letters from and to Secretary of State Knox
Ursinus College Archives , - , - , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Knox, Philander Chase 1853 births 1921 deaths People from Brownsville, Pennsylvania Candidates in the 1908 United States presidential election Candidates in the 1920 United States presidential election 20th-century American politicians United States Secretaries of State United States Attorneys General Politicians from Pittsburgh University of Mount Union alumni Pennsylvania Republicans Republican Party United States senators from Pennsylvania West Virginia University College of Law alumni Taft administration cabinet members Theodore Roosevelt administration cabinet members McKinley administration cabinet members 19th-century American politicians