Joseph H. Choate Jr.
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Joseph Hodges Choate Jr. (February 2, 1876 – January 19, 1968), was an American lawyer who chaired the
Voluntary Committee of Lawyers The original Voluntary Committee of Lawyers (VCL) was founded in 1927 to bring about the repeal of prohibition and the Volstead Act. The VCL provided legal support for the Association Against the Prohibition Amendment, an umbrella organization t ...
, a group established in 1927 that promoted the
repeal of prohibition In the United States, the nationwide ban on alcoholic beverages was repealed by the passage of the Twenty-first Amendment to the United States Constitution on December 5, 1933. Background In 1919, the requisite number of state legislatures ratif ...
. Upon repeal in 1933, President
Franklin Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...
named Choate the first head of the Federal Alcohol Control Administration (FACA).


Early life

Joseph Hodges Choate Jr. was born on February 2, 1876, in New York City, where he grew up, as well as at
Naumkeag Naumkeag is the former country estate of noted New York City lawyer Joseph Hodges Choate and Caroline Dutcher Sterling Choate, located at 5 Prospect Hill Road, Stockbridge, Massachusetts. The estate's centerpiece is a 44-room, Shingle Styl ...
, his family's country estate in
Stockbridge, Massachusetts Stockbridge is a town in Berkshire County in Western Massachusetts, United States. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts, Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 2,018 at the 2020 census. A year-round resort area, Stockbridg ...
. He was youngest of five children born to U.S. lawyer and diplomat
Joseph Hodges Choate Joseph Hodges Choate (January 24, 1832 – May 14, 1917) was an American lawyer and diplomat. He was chairman of the American delegation at the Second Hague Conference, and ambassador to the United Kingdom. Choate was associated with many of t ...
and artist and activist
Caroline Dutcher Sterling Choate Caroline Dutcher Sterling Choate (June 16, 1837 – November 12, 1929, generally styled Mrs. Joseph H. Choate) was an artist, educational reformer, suffragist, philanthropist and socialite. She was the wife of lawyer and U.S. Ambassador to the Un ...
. His older siblings were Ruluff Sterling Choate, George Choate, Josephine Choate, and
Mabel Choate Mabel Choate (December 26, 1870 – December 11, 1958) was an American gardener, collector and philanthropist. Biography Born on December 26, 1870, in New York City, Mabel Choate was the fourth of five children of Joseph Hodges Choate, Joseph ...
. In 1899, his father was appointed ambassador to the Court of St. James in London by President
William McKinley William McKinley (January 29, 1843September 14, 1901) was the 25th president of the United States, serving from 1897 until Assassination of William McKinley, his assassination in 1901. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Repub ...
and served from 1899 to 1905, continuing under President
Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. (October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), also known as Teddy or T.R., was the 26th president of the United States, serving from 1901 to 1909. Roosevelt previously was involved in New York (state), New York politics, incl ...
. His paternal grandparents were Margaret Manning (
née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...
Hodges) Choate and Dr. George Choate, a physician. Among his extended family were uncles
William Gardner Choate William Gardner Choate (August 30, 1830 – November 14, 1920) was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. He also cofounded the Choate Rosemary Hall college, a private boarding sc ...
, a
U.S. district judge The United States district courts are the trial courts of the United States federal judiciary, U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each United States federal judicial district, federal judicial district. Each district cov ...
of the
Southern District of New York The Southern District of New York is a federal judicial district that encompasses the counties of New York (Manhattan), Bronx, Westchester, Rockland, Putnam, Orange, Dutchess, and Sullivan. Federal offices or agencies operating in the distri ...
(who established
Choate School Choate Rosemary Hall ( ) is a private, co-educational, college-preparatory boarding school in Wallingford, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1890, it took its present name and began a co-educational system with the 1978 merger of ''The Ch ...
), and Dr.
George Cheyne Shattuck Choate George Cheyne Shattuck Choate (March 30, 1827 – June 4, 1896) was an American physician and the founder of Choate House, a psychiatric sanatorium. Biography He was born in Salem, Massachusetts, on March 30, 1827, to Margaret Man ...
. Her maternal grandparents were Caroline (née Dutcher) Sterling and Frederick Augustine Sterling, who were both from Connecticut. Like his father and uncle William before him, he graduated from
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 ...
in 1897 and
Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, Harvard Law School is the oldest law school in continuous operation in the United ...
.


Career

Upon his father's appointment as ambassador, the younger Choate left law school in
Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...
and joined him in London as third secretary of the
Embassy A diplomatic mission or foreign mission is a group of people from a Sovereign state, state or organization present in another state to represent the sending state or organization officially in the receiving or host state. In practice, the phrase ...
. Choate returned in 1901 to finish his law degree and graduated the following year. After gaining admission to the bar, Choate practiced law in New York City becoming senior partner in the firm of Choate, Byrd, Léon & Garretson (which was named Choate, Regan, Davis & Hollister at the time of his death). He chaired the
Voluntary Committee of Lawyers The original Voluntary Committee of Lawyers (VCL) was founded in 1927 to bring about the repeal of prohibition and the Volstead Act. The VCL provided legal support for the Association Against the Prohibition Amendment, an umbrella organization t ...
, a group established in 1927 that promoted the
repeal of prohibition In the United States, the nationwide ban on alcoholic beverages was repealed by the passage of the Twenty-first Amendment to the United States Constitution on December 5, 1933. Background In 1919, the requisite number of state legislatures ratif ...
. Upon repeal in 1933, President
Franklin Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...
named Choate the first head of the Federal Alcohol Control Administration (FACA), where he fought for lower priced liquor as a way to end bootlegging. He served until 1935 when the agency was replaced by the Federal Alcohol Administration, part of the Department of the Treasury. His successor was Franklin Chase Hoyt. Choate was active in support of the Fusion candidacy of Mayor
Fiorello H. LaGuardia Fiorello Henry La Guardia (born Fiorello Raffaele Enrico La Guardia; December 11, 1882September 20, 1947) was an American attorney and politician who represented New York in the U.S. House of Representatives and served as the 99th mayor of New Yo ...
and in 1936, he was chairman of the 50th anniversary celebration of the
Statue of Liberty The Statue of Liberty (''Liberty Enlightening the World''; ) is a colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor, within New York City. The copper-clad statue, a gift to the United States from the people of French Thir ...
. The following year he was made an officer of the French
Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...
.


Personal life

In 1903, Choate was married to Cora Lyman Oliver (1876–1955), daughter of General and
Assistant Secretary of War The United States assistant secretary of war was the second–ranking official within the American Department of War from 1861 to 1867, from 1882 to 1883, and from 1890 to 1940. According to thMilitary Laws of the United States "The act of Augus ...
Robert Shaw Oliver Robert Shaw Oliver (September 13, 1847 – March 15, 1935) was an American soldier and businessman. Early life Oliver was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on September 13, 1847. He was a son of Daniel Augustus Oliver and Elizabeth Willard (née Sh ...
and Marion Lucy (née Rathbone) Oliver. Cora's older brother was noted psychiatrist and medical historian
John Rathbone Oliver John Rathbone Oliver (January 4, 1872 – January 21, 1943) was an American psychiatrist, medical historian, author, and priest. His novel ''Victim and Victor'' was a contender for the 1929 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, but the award went to Jul ...
. They had homes in
Mount Kisco, New York Mount Kisco is a Administrative divisions of New York#Village, village and Administrative divisions of New York#Town, town in Westchester County, New York, United States. The town of Mount Kisco is coterminous municipality, coterminous with the ...
, in New York City at 950
Fifth Avenue Fifth Avenue is a major thoroughfare in the borough (New York City), borough of Manhattan in New York City. The avenue runs south from 143rd Street (Manhattan), West 143rd Street in Harlem to Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village. The se ...
, and in
North Haven, Maine North Haven is a New England town, town and island in Knox County, Maine, Knox County, Maine, United States, in Penobscot Bay. The town is both a year-round island community and a prominent summer colony. The population was 417 at the 2020 United ...
. They were the parents of four children, including: * Marion Choate (1905–1979), who married Charles Barney Harding, who served as
chairman of the New York Stock Exchange The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is the largest stock exchange in the world by market capitalization, exceeding $2 ...
and Smith, Barney & Co. (founded by his grandfather
Charles D. Barney Charles Dennis Barney (July 9, 1844 – October 24, 1945) was an American stockbroker and founder of Charles D. Barney & Co., one of the predecessors of the brokerage and securities firm Smith Barney. Early life Barney was born in Sandusky, ...
). A son of banker
J. Horace Harding James Horace Harding (July 13, 1863 – January 4, 1929) was an American banker, financier and art collector. Early life Harding was born on July 13, 1863, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was a son of publisher William White Harding and Catheri ...
, he was a brother of Laura Barney Harding and a great-grandson of financier
Jay Cooke Jay Cooke (August 10, 1821 – February 16, 1905) was an American financier who helped finance the Union war effort during the American Civil War and the postwar development of railroads in the northwestern United States. He is generally acknowle ...
. * Helen Choate (1906–1974), who married architect Geoffrey Platt in 1932. * Priscilla Choate (1908–1998), who married Norwood P. Hallowell III, a son of
N. Penrose Hallowell Norwood Penrose Hallowell (July 3, 1875 – February 13, 1961) was an American banker who served as president of the Lee Higginson Corporation. Early life Hallowell was born on July 3, 1875, in Medford, Massachusetts, into the prominent Hallowell ...
and grandson of Col.
Norwood Penrose Hallowell Norwood Penrose "Pen" Hallowell (April 13, 1839 – April 11, 1914) was an officer in the Union Army during the American Civil War. One of three brothers to serve with distinction during the war, he and his brother Edward Needles Hallowell bo ...
in 1933. * Joseph Hodges Choate III (1913–1973), who became a lawyer and married Sarah "Sarita" Blagden. He died at his home in Mount Kisco on January 19, 1968. After a funeral at St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Mt. Kisco, he was buried with his family at Stockbridge Cemetery in Stockbridge, Massachusetts.


Descendants

Through his daughter Helen, he was a grandfather of diplomat
Nicholas Platt Nicholas Platt (born March 10, 1936) is an American diplomat who served as U.S. Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Pakistan, Philippines, Zambia, and as a high level diplomat in Canada, China, Hong Kong, and Japan. He is the former ...
(b. 1936), the former U.S. Ambassador to Zambia,
the Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of 7,641 islands, with a total area of roughly 300,000 square kilometers, which ar ...
, and
Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...
; and the great-grandfather of actor
Oliver Platt Oliver Platt (born January 12, 1960) is an American actor known for his work on stage and screen. He has been nominated for five Primetime Emmys, a Golden Globe Award, two Screen Actors Guild Awards and one Tony Award. Following his acting deb ...
(b. 1960).


References


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Choate, Joseph H. 1870s births 1968 deaths Choate family 20th-century American lawyers Harvard Law School alumni Prohibition in the United States United States federal executive department officials