Thomas Nelson Perkins (May 6, 1870 – October 7, 1937) was an American lawyer from Massachusetts. He was assistant to the Secretary of War in 1917 and was chief council and a member of the priorities commission of the

War Industries Board The War Industries Board (WIB) was a United States government agency established on July 28, 1917, during World War I, to coordinate the purchase of war supplies between the War Department (Department of the Army) and the Navy Department. Becaus ...

. Following the war, he was a member of the

Paris Peace Conference Agreements and declarations resulting from meetings in Paris include: Listed by name Paris Accords may refer to: * Paris Accords, the agreements reached at the end of the London and Paris Conferences in 1954 concerning the post-war status of Germ ...

and the Allied Reparations Committee.

Early life

Thomas Nelson Perkins was born on May 6, 1870, in

Milton, Massachusetts Milton is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. Milton is an immediate southern suburb of Boston, Massachusetts. The population was 28,630 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Milton is located in the relatively hilly ...

, to Jane Sedgwick (née Watson) and Edward Cranch Perkins. His brother was James H. Perkins. Perkins was educated in Hopkinson's School in Boston. He graduated from

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate education, undergraduate college of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Part of the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Scienc ...

in 1891 with a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

. He was captain of the 1891 varsity rowing team at Harvard, which included his friend

Nicholas Longworth Nicholas Longworth III (November 5, 1869 – April 9, 1931) was an American lawyer and politician who became Speaker of the United States House of Representatives. A Republican, he was elected to the Ohio Senate, where he initiated the success ...

. He graduated from

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 ...

in 1894 with a

Bachelor of Laws A Bachelor of Laws (; LLB) is an undergraduate law degree offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree and serves as the first professional qualification for legal practitioners. This degree requires the study of core legal subje ...

. He then spent a year studying abroad.

Career

In 1896, Perkins became a member of the Ropes, Gray, & Loring law firm in Boston. He with fellow junior lawyer Roland W. Boyden helped expand the firm from an initial six lawyers to almost 60. The firm was later named Ropes, Gray, Boyden & Perkins. Around 1899,

Stone & Webster Stone & Webster was an American engineering services company based in Stoughton, Massachusetts. It was founded as an electrical testing lab and consulting firm by electrical engineers Charles A. Stone and Edwin S. Webster in 1889. In the earl ...

sent Perkins to

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

to solve problems with traction lines of the city. He was appointed as chief counsel of the

on October 24, 1917. From December 1917 to February 1, 1918, he served as a member of the board's priorities commission. On February 1, 1918, he was appointed assistant to E. R. Stettinius, surveyor general of supplies in the War Department. Following Stettinius's appointment as second assistant secretary of war, Perkins remained as assistant. In July 1918, he was appointed assistant to the Secretary of War and was in charge of the procurement and production of supplies. In September 1918, he was appointed assistant director of munitions and continued in that role until his resignation on November 26, 1918. He was in Russia during the

Russian Revolution The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution, social change in Russian Empire, Russia, starting in 1917. This period saw Russia Dissolution of the Russian Empire, abolish its mona ...

. He was part of the first house commission to the

. In 1924, he helped develop the

Dawes Plan The Dawes Plan temporarily resolved the issue of the reparations that Germany owed to the Allies of World War I. Enacted in 1924, it ended the crisis in European diplomacy that occurred after French and Belgian troops occupied the Ruhr in re ...

. From 1924 to 1926, he was a citizen member of the Allied Reparations Committee along with Jeremiah Smith Jr., Roland W. Boyden, Owen D. Young and J. P. Morgan. From 1926 to 1930, he was president of the arbitral tribunal of interpretation at The Hague. In 1929, he was an alternate to

Owen D. Young Owen D. Young (October 27, 1874July 11, 1962) was an American industrialist, businessman, lawyer and diplomat at the Second Reparations Conference (SRC) in 1929, as a member of the German Reparations International Commission. He is known for th ...

in developing the

Young Plan The Young Plan was a 1929 attempt to settle issues surrounding the World War I reparations obligations that Germany owed under the terms of Treaty of Versailles. Developed to replace the 1924 Dawes Plan, the Young Plan was negotiated in Paris f ...

. He helped reorganize the

Boston and Maine Railroad The Boston and Maine Railroad was a United States, U.S. Class I railroad in northern New England. It was chartered in 1835, and became part of what was the Pan Am Railways network in 1983 (most of which was purchased by CSX in 2022). At the e ...

. He served as director from 1924 to 1937, chairman of the executive committee starting in 1928, and chairman of the board from 1930 to 1933. He helped raise towards the railroad and helped build the

North Station North Station is a commuter rail and intercity rail terminal station in Boston, Massachusetts. It is served by four MBTA Commuter Rail lines – the Fitchburg Line, Haverhill Line, Lowell Line, and Newburyport/Rockport Line – and the Amtr ...

. In 1929, he served as acting president of the railroad before being succeeded by Edward S. French. In 1905, Perkins was selected as a fellow of the Harvard Corporation. He remained a member of the board until his resignation in 1924. He was elected to the board again in 1926 and served until his death. He was in opposition to the merger of Harvard with the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...

. He was also trustee of the Harvard Foundation. He was director of Boston & Main and the Southern Pacific. He was chairman of the board of the Commercial Radio International Committee and a member of the executive committee of the Old Colony Trust Company and the First National Bank of Boston. He was director of the Boston Madison Square Garden Corporation, Champion Copper Company, Flintkote Company, George H. Morrill Company, Merrimac Chemical Company, Postum Company, St. Mary's Canal Land Company, and Sullivan Machinery. He was president and director of Chickering Investment Company, director and chairman of the executive committee of the Puget Sound Power and Light Company, and vice president and director of the Railway and Light Securities Company. He was director and member of the executive committee of the Lee, Higginson Trust Company. He was member of the Somerset Club.

Personal life

In 1900, Perkins married Louisa Catherine Adams, a daughter of

Charles Francis Adams, Jr. Charles Francis Adams Jr. (May 27, 1835 – March 20, 1915) was an American author, historian, and railroad and park commissioner who served as the president of the Union Pacific Railroad from 1884 to 1890. He served as a colonel in the Union Arm ...

and cousin of

Charles Francis Adams III Charles Francis Adams III (August 2, 1866 – June 10, 1954) was an American lawyer and politician, who served as the 44th United States Secretary of the Navy under President Herbert Hoover from 1929 to 1933. He was the captain of the '' Resolut ...

. They had three sons, Elliot, James Handasyd and Thomas N. Jr. Perkins had a

coronary thrombosis Coronary thrombosis is defined as the formation of a blood clot inside a blood vessel of the heart. This blood clot may then restrict blood flow within the heart, leading to heart tissue damage, or a myocardial infarction, also known as a heart ...

in November 1936. He died on October 7, 1937, at his home on Clapboard Tree Street in Westwood. He was buried in Milton.

Awards

In 1926, he received an honorary

Doctor of Laws A Doctor of Laws (LL.D.) is a doctoral degree in legal studies. The abbreviation LL.D. stands for ''Legum Doctor'', with the double “L” in the abbreviation referring to the early practice in the University of Cambridge to teach both canon law ...

degree from Harvard Law School. In 1930, Perkins received a Doctor of Laws from

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College ( ) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, Dartmouth is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the America ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Perkins, Thomas Nelson 1870 births 1937 deaths People from Milton, Massachusetts People from Westwood, Massachusetts Massachusetts lawyers American railroad executives Harvard University alumni Harvard Law School alumni 20th-century American businesspeople 19th-century American lawyers 20th-century American lawyers