MR. C. A. SWANSON PASSES

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 19985, 10 July 1939, Page 7

MR. C. A. SWANSON PASSES

U.S.A. NAVY MINISTER DEATH AT 71) YEARS (Reed. July 8, 9 a.m.) WASHINGTON. July 7. White House has announced the death of the Secretary of the Navy Mr. C. A. Swanson, of Virginia, who had been ill for several years. He was 79 years of age. He had held the pos't ‘of Secretary to the Navy since the fonuiatoin. of Prcsident Roosevelt’s first Cabinet (in 1932.

When Mr. C. A. Swanson was appointed as Secretary of the Navy m President Roosevelt’s first Cabinet m March, 1933, the American press stated that there was no .warmer friend of the United States Navy . than the former senator for Virginia. Mr. Swanson’s State holds Hampton Roads, a great harbour for fighting ships, the Norfolk Navy Yard, and the famous Newport News dry dock and shipbuilding .company where many naval vessels have been construe reel. In the days of tne Great War, Mr. Swanson was chairman of the Naval Affairs Committee of the House of Representatives. He was also Democratic representative on the Senate Committee on (Naval Affairs, ami served on the important Foreign Re - lations Committee of that body which has a large hand in framing the foreign policy of the United States. Mr. Swanson was known as a deep student of international relations and he made many visits to Europe, sometimes as a participant in the meetings of the Inter-Parliamentary Union. Reading and study in connection with international affairs were perhaps his chief diversions. Born in 'Swansonville, Virginia, he attended public schools until 16 years of age, taught school a year, and then went to Virginia Polytechnic Institute. He did not have the money to continue his education, so he became a clerk for two years, and saved enough to gradu*ate at Randolph-Mncon College. Later he received a legal degree at the University of Virginia, from which ha went to practice law at Chatham. He was elected to Congress in 1893, remained in the House 12 years, and was elected Governor of Virginia in 1905. In August, 1910, he was named to succeed the late John Warwick Daniel in the United States Senate. \ Senator Swanson worked for the acceptance of the London .Naval Treaty in the (Senate. He was in Geneva as a member of the American delegation to the Disarmament Conference. He was in his way one of the sensations of Geneva. Statesmen of the world had long been curious about the United States Senate; now they saw a real senator. And the "gentleman from Virginia” played the part. Always dignified, he dressed in tail coat, set his wide (beribboned pince-nez glasses firmly on his proud nose, and upheld all the traditions.