Charles Aubrey Eaton

{{Infobox officeholder

|name = Charles Aubrey Eaton

|image = CharlesAubreyEaton.jpg

|state = New Jersey

|constituency = {{ushr|NJ|4|4th district}} (1925–33)
{{ushr|NJ|5|5th district}} (1933–53)

|term_start = March 4, 1925

|term_end = January 3, 1953

|preceded = Charles Browne

|succeeded = Peter Hood Ballantine Frelinghuysen, Jr.

|office2 = Chairman of the United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs

|term_start2 = January 3, 1947

|term_end2 = January 3, 1949

|predecessor2 = Sol Bloom

|successor2 = Sol Bloom

|birth_date = {{birth date|1868|3|29}}

|birth_place = near Pugwash, Nova Scotia, Canada

|citizenship = {{unbulleted list|Canada (1868-1895)|United States (1895-1953)}}

|death_date = {{death date and age|1953|1|23|1868|3|29}}

|death_place = Washington, D.C., U.S.

|spouse = {{Marriage|Mary Winifred Parlin|1895|1948|end=died}}

|children = 6

|relations = Cyrus S. Eaton (nephew)
William R. Eaton (nephew)

|party = Republican

|alma_mater = {{plainlist|

|profession =

|footnotes ={{cite book |chapter=Charles Aubrey Eaton |title=Dictionary of American Biography |location=New York |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |year=1977 |accessdate=2011-06-14 |chapter-url=http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/bic1/ReferenceDetailsPage/ReferenceDetailsWindow?displayGroupName=Reference&disableHighlighting=false&prodId=BIC2&action=e&windowstate=normal&catId=&documentId=GALE%7CBT2310014222&mode=view&userGroupName=fairfax_main&jsid=a02ea7f650c1c9a251ae71bb0968be41 |id=GALE|BT2310014222 |via= Fairfax County Public Library}}{{subscription required}} Gale Biography In Context.

|module = {{Listen|pos=center|embed=yes|filename=Rep. Charles Aubrey Eaton on Declaring War on Japan.ogg|title=Eaton's voice|type=speech|description=Eaton speaks in support of declaring war on Japan
Recorded December 8, 1941}}

}}

Charles Aubrey Eaton (March 29, 1868{{spaced ndash}}January 23, 1953) was a Canadian-born American Baptist clergyman, journalist, and Republican politician who represented New Jersey in the United States House of Representatives from 1925 to 1953. His district, which centered on Somerset County, was numbered as the {{ushr|NJ|4|C}} from 1925 to 1933 and the {{ushr|NJ|5|C}} from 1933 to 1953. He was a leading voice in the Republican Party on foreign policy, chairing both the House Committee on Foreign Affairs and Herter Committee and signing the United Nations Charter.

As a pastor, Eaton led Baptist congregations at Natick, Massachusetts (1893–95), Bloor Street, Toronto (1895–1901), Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio (1901–09), and Madison Avenue, New York City (1909–16).[http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/005730721 The Eaton Family of Nova Scotia], pg. 136, by Arthur Wentworth Hamilton Eaton. Cambridge, Massachusetts, The Murray Printing Company, privately printed, 1929. Accessed March 23, 2015. John D. Rockefeller and his family were among Eaton's Cleveland congregation, and Rockefeller was a powerful supporter of Eaton and his nephew, Cyrus S. Eaton.

Early life and education

Charles Aubrey Eaton was born on March 29, 1868 on a farm near Pugwash, Nova Scotia. His father, Stephen Eaton, was a shipbuilder and farmer, and his mother was Mary Desiah (Parker) Eaton. He attended school locally and worked on his father's farm. From 1884 to 1886, he attended school in Amherst, Nova Scotia, where he was baptized and chose to become a Baptist minister. In 1890, he received a B.A. from Acadia University, Wolfville, Nova Scotia. In 1893, he graduated with the B.D. from Newton Theological Institution and was ordained a Baptist minister. He received the M.A. from McMaster University in Toronto in 1896, was awarded a D.D. by Baylor University in 1899 and Acadia University in 1907, and an LL.D. from McMaster University in 1916.

Religious work

After his graduation from Newton Theological Institution, Eaton served as a pastor at the First Baptist Church of Natick, Massachusetts. At Natick, he met Mary Winifred Parlin (May 11, 1874{{spaced ndash}}November 12, 1948), daughter of local merchant and Civil War veteran William D. Parlin[http://www.nps.gov/civilwar/search-soldiers-detail.htm?soldierId=584355C1-DC7A-DF11-BF36-B8AC6F5D926A "National Park Service, Soldier Details, William D. Parlin], Accessed March 20, 2015 and Mary Brown. They were married June 26, 1895, and had six children. In 1895, he became a citizen of the United States and was named pastor at a Bloor Street church in Toronto.

File:Euclid Avenue Baptist Church and Charles Aubrey Eaton, pastor.jpg

In 1904, Eaton's commitment to evangelism got him arrested on the streets of Cleveland, Ohio, for persistently ignoring by-laws prohibiting street preaching. However, he wanted to extend his ministry beyond the churches, into which many of the spiritually needy never stepped. At the same time, Eaton was the preacher at Euclid Avenue Baptist Church, situated on Cleveland's "millionaire's row", and as a result he came to the attention of John D. Rockefeller, a summer resident of Cleveland who attended church there. They became lifelong friends, and this connection influenced Eaton's future path. It also influenced that of another well-known Canadian who went on to have an outstanding career in the United States, his nephew, Cyrus S. Eaton. He introduced him to Rockefeller in 1901, when Cyrus was still a university student. Cyrus went on to work for Rockefeller, and eventually become one of Cleveland's first citizens, and one of America's premier industrialists. Charles moved to North Plainfield, New Jersey, in 1909, and started a dairy farm, while at the same time preaching to a prominent New York City Baptist congregation, the Madison Avenue Baptist Church. The area in which he lived separated from North Plainfield in 1926, and the Borough of Watchung, New Jersey, was founded there. He lived there until his death.

Journalism

Eaton was sociological editor of the Toronto Globe (1896–1901), associate editor of Westminster (1899–1901), special correspondent for The Times, New-York Tribune, and Boston Transcript while in Toronto. He was editor of Leslie's Weekly (1919, 1920), and (while director of labor relations at General Electric's National Lamp Works) editor of Light (1923–1924).

Political career

In 1924, Eaton was elected as a Republican from New Jersey to the 69th U.S. Congress and to the thirteen succeeding Congresses, serving until 1952. He was a steadfast opponent of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal.[https://web.archive.org/web/20121020090845/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,817892-2,00.html Obituary], Time, February 2, 1953. Accessed September 9, 2007.[https://web.archive.org/web/20121020090858/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,847501,00.html?promoid=googlep "Clouts from Clergymen"], Time, October 28, 1935. Accessed September 9, 2007. However, his ability to work well with both Republicans and Democrats would prompt presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman to frequently invite "Doc" Eaton, as he was sometimes known, to the White House as an informal advisor.Memoirs By Harry S. Truman: 1945 Year of Decisions. Garden City, New York: Doubleday (1955).

On June 26, 1945, appointed by President Roosevelt, Eaton was one of the signers of the original United Nations Charter, the international organization's foundational treaty, in San Francisco, California.[http://www.nj.com/independentpress/index.ssf/2010/05/watchung_was_represented_at_si.html?promoid=googlep "Watchung was represented at signing of UN Charter by Charles Eaton, a former dairy farmer, clergyman and Congressman"], nj.com, May 4, 2010. Accessed May 22, 2014

In 1947 he became chairman of the United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs and of the Herter Committee.

{{cite web

|title=Final Report on Foreign Aid of the House Select Committee on Foreign Aid

|publisher = Marshall Foundation

|url=http://www.marshallfoundation.org/library/wp-content/uploads/sites/16/2014/04/Studies_Prior_to_the_Marshall_Plan.pdf

|date=May 1, 1948

|accessdate = May 30, 2020}} With a Democratic president (Harry S. Truman) and a Republican Congress, and with the influence of economic aid in foreign policy, the chairmanship was a powerful post. Eaton's leadership was at times strongly challenged by the neo-isolationist group in the House, but he achieved the passage of every piece of legislation that he sponsored, including continuation of United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA), a program of aid to Greece and Turkey (the Truman Doctrine), and the Marshall Plan. The opposition to these programs centered in the House and Eaton was their chief defender. The passage of the Marshall Plan was a high point in Eaton's political career. President Truman gave testimony in his memoirs to Eaton for his bipartisan support of American foreign policy. Twenty days after his retirement from Congress, Eaton died in Washington, D.C., and was interred in Hillside Cemetery in Scotch Plains, New Jersey.{{cite news |title=C. A. Eaton is Dead. Ex-Congressman Strong Backer of Bipartisan Foreign Policy. Was Delegate to San Francisco in 1945. Entered House in 1924. Republican of New Jersey, 84. Did Not Seek Re-election in 1952 |work=The New York Times| url=https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FB0F16F9355E177B93C6AB178AD85F478585F9|quote=Charles Aubrey Eaton, who served fourteen consecutive terms as a Republican member of the House Representatives from New Jersey, died here early today |date=January 24, 1953}}{{cite news |title=Charles Eaton Dead |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=6ZNfAAAAIBAJ&sjid=-DAMAAAAIBAJ&pg=5174,1840159&dq=eaton+is+dead&hl=en |newspaper=Associated Press in Lewiston Morning Tribune |date=January 24, 1953 |accessdate=2013-12-02 }}

References

External links

[http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/cn69m413r Charles A. Eaton Papers at the Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library, Princeton University]
{{Find a Grave|4260}}
[http://www.politicalgraveyard.com/bio/eaton-eberhardt.html#R9M0IVRMM Political Graveyard info for Charles Aubrey Eaton]
[http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/005730721 The Eaton Family of Nova Scotia, pg. 136, by Arthur Wentworth Hamilton Eaton. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Murray Printing Company, privately printed,1929]

{{succession box | before=Charles Browne| title=U.S. House of Representatives
4th District of New Jersey | years=1925–1933 | after=D. Lane Powers}}

{{succession box | before=Percy Hamilton Stewart| title=U.S. House of Representatives
5th District of New Jersey | years=1933–1953 | after=Peter Frelinghuysen, Jr.}}

{{succession box

|title=Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee

|before=Sol Bloom

|years=1947 – 1949

|after=Sol Bloom}}

Category:1868 births

Category:1953 deaths

Category:Canadian emigrants to the United States

Category:People of New England Planter descent

Category:Acadia University alumni