Frank C. Walker

{{Infobox officeholder

| name = Frank C. Walker

| image = Frank C. Walker.jpg

| caption = Walker leaving the White House with DNC executives W. Forbes Morgan and James Farley after meeting with President Franklin D. Roosevelt (December 30, 1936)

| office = Chair of the Democratic National Committee

| term_start = January 18, 1943

| term_end = January 23, 1944

| predecessor = Edward J. Flynn

| successor = Robert E. Hannegan

| office1 = 51st United States Postmaster General

| president1 = Franklin D. Roosevelt
Harry S. Truman

| term_start1 = September 10, 1940

| term_end1 = May 8, 1945

| predecessor1 = James Farley

| successor1 = Robert E. Hannegan

| office2 = Executive Director of the National Emergency Council

| term_start2 = 1933

| term_end2 = 1935

| appointer2 = Franklin D. Roosevelt

| predecessor2 = position established[https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/executive-order-6433-creation-the-national-emergency-council Executive Order 6433-A—Creation of the National Emergency Council]

| successor2 = Donald R. Richberg{{cite book |last=United States Congress Joint Committee on Printing |author-link= |date=December 1934 |title=Official Congressional Directory - 74th Congress, 1st Session (1935) - First Edition |url= |location= |publisher=United States Government Publishing Office |page= |isbn=}}

| office3 = Treasurer of the Democratic National Committee

| term_start3 = July 31, 1932

| term_end3 = January 17, 1934

| predecessor3 = James W. Gerard

| successor3 = Walter J. Cummings

| office4 = Member of the Montana House of Representatives from Silver Bow County

| term_start4 = January 6, 1913[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.aa0001577675&view=1up&seq=9&skin=2021&q1=Frank%20Walker Montana House of Representatives Journal (1913)]

| term_end4 = January 4, 1915[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.aa0001577683&view=1up&seq=7&skin=2021 Montana House of Representatives Journal (1915)]

| predecessor4 = multi-member district

| successor4 = multi-member district

| birth_name = Frank Comerford Walker

| birth_date = {{birth date|1886|5|30}}

| birth_place = Plymouth, Pennsylvania, U.S.

| death_date = {{death date and age|1959|9|13|1886|5|30}}

| death_place = New York City, U.S.

| party = Democratic

| relatives = Thomas Joseph Walker (brother)

| spouse = Hallie Boucher

| children = 2

| education = Gonzaga University (BA)
University of Notre Dame (LLB)

| branch = United States Army

| rank = First Lieutenant

| battles = World War I

}}

Frank Comerford Walker (May 30, 1886 – September 13, 1959) was an American lawyer and politician. He was the United States Postmaster General from 1940 until 1945, and the chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 1943 until 1944.

Biography

Frank Walker was born in Plymouth, Pennsylvania, the son of David Walker (1848–1902), a grocer,1900 US Census, West Cooper St., Butte, Montana and his wife, Ellen Comerford (1851–1916). His father moved his family to Montana about 1890, where he became the foreman of the Butte City Copper Mine. He died in 1902 of tuberculosis.Obituary, The Times Leader, May 10, 1902.Montana Certificate of Death No. 6435, of 1902.

Frank Walker attended Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington for three years and earned a law degree from Notre Dame in 1909. He then joined his older brother Thomas in a law practice in Butte, Montana. In 1913, he was elected to a term as a Montana state representative.

During World War I, Walker volunteered for the U.S. Army. He became a first lieutenant and saw action on the Western Front. After the war, he returned to his law practice.

He married Hallie Victoria Boucher (1892–1969) at Butte on November 11, 1914.State of Montana, Marriage License No. 6516, November 10, 1914. They had two children, Thomas and Laura.[http://archives.nd.edu/findaids/ead/html/WLK000.htm Frank C. Walker Papers (1925–1959)]

In 1925, he moved to New York City to become manager and general counsel of Comerford Theatres, a chain of movie theaters owned by his uncle Michael E. Comerford. For a time he was the pro-bono legal advisor to the Motion Picture Theater Owners of America, a trade organization.

In New York, Walker expanded his political activities, and became an early supporter of Franklin D. Roosevelt. In 1931, he co-founded the Roosevelt for President Society, and from 1932 to 1934, served as Treasurer of the Democratic National Committee (DNC).{{Cite news |title=F. C. Walker Named as Aide to Farley |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1932/08/01/archives/fc-walker-named-as-aide-to-farley-theatre-lawyer-here-former.html |newspaper=The New York Times |date=August 1, 1932 |page=6 |volume=LXXXI |issue=27218}}{{Cite news |title=2 Quit Party Jobs as Roosevelt Hits Lobby Practices |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1934/01/18/archives/2-quit-party-jobs-as-roosevelt-hits-lobby-practices-frank-c-walker.html |newspaper=The New York Times |date=January 18, 1934 |page=1 |volume=LXXXIII |issue=27753 |edition=Late City}} Until Roosevelt's death, Walker was one of his closest advisers.

When Roosevelt became President in 1933, he appointed Walker executive secretary of

the National Emergency Council, a New Deal agency related to the NRA.

In 1940, Walker became Postmaster General (succeeding James Farley, who had also been DNC Chairman and Roosevelt's campaign manager). As Postmaster General, Walker continued his role as political adviser, often taking part in matters far removed from the Post Office. For example, during the negotiations which preceded the December 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, he was in regular contact with Japanese Ambassador Nomura.

{{cite book

| last = Feis

| first = Herbert

| title = The Road to Pearl Harbor

| publisher = Atheneum

| edition = 2nd

| year = 1962

| location = New York

| orig-year = 1050

| pages = 176n, 304, 307n}}

In 1943, Walker became Chairman of the DNC, serving until 1944, when he stepped down and was succeeded by Robert Hannegan. In May 1945, Walker announced his retirement as Postmaster General, to allow President Harry Truman to appoint his own candidate to the office. Truman selected Hannegan to succeed Walker in this office too, effective July 1.

Later in 1945, Truman appointed Walker as a member of the first U.S. delegation to the United Nations.

He died in New York City on September 13, 1959, at the age of 73 and was buried in St. Patrick's Cemetery, Butte, Montana.

References

External links

[https://web.archive.org/web/20100708053521/http://millercenter.org/academic/americanpresident/fdroosevelt/essays/cabinet/520 University of Virginia's Miller Center]