Wikipedia

A. Piatt Andrew

Abram Piatt Andrew Jr.(February 12, 1873 – June 3, 1936) was an American economist and politician who served asAssistant Secretary of the Treasury,the founder and director of theAmerican Ambulance Field ServiceduringWorld War I,and amember of the U.S. House of Representatives from Massachusetts.

Abram Piatt Andrew Jr.
Abram Piatt Andrew circa 1920
Member of theU.S. House of Representatives
fromMassachusetts's6thdistrict
In office
September 27, 1921 – June 3, 1936
Preceded byWillfred W. Lufkin
Succeeded byGeorge J. Bates
Personal details
Born(1873-02-12)February 12, 1873
La Porte, Indiana
DiedJune 3, 1936(1936-06-03)(aged 63)
Gloucester, Massachusetts
Resting placeashes scattered over Red Roof, Eastern Point, Gloucester, MA
Political partyRepublican
Alma materLawrenceville School,Princeton College
Signature
Military service
AllegianceUnited StatesUnited States
Branch/serviceUnited StatesUnited States Army
Years of serviceSeptember 1917–1918
RankLieutenant colonel
Battles/warsWorld War I
AwardsLegion of Honor
Distinguished Service Medal

Early life and education

edit

He was born inLa Porte, Indiana,on February 12, 1873.[1]He attended the public schools and theLawrenceville School.He graduated fromPrinceton Collegein 1893, studied at theHarvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciencesfrom 1893 to 1898, graduating with a master's degree in 1895 and a doctorate in 1900.[2]He later pursued postgraduate studies in the Universities ofHalle,Berlin,andParis.[3]

Early career in economics

edit

He moved toGloucester, Massachusetts,and was instructor and assistant professor of economics atHarvard Universityfrom 1900 to 1909.[3]

In January 1907, Andrew published a paper that anticipated the economic panic that hit in the fall of that year. On the strength of this paper as well as on his strong economics education, Andrew was selected to serve on theNational Monetary Commissiontasked with reforming the American banking system. Andrew took a leave from Harvard and spent two years studying the central banks ofGermany,BritainandFrance.He served asDirector of the U.S. Mintin 1909 and 1910, and as Assistant Secretary of the Treasury during 1910–1912.[2]He attended the historic meeting atJekyll Islandin 1910 with commission chairmanNelson W. Aldrich,Henry P. Davison,Benjamin Strong,Paul Warburg,andFrank A. Vanderlip.[4]The commission's report recommended the creation of aFederal Reserve System.[5]

The Republicans lost the White House in 1912, putting Andrew out of a job. He worked informally after the election with Democratic SenatorRobert Latham Owento draft Owen's version of a Federal Reserve Bill, which in the event came closest of several competing drafts to the Act eventually passed and signed into law in December 1913.[6]

Founder of American Field Service

edit
Grenville Keogh,Anne Harriman Vanderbilt,Anne Morgan,Piatt Andrew, 1916 (Grenville Keogh was an ambulance driver for the American Ambulance Field Service)

Despite American neutrality, Andrew went to France when war broke out in the summer of 1914. He wrote to his parents about his compulsion to respond to "the possibility of having even an infinitesimal part in one of the greatest events in all history--...and above all the chance of doing the little all that one can for France."[7]

Andrew drove an ambulance in the Dunkirk sector for a few weeks, but his supervisor at theAmerican Military Hospitalrecognized his exceptional energy and organizing ability.Robert Baconcreated a new position for him to fill: Inspector General of the American Ambulance Field Service.[8]In his official capacity, Andrew toured the ambulance sections of Northern France and learned that the American volunteers were bored with so called "jitney work," transporting wounded soldiers from railheads to hospitals, far back from the front lines. French army policy prohibited foreign nationals from traveling into battle zones.[9]

In March 1915, Andrew met with Captain Aime Doumenc, head of the French Army Automobile Service and pleaded his case for the American volunteers. They desired above all, he said, "To pick up the wounded from the front lines..., to look danger squarely in the face; in a word, to mingle with the soldiers of France and to share their fate!"[10]Doumenc agreed to a trial. The success of Andrew's Section Z was immediate and overwhelming. By April 15, 1915, the French created American Ambulance Field Service operating under French Army command.

Lieutenant Colonel A. Piatt Andrew Jr.

Andrew headed the organization, soon shortened toAmerican Field Service,throughout the war, though his role changed significantly when its ambulance sections were taken over by the United States Army in late summer 1917. Andrew established a domestic organization based in Boston to recruit young American drivers and to raise funds from wealthy donors. The stateside office was headed byHenry Davis Sleeperand assisted byJohn Hays Hammond Jrand former ambulance driver, Leslie Buswell. The French office was located at number 21 rue Raynouard, Paris.

At the time of militarization, the American Field Service had formed thirty-four ambulance sections manned by 1,200 American volunteers. (A total of 2,100 volunteers had volunteered over the course of two years.) In addition the AFS had created fourteen camion sections with 800 additional American volunteers trucking supplies and soldiers up theVoie Sacreefrom Bar-le-Duc to Verdun and other routes to the Front.[11]

The AFS motto was "Tous et tout pour France," everyone and everything for France. At an AFS reunion a few years after the war, Andrew said, "The opportunity of living in France, as we Americans lived during the first years of the war...meant glimpses of human nature shorn of self, exalted by love of country, singing and jesting in the midst of hardships, smiling at pain, unmindful even of death."[12]

Congressman

edit

Andrew was elected as aRepublicanto theSixty-seventh United States Congressto fill the vacancy caused by the resignation ofWillfred W. Lufkin;he was reelected to theSixty-eighthand to the six succeeding Congresses and served from September 27, 1921, until his death.[3]

He was a delegate to theRepublican National Conventionsin 1924 and 1928. In 1924, he proposed a bonus forWorld War Iveterans.[13]

He was a member of theboard of trusteesofPrinceton Universityfrom 1932 to 1936.[3]

Personal life

edit

Andrew, a lifelong bachelor, was in a relationship with his neighbor, interior designerHenry Davis Sleeper,and this relationship may have been sexual.[14][15][16]

Awards

edit

He was made an officer in theLegion of Honorin 1927.[17]He received theArmy Distinguished Service Medalfor his World War I service.[18]He was named an Officer in Belgium'sOrder of Leopold.[3]He was awarded theCroix de Guerreand named a Chevalier de laLegion of Honourin 1917 by the French government.[19]

Death and legacy

edit

He died on June 3, 1936, inGloucester, Massachusetts,at his home "Red Roof" frominfluenza,which he had been suffering from for several weeks.[1]The following day theUnited States House of Representativesadjourned at 2:55 p.m. to honor his death.[20]

His remains were cremated and the ashes scattered from an airplane flying over his estate on Eastern Point in Gloucester.

In 1953, a bridge carryingMassachusetts Route 128over theAnnisquam Riverto the island section of Gloucester was named the "A. Piatt Andrew Bridge" in honor of his service as a congressman.[21]

See also

edit

References

edit
  1. ^ab"A. P. Andrew Dies. Massachusetts Republican Was Stricken With Influenza at the Capital".The New York Times.Associated Press.June 3, 1936.RetrievedMay 1,2015.
  2. ^abThe National Cyclopaedia of American Biography(Supplement 1 ed.). New York: James T. White & Company. 1910. pp. 430–1.RetrievedMay 1,2015.
  3. ^abcdeWho Was Who in American History – the Military.Chicago: Marquis Who's Who. 1975. p. 12.ISBN0837932017.
  4. ^McCulley, Richard T. (1980).The Origins of the Federal Reserve Act of 1913: Banks and Politics during the Progressive Era, 1897-1913(Ph.D.). University of Texas. p. 366.
  5. ^"The Federal Reserve And The Men Who Created It. Part Three: Abram Piatt Andrew".Archived fromthe originalon May 13, 2015.RetrievedMay 1,2015.
  6. ^Lowenstein, Roger.America's Bank(New York, Penguin, 2015), p. 202.
  7. ^Hansen, Arlen (2011) [1996].Gentlemen Volunteers.Arcade Publishing. pp. 39–40.
  8. ^Hansen, Arlen (2011) [1996].Gentlemen Volunteers.Arcade Publishing. p. 42.
  9. ^Hansen, Arlen (2011) [1996].Gentlemen Volunteers.Arcade Publishing. p. 14.
  10. ^Hansen, Arlen (2011) [1996].Gentlemen Volunteers.Arcade Publishing. p. 44.
  11. ^History of the American Field Service in France, as told by its members, vol. 3, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1920, pages 429-434; and Hansen, page 54
  12. ^History of the American Field Service, volume 1, page 15
  13. ^"New Bonus Plan Urged By Andrews. Bill Offered in House Would Eliminate Officers and Vocational Training".The New York Times.February 21, 1924.RetrievedAugust 1,2014.An alternative to the pending bonus bill was presented today by Representative A. Piatt Andrew of Massachusetts, a former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury and an officer in the World War. In recent months Colonel Andrew and Secretary Mellon have exchanged sharp letters over the cost of adjusted compensation....
  14. ^Improper Bostonians: Lesbian and Gay History from the Puritans to Playland.Beacon Press. 1999.ISBN9780807079492.
  15. ^Shand-Tucci, Douglass (2005).Ralph Adams Cram: An Architect's Four Quests - Medieval, Modernist, American, Ecumenical.Univ of Massachusetts Press.ISBN9781558494893.
  16. ^Carter, Alice A. (2005).Cecilia Beaux.Random House. p. 149.
  17. ^"A. Piatt Andrew Is Made Officer of Legion of Honor".The New York Times.October 9, 1927.RetrievedAugust 1,2014.At an official ceremony this afternoon at Les Invalides Representative A. Piatt Andrew of Massachusetts was promoted to the rank of Officer of the Legion of Honor...
  18. ^"Abram Andrew - Recipient -".
  19. ^Who Was Who in American History – the Military.Chicago: Marquis Who's Who. 1975.ISBN0837932017.
  20. ^"Andrew Is Honored As House Adjourns. Former Representative From Massachusetts Eulogized in Chamber by Treadway".The New York Times.June 4, 1936.RetrievedAugust 1,2014.The House adjourned at 2:55 o'clock this afternoon in respect to Representative A. Piatt Andrew of the Sixth Massachusetts District, who died last night after a...
  21. ^"Yankee Division Highway, Historic Overview".Boston Roads.RetrievedMay 1,2015.

Further reading

edit
edit
Government offices
Preceded by Director of the United States Mint
November 1909 – June 1910 		Succeeded by
U.S. House of Representatives
Preceded by Member of theU.S. House of Representatives
fromMassachusetts's 6th congressional district
September 27, 1921 – June 3, 1936 		Succeeded by
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=A._Piatt_Andrew&oldid=1229643583"