Arthur Summerfield

Arthur Ellsworth Summerfield
54th United States Postmaster General
In office 1953–1961
Preceded by	Jesse M. Donaldson
Succeeded by	J. Edward Day
Personal details
Born	March 17, 1899 Pinconning, Michigan, USA
Died	April 26, 1972 (aged 73) West Palm Beach, Florida, USA
Political party	Republican
Profession	Politician

Arthur Ellsworth Summerfield (Pinconning, Michigan, 17 March 1899 – 26 April 1972 in West Palm Beach, Florida) was a U.S. political figure and the 54th Postmaster General of the United States.

Early career

Before embarking on his political career, Summerfield had become well known in Michigan as the owner of one of the largest General Motors automobile dealerships in the state; and one of the largest in the Midwest.

Political career

Summerfield ran unsuccessfully for the governorship of his home state of Michigan in 1946. He served as the chairman of the Republican National Committee between 1952 and 1953. At the 1952 Republican National Convention he played a key role in winning the GOP presidential nomination for General Dwight Eisenhower. As Michigan's delegate chairman Summerfield convinced the large, uncommitted Michigan delegation to support Eisenhower, thus providing "Ike" with a major boost before the voting.

Postmaster General

In December 1952, President-Elect Eisenhower chose Summerfield as the federal Postmaster General; he served in that post from 1953 to 1961. His assistant postmaster was former U.S. Representative Ben H. Guill of Texas.

As postmaster general, Summerfield oversaw attempts to reform and modernize the Post Office and the U.S. mail system, which was still conducting many sorting and processing operations by hand. Summerfield called for an increase in postage rates to subsidize the purchase of new mechanized mail processing and sorting equipment. Some of this equipment was adopted, including the Hamper-Dumper internal mail sorting/transport system and the Mail-Flo Letter Processing System, which used conveyors to speed mail processing. However, rapidly increasing mail volume and postal deficits prevented the Post Office from completely modernizing and mechanizing all of its many post offices. To improve the Post Office's image with the public, Summerfield began a promotional campaign designed to showcase Post Office achievements. On October 7, 1954, Summerfield appeared on the ABC television network to introduce an innovative anthology series, The Mail Story, subtitled Handle with Care. The semi-documentary and dramatic program ended its run on December 30, 1954. On July 4, 1955, in order to highlight its new image as a modern organization, the Post Office adopted a new red, white, and blue color scheme for all Post Office collection boxes, trucks, delivery vans, and equipment, as well as new technology and procedures for mail delivery. As part of that effort, Summerfield supported experiments with rocket-delivered mail, using the missile mail carrier. The first and only flight of the missile mail carrier occurred on 8 June 1959, when a letter-stuffed Regulus cruise missile was successfully launched from the U.S. Navy submarine USS Barbero.

Missile Mail

Quote

Before man reaches the moon your mail will be delivered within hours from New York to California, to England, to India or to Australia by guided missiles.... We stand on the threshold of rocket mail.

External links

• Papers of Arthur E. Summerfield, Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library
• Retrofuture
• Postal Museum
• United States Postal Service
• The Political Graveyard

Political offices
Preceded by Jesse M. Donaldson	United States Postmaster General Served under: Dwight D. Eisenhower 1953–1961	Succeeded by J. Edward Day
Party political offices
Preceded by Guy Gabrielson	Chairman of the Republican National Committee 1952–1953	Succeeded by C. Wesley Roberts