Leverett Saltonstall

For his great-grandfather, see Leverett Saltonstall I.

Leverett Saltonstall
United States Senator from Massachusetts
In office January 10, 1945 – January 3, 1967
Preceded by	Sinclair Weeks
Succeeded by	Edward Brooke
55th Governor of Massachusetts
In office January 5, 1939 – January 3, 1945
Lieutenant	Horace T. Cahill
Preceded by	Charles F. Hurley
Succeeded by	Maurice J. Tobin
Personal details
Born	Leverett A. Saltonstall (1892-09-01)September 1, 1892 Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts
Died	June 17, 1979(1979-06-17) (aged 86) Dover, Massachusetts
Resting place	Harmony Grove Cemetery, Salem, Massachusetts
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Alice Saltonstall
Alma mater	Harvard University
Religion	Unitarian
Military service
Service/branch	United States Army
Years of service	1917−1919
Rank	First Lieutenant
Battles/wars	World War I

Saltonstall in 1938

Leverett A. Saltonstall (September 1, 1892 – June 17, 1979) was an American Republican politician who served as the 55th Governor of Massachusetts (1939–1945) and as a United States Senator (1945–1967).

Biography

Saltonstall was born in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, and was a longtime summer resident of Vinalhaven, Maine. As an adult he spent winters on his family estate in Dover, Massachusetts, where he liked to farm. His father was Richard Middlecott Saltonstall, a lawyer; his mother, Eleanor Brooks Saltonstall, was the daughter of a multimillionaire, Peter C. Brooks. He married Alice Wesselhoeft (1893–1981) in 1916, and together they had six children, including Emily (1920–2006), at one time the daughter-in-law of Richard Byrd and a former WAVE; Peter Brooks Saltonstall, killed in action on Guam on August 13, 1944; William L. Saltonstall (1927–2009), a former member of the Massachusetts Senate; and Susan (1930–1994), a horse breeder.

Part of the Boston Brahmin Saltonstall family, he was able to trace his ancestral roots to the Mayflower, the Pilgrims and the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Saltonstall was the tenth generation in direct descent to graduate from Harvard and the great-grandson of a U.S. Congressman of the same name.

A graduate of the private Noble and Greenough School, he graduated from Harvard College in 1914, where he was captain of the Junior Varsity crew that won the prestigious Grand Challenge Cup at the Henley Royal Regatta – the first American crew ever to do so–and Harvard Law School in 1917. Saltonstall also played hockey at Harvard where he scored a dramatic overtime goal in 1914 for Harvard to beat the legendary Hobey Baker's Princeton team. "Salty" also rowed and played football at Harvard. Prior to being admitted to the bar, he served as a first lieutenant in the United States Army during and after World War I from 1917 to 1919.

Saltonstall, a Republican, entered politics as an alderman in Newton, Massachusetts from 1920 to 1922, while simultaneously serving as an assistant district attorney of Middlesex County from 1921 to 1922. He was elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives that same year; there he rose to the position of Speaker of the House, which he held from 1929 to 1937.

Governor of Massachusetts

In 1936, he was defeated in the election for Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts, but he made a resounding political comeback two years later when he was elected Governor of Massachusetts, a position he held for three terms from 1939 to 1945.

During that period, Governor Saltonstall mediated a Teamsters strike, reduced taxes, and retired 90 percent of the state's debt. He served as President of the National Governor's Association from 1943 to 1944. While he was Governor, the Cocoanut Grove fire occurred in Boston. In 1944, he also served as the fifth President of the Council of State Governments.

US Senator

In 1944, he was elected to the United States Senate in a special election to fill the unexpired term created by the resignation of U.S. Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr. He was re-elected three times to the U.S. Senate, serving from 1945 to 1967. Those he defeated included John H. Corcoran in 1944, John I. Fitzgerald in 1948, Foster Furcolo in 1954, and Thomas J. O'Connor, Jr. in 1960. During his tenure in the Senate, he served as the Senate Republican Whip and on five influential Senate committees. He also served as the chair of the Senate Republican Conference, 1957–1966.

Character description

James Michael Curley once described Saltonstall as having a "Harvard accent with a South Boston face." Though the remark was intended as a political jab, it resonated with truth, as Saltonstall had an uncanny ability to blend his aristocratic lineage with a personable charm which greatly appealed to the average worker and the common man.^{[citation needed]}

Death and legacy

Leverett Saltonstall died of congestive heart failure in 1979 aged 86, and is buried in Harmony Grove Cemetery in Salem, Massachusetts. The Saltonstall Building in downtown Boston is named for him.

External links

• Leverett Saltonstall at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved January 25, 2008
• "Leverett Saltonstall". Find a Grave. Retrieved January 25, 2008. 
• Official Commonwealth of Massachusetts Governor Biography

Political offices
Preceded by Charles F. Hurley	Governor of Massachusetts 1939–1945	Succeeded by Maurice J. Tobin
Preceded by Sinclair Weeks	United States Senator (Class 2) from Massachusetts 1945–1967 Served alongside: David I. Walsh, Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr., John F. Kennedy, Benjamin A. Smith II, Ted Kennedy	Succeeded by Edward Brooke
Preceded by Kenneth S. Wherry	Senate Republican Whip 1949–1957	Succeeded by Everett Dirksen
Preceded by Scott W. Lucas	Senate Minority Whip 1949–1953	Succeeded by Earle C. Clements
Preceded by Lyndon B. Johnson	Senate Majority Whip 1953–1955
Preceded by Richard B. Russell, Jr.	Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee 1953 – 1955	Succeeded by Richard B. Russell, Jr.
Preceded by Earle C. Clements	Senate Minority Whip 1955–1957	Succeeded by Everett Dirksen
Preceded by Eugene D. Millikin	Chairman of the Senate Republican Conference 1957−1967	Succeeded by Margaret Chase Smith