Maurice Stans

Maurice Stans
19th United States Secretary of Commerce
In office January 21, 1969 – February 15, 1972
President	Richard Nixon
Preceded by	C. R. Smith
Succeeded by	Peter George Peterson
Personal details
Born	Maurice Hubert Stans (1908-03-22)March 22, 1908 Shakopee, Minnesota
Died	April 14, 1998(1998-04-14) (aged 90) Pasadena, California
Political party	Republican
Alma mater	Columbia University

Maurice Hubert Stans (March 22, 1908 – April 14, 1998) was an American accountant, high-ranking civil servant, Cabinet member, and political organizer. He served as the finance chairman for the Committee to Re-elect the President, working for the re-election of Richard Nixon, and was a peripheral figure in the ensuing Watergate Scandal.

Early life, education, early career

Maurice Stans getting off an aircraft

Stans was born in Shakopee, Minnesota, in 1908. He was the son of J. Hubert and Mathilda Nyssen Stans and graduated from Shakopee High School in 1925. Stans worked at a local foundry before traveling to Chicago to find work with friend, Otto F. Schultz.^{[citation needed]} The same year he began work as a stenographer and bookkeeper for a Chicago importer, while attending evening classes at Northwestern University. In 1928 he joined the Chicago-based firm of Alexander Grant and Company, certified public accountants, and continued his part-time studies at Columbia University while working at the firm's New York City office. He attended Columbia from 1928–1930. He was an executive partner with the Alexander Grant & Co. accounting firm in Chicago from 1940 until 1955. He was inducted into the Accounting Hall of Fame in 1960.

Civil servant, joins Cabinet

He later served as U.S. deputy postmaster general from 1955–1957, in the Dwight Eisenhower administration. He served as deputy director Bureau of the Budget (as OMB was known before 1970) 1957–1958, and director of the Bureau of the Budget 1958–1961, still under Eisenhower. He joined the Nixon administration as Secretary of Commerce 1969–1972. In 1961, Stans was one of the founders of the African Wildlife Foundation.

CRP, Watergate

In mid-February 1972, he resigned as Secretary of Commerce, to chair the finance committee of the Committee for the Re-Election of the President (CRP), Richard Nixon's re-election campaign. Money that he raised for the campaign was clearly used to finance some of the illegal Watergate activities. However, Stans always maintained, and it has not been proven to the contrary, that he had no knowledge of the various Watergate crimes.^{[citation needed]}

It was rumored but never confirmed that Stans was the source for raising the million dollars in cash which Nixon kept in the White House safe. This cash was used to pay Howard Hunt and the other Watergate burglars, who eventually blackmailed the White House. It was also rumored, but never confirmed that Stans raised the cash from a list of large contributors by threatening IRS audits.

He was indicted in 1973 for perjury and obstruction of justice, but was acquitted the following year.

On 12 March 1975 Stans pled guilty to three counts of violating the reporting sections of the Federal Election Campaign Act and two counts of accepting illegal campaign contributions and was fined $5,000.

He later authored a book, The Terrors of Justice: The Untold Side of Watergate, in which he detailed his side of the Watergate story.

Death

Stans died in 1998 aged 90, following a heart attack at the Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena, California. He was preceded in death by his first wife Kathleen and first-born daughter, Maureen Stans Helmick. He was survived by his wife Penny, his daughter Terry, her husband Bill and their three children, his sons Steve and Ted, his son-in-law, Walter E. Helmick Jr. and his grandchildren, Shelia and Peter, and Peter's wife Lois and their three children: Rebecca, Samantha and Deidre.

External links

• Papers of Maurice H. Stans, Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library

Political offices
Preceded by C. R. Smith	U.S. Secretary of Commerce Served under: Richard Nixon January 21, 1969 – February 15, 1972	Succeeded by Peter George Peterson