Robert E. Hannegan - Misplaced Pages

(Redirected from Robert Hannegan) American politician

Robert Hannegan


52nd United States Postmaster General
In office June 30, 1945 – December 15, 1947
President	Harry S. Truman
Preceded by	Frank C. Walker
Succeeded by	Jesse M. Donaldson
Chair of the Democratic National Committee
In office January 23, 1944 – October 29, 1947
Preceded by	Frank C. Walker
Succeeded by	J. Howard McGrath
27th Commissioner of Internal Revenue
In office October 9, 1943 – January 22, 1944
President	Franklin D. Roosevelt
Preceded by	Guy T. Helvering
Succeeded by	Harold Graves (Acting)

Personal details
Born	Robert Emmet Hannegan (1903-06-30)June 30, 1903 St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.
Died	October 6, 1949(1949-10-06) (aged 46) St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.
Resting place	Calvary Cemetery
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Irma Protzmann
Education	Saint Louis University (LLB)

Robert Emmet Hannegan (June 30, 1903 – October 6, 1949) was an American politician who served as Commissioner of Internal Revenue from October 1943 to January 1944. He also served as chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 1944 to 1947 and United States Postmaster General from 1945 to 1947. At the conclusion of his political career in 1947, Hannegan and his business partner Fred Saigh purchased the St. Louis Cardinals, a Major League Baseball team. But Hannegan, by then ill with heart disease, sold his share of the team ownership to Saigh a few months before his death.

Political career

A power broker in the St. Louis Democratic Party allied with Senator Bennett Clark, Hannegan helped save the political career of Harry S. Truman in 1940 following the tax fraud conviction of Truman's ally, Kansas City boss Tom Pendergast. Hannegan supported Truman for re-election to the U.S. Senate when he was challenged in the Democratic primary by Governor Lloyd C. Stark and Maurice M. Milligan, who both sought credit for bringing down Pendergast. Truman re-won the seat with increased support in St. Louis, particularly from Catholic neighborhoods in which Hannegan wielded considerable influence. In his second term, Truman achieved national prominence by chairing a Senate committee investigating government waste in defense contracts. When Franklin D. Roosevelt offered Truman the position of DNC chairman, Truman declined but recommended Hannegan.

In 1944, Roosevelt appointed Hannegan, who had been the Collector of Internal Revenue in St. Louis, to the DNC after testing him by asking for his help with his income tax return. As Democratic chairman, Hannegan was responsible for brokering the deal that made Truman Roosevelt's running mate that year. Shortly before the 1944 Democratic National Convention, Roosevelt famously sent Hannegan a letter stating he would be "happy to run with" either Truman or Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas. Vice President Henry A. Wallace nearly won the nomination, but Hannegan worked feverishly to secure Truman's nomination. Hannegan later joked he wanted his tombstone inscribed with the words "Here lies the man who stopped Henry Wallace from becoming President of the United States."

Though plagued with ill health for much of his tenure as party chairman, Hannegan emphasized voter turnout efforts in Roosevelt's 1944 re-election campaign and prevented an upset by Thomas Dewey, who won a surprising 46 percent of the popular vote that year. He promoted a liberal policy agenda for the national party and was a strong advocate of labor unions. Hannegan stepped down as chairman after Democrats suffered congressional losses in the 1946 midterm elections, but his ideological focus at the helm of the party contributed to Truman's upset win in the presidential election of 1948, and influenced his Fair Deal proposals.

Death

Hannegan died in St. Louis, Missouri, on October 6, 1949. He is interred in Calvary Cemetery in St. Louis, Missouri.

In popular culture

Hannegan was mentioned in the film Miracle on 34th Street in his role as Postmaster General. Therefore, in the film, by implication, he was responsible for affirming that the central character, Mr. Kris Kringle, was the one and only Santa Claus.

Hannegan was portrayed by actor John Finn in the 1995 film Truman.

References

Gunther, John (1950). Roosevelt in Retrospect. Harper & Brothers. pp. 116.
What If 2? Edited by Robert Crowley. 'The Presidency of Henry Wallace', by James Chace, page 394
Historical Tour Outline of Calvary Cemetery (brochure)

External links

Truman Library Hannegan papers

Government offices
Preceded byGuy T. Helvering	Commissioner of Internal Revenue 1943–1944	Succeeded byHarold Graves Acting
Party political offices
Preceded byFrank C. Walker	Chair of the Democratic National Committee 1944–1947	Succeeded byJ. Howard McGrath
Political offices
Preceded byFrank C. Walker	United States Postmaster General 1945–1947	Succeeded byJesse M. Donaldson

v t e United States postmasters general
Confederal	Franklin Bache Hazard
Federal	Osgood Pickering Habersham G. Granger Meigs McLean
Cabinet level Post Office Department	Barry Kendall Niles F. Granger Wickliffe Johnson Collamer Hall Hubbard Campbell A. Brown Holt King Blair Dennison Randall Creswell Marshall Jewell Tyner Key Maynard James Howe Gresham Hatton Vilas Dickinson Wanamaker Bissell Wilson Gary Smith Payne Wynne Cortelyou Meyer Hitchcock Burleson Hays Work New W. Brown Farley Walker Hannegan Donaldson Summerfield Day Gronouski O'Brien Watson Blount
U.S. Postal Service	Blount Klassen Bailar Bolger Carlin Casey Tisch Frank Runyon Henderson Potter Donahoe Brennan DeJoy

Democratic Party

History

National
conventions,
presidential
tickets,
and
presidential
primaries

Presidential
administrations

Jackson (1829–1837)
Van Buren (1837–1841)
Polk (1845–1849)
Pierce (1853–1857)
Buchanan (1857–1861)
A. Johnson (1868–1869)
Cleveland (1885–1889; 1893–1897)
Wilson (1913–1921)
Roosevelt (1933–1941; 1941–1945)
Truman (1945–1953)
Kennedy (1961–1963)
L. B. Johnson (1963–1969)
Carter (1977–1981)
Clinton (1993–2001)
Obama (2009–2017)
Biden (2021–)

U.S. House
leaders,
Speakers,
and
Caucus
chairs

A. Stevenson (1827–1834)
Bell (1834–1835)
Polk (1835–1839)
J. W. Jones (1843–1845)
Davis (1845–1847)
Cobb (1849–1851)
Boyd (1851–1855)
G. W. Jones (1855–1857)
Orr (1857–1859)
Houston (1859–1861)
Niblack/Randall (1869–1871)
Niblack (1873–1875)
Kerr (1875–1876)
Randall (1876–1881)
Carlisle (1883–1889)
Holman (1889–1891)
Crisp (1891–1895)
D. B. Culberson (1895–1897)
Richardson (1897–1903)
Williams (1903–1909)
Clark (1909–1921)
Kitchin (1921–1923)
Garrett (1923–1929)
Garner (1929–1933)
Rainey (1933–1934)
Byrns (1935–1936)
Bankhead (1936–1940)
Rayburn (1940–1961)
McCormack (1962–1971)
Albert (1971–1977)
O'Neill (1977–1987)
Wright (1987–1989)
Foley (1989–1995)
Gephardt (1995–2003)
Pelosi (2003–2023)
Jeffries (2023–)

U.S. Senate
leaders
and
Caucus
chairs

J. W. Stevenson (1873–1877)
Wallace (1877–1881)
Pendleton (1881–1885)
Beck (1885–1890)
Gorman (1890–1898)
Turpie (1898–1899)
J. K. Jones (1899–1903)
Gorman (1903–1906)
Blackburn (1906–1907)
C. A. Culberson (1907–1909)
Money (1909–1911)
Martin (1911–1913)
Kern (1913–1917)
Martin (1917–1919)
Hitchcock (1919–1920)
Underwood (1920–1923)
Robinson (1923–1937)
Barkley (1937–1949)
Lucas (1949–1951)
McFarland (1951–1953)
Johnson (1953–1961)
Mansfield (1961–1977)
Byrd (1977–1989)
Mitchell (1989–1995)
Daschle (1995–2005)
Reid (2005–2017)
Schumer (2017–)

Chairs of
the DNC

State and
territorial
parties

Affiliated
groups

Congress	Senate Caucus Policy Committee Steering and Outreach Committee House Caucus Factions Blue Dog Coalition Congressional Progressive Caucus Justice Democrats New Democrat Coalition Problem Solvers Caucus
Fundraising	Democratic Attorneys General Association Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Democratic Governors Association Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee National Conference of Democratic Mayors National Democratic Redistricting Committee
Sectional	College Democrats of America Democrats Abroad National Federation of Democratic Women Stonewall Democrats Stonewall Young Democrats Young Democrats of America High School Democrats of America

Primaries
Presidential candidates
Debates
Superdelegate
Chairmanship elections
- 2005
- 2017
- 2021
- 2025
House caucus leadership elections
- 2006
- 2018
Weekly Democratic Address

v t e Cabinet of President Harry S. Truman (1945–1953)
Vice President	None (1945–1949) Alben W. Barkley (1949–1953)
Secretary of State	Edward Stettinius Jr. (1945) James F. Byrnes (1945–1947) George C. Marshall (1947–1949) Dean Acheson (1949–1953)
Secretary of the Treasury	Henry Morgenthau Jr. (1945) Fred M. Vinson (1945–1946) John Wesley Snyder (1946–1953)
Secretary of War	Henry L. Stimson (1945) Robert P. Patterson (1945–1947) Kenneth Claiborne Royall (1947)
Secretary of Defense	James Forrestal (1947–1949) Louis A. Johnson (1949–1950) George C. Marshall (1950–1951) Robert A. Lovett (1951–1953)
Attorney General	Francis Biddle (1945) Tom C. Clark (1945–1949) J. Howard McGrath (1949–1952) James P. McGranery (1952–1953)
Postmaster General	Frank C. Walker (1945) Robert E. Hannegan (1945–1947) Jesse M. Donaldson (1947–1953)
Secretary of the Navy	James Forrestal (1945–1947)
Secretary of the Interior	Harold L. Ickes (1945–1946) Julius Albert Krug (1946–1949) Oscar L. Chapman (1949–1953)
Secretary of Agriculture	Claude R. Wickard (1945) Clinton Anderson (1945–1948) Charles F. Brannan (1948–1953)
Secretary of Commerce	Henry A. Wallace (1945–1946) W. Averell Harriman (1946–1948) Charles W. Sawyer (1948–1953)
Secretary of Labor	Frances Perkins (1945) Lewis B. Schwellenbach (1945–1948) Maurice J. Tobin (1948–1953)

v t e Principal owners of the St. Louis Cardinals franchise
Chris von der Ahe Frank & Stanley Robison Helene Hathaway Britton Sam Breadon Robert E. Hannegan & Fred Saigh Fred Saigh Gussie Busch Anheuser-Busch William DeWitt Jr.

Categories: