(1871–1937), urban reformer, secretary of war

The career of Newton D. Baker, Woodrow Wilson's second secretary of war (1916–21), was paradoxical. A compassionate man, he balanced concern for justice with commitment to order. A man of peace, he became an accomplished warmaker. A social reformer, he did little to combat wartime racial and political prejudice in the army. An antimilitarist, he supported national conscription. A man with no experience in foreign affairs, he supervised the movement of the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) to France and protected their independence against the French and British who attempted to amalgamate them with their own armies. The rather unimposing, bespectacled, owlish‐looking cabinet officer thus gave President Wilson a strong hand at the peace table and achieved recognition as a successful secretary of war.

A lawyer and reform Democratic mayor of Cleveland, Baker had a reputation as a pacifist as well as an efficient administrator when Wilson appointed him to succeed Lindley Garrison in March 1916 on the eve of the U.S. Punitive Expedition into Mexico. Unlike Garrison, who had been won over by the generals and the Republican‐based Preparedness movement, Baker always remained loyal to Wilson. In the War Department he was a conciliator and kept congenial connections between his office, the General Staff, and the army's bureau chiefs as long as possible. Even during the war production and transportation crisis in the winter of 1917–18 he refused to act hastily; it was April 1918 before authority was adequately concentrated in the General Staff and the War Industries Board. Baker also refused to resolve command issues between the War Department and the AEF. In the struggle between Gen. John J. Pershing and Chief of Staff Peyton C. March for the control of military policy, Baker did not decide in March's favor until the war was nearly over. The secretary believed that most problems were resolved if left alone. After the war, he remained an outspoken Wilsonian internationalist and was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1924.

[See also World War I: Domestic Course.]

Bibliography

• Frederick Palmer, Newton D. Baker: America at War, 2 vols., 1933.
• Daniel R. Beaver, Newton D. Baker and the American War Effort 1917–1918, 1966

Baker, Newton Diehl (1871-1937) secretary of war during World War I. The Reform mayor of Cleveland (1912-16), and a member of the American Union Against Militarism, he was chosen by President Woodrow Wilson as secretary of war. Baker's support for the draft was important in convincing antimilitarist associates that it was necessary in a war for democracy.

See the Introduction, Abbreviations and Pronunciation for further details.

Newton Diehl Baker (1871-1937) was an American lawyer, mayor of Cleveland, and secretary of war from 1916 to 1921. He made his most indelible mark as a municipal reformer in Cleveland.

Newton D. Baker was born in Martinsburg, W.Va., of a family with deep southern roots. In 1892, after graduating from Johns Hopkins University, he took a law degree at Washington and Lee University. A disciple of Edmund Burke, he also admired Thomas Jefferson.

After practicing law briefly in Martinsburg, Baker went first to Washington, D.C., where he served as secretary to Postmaster General William L. Wilson, and then to Cleveland to resume practice. There his astuteness and speaking ability soon won the attention of Thomas L. Johnson, who began an extraordinarily constructive career as a reform mayor in 1901. The youngest man in Johnson's administration, Baker was also one of the most influential. As city solicitor from 1902 through 1912, he brilliantly handled most of the 55 suits brought by the traction interests to prevent reductions in streetcar fares. He also did much to publicize the inequitable tax structure.

Baker early supported Woodrow Wilson for the presidential nomination in 1912, and his success in breaking the unit rule at the convention helped assure Wilson's nomination. Baker had been elected mayor of Cleveland in 1911 and in 1913 was reelected. Furthering Johnson's ideal of a utopia of civic righteousness, he constructed a municipally owned power plant, organized a symphony orchestra supported by civic funds, improved hospital facilities, and in general raised the quality of Cleveland life.

Appointed secretary of war in March 1916, Baker served to the end of Wilson's second term. He was slow to revitalize the Army and Navy, partly because of Wilson's indecisiveness and partly because of his own pacifist leanings. He approved the decision to go to war, however, and despite much Republican criticism of his administration of the War Department, he proved a creditable, though not truly distinguished, secretary.

In 1921 Baker returned to Cleveland and the law. As successful at the bar as he had been as a municipal reformer, he was called the outstanding lawyer of the 1920s by Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes. Baker's practice was largely corporate. He became more conservative as he grew older and spent much of his time in the service of the utility interests he had once opposed. He was an ardent proponent of the League of Nations, and in 1928 he was appointed to the World Court. Though critical of the New Deal, he did not break with his party. Baker died on Christmas Day, 1937, and was survived by his wife, two daughters, and a son.

A gracious and learned man, Baker had an unusually open mind. Though small and slightly built, he was a powerful orator. He was widely regarded as one of the most kindly and charming public men of his time.

Further Reading

Clarence H. Cramer, Newton D. Baker (1961), is the standard biography. Though appreciative in tone, it is quite objective. It should be supplemented by Frederick Palmer, Newton D. Baker: America at War (2 vols., 1931).

Additional Sources

Cramer, C. H. (Clarence Henley), Newton D. Baker, a biography, New York: Garland Pub., 1979, 1961.

For more information on Newton Diehl Baker, visit Britannica.com.

1871–1937, U.S. Secretary of War (1916–21), b. Martinsburg, W.Va. He practiced law and politics in Cleveland as a protégé of Tom L. Johnson. As city solicitor (1902–12) he opposed the powerful public utilities; as mayor (1912–16) he instituted notable tax reforms. Woodrow Wilson appointed him Secretary of War in Mar., 1916. An avowed pacifist, Baker suffered merciless criticism of his conduct of the War Dept. during the early months of World War I and was subjected to a congressional investigation in late 1917. His devotion to his task and the achievements of his department were later praised by all. He retired (1921) to private law practice in Cleveland but remained a public figure. An ardent advocate of peace, he urged U.S. entry into the League of Nations as late as 1924; in 1928, Coolidge appointed him to the Permanent Court of Arbitration (Hague Tribunal).

Bibliography

See biographies by F. Palmer (1931, repr. 1969) and C. H. Cramer (1961); study by D. R. Beaver (1966).

Quotes:

"The man who graduates today and stops learning tomorrow is uneducated the day after."

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