Carroll Meins

'''Carroll Leach Meins''' was a political figure who served as a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives, Chairman of the Massachusetts Republican Party, and Collector of Customs for the Port of Boston. thumb|Carroll Meins,member of Massachusetts House of Representatives.|300px

==Early life== Meins was born on October 22, 1892, in Boston.<ref>{{cite book|title=Public Officers of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts 1927-1928|url=https://archive.org/texts/flipbook/flippy.php?id=publicofficialso19271928bost}}</ref> He attended Boston Public Schools and graduated from the High School of Commerce in 1911.

During World War I, Meins enlisted as a first lieutenant in the Quartermaster Corps of the United States Army. He served eighteen months in the American Expeditionary Forces in France.<ref name=Obituary>{{cite news|title=Carroll L. Meins, G. O. P. Leader, Dies Suddenly|newspaper=The Boston Globe|date=September 15, 1953}}</ref>

After the war, Meins served as treasurer of the Sparrow and Meins Chocolate Company.<ref name=Obituary />

==Political career==

===State representative=== Meins was a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1923 to 1929. During his tenure he was chairman of the House Committee on Taxation and was a member of the Committee on Rules.<ref name=Obituary />

===Party leader=== In 1937 he was elected chairman of the Boston Republican Committee.<ref>{{cite news|title=Meins Heads City G. O. P. Committee|newspaper=The Boston Daily Globe|date=February 16, 1937}}</ref>

On May 4, 1938, Meins was elected chairman of the state Republican Party.<ref>{{cite news|title=Meins Heads G. O. P. State Committee|newspaper=The Boston Daily Globe|date=May 5, 1938}}</ref> During his tenure as Chairman, Republican Leverett Saltonstall was elected Governor of Massachusetts. Saltonstall chose Meins to serve as Secretary to the Governor. He was succeeded as party chairman by George W. Schryver on December 14, 1938.<ref>{{cite news|title=Schryver Slated to Succeed Meins|newspaper=The Boston Daily Globe|date=December 14, 1938}}</ref>

===Saltonstall administration=== Meins served as chief secretary to Governor Saltonstall from January 5, 1939, to December 11, 1940, when he accepted an appointment to the State Public Utilities Commission.<ref>{{cite news|last=Harris|first=John G.|title=Governor Appoints Lurie to Head State Parole Board|newspaper=The Boston Daily Globe|date=December 12, 1940}}</ref>

===Bradford administration=== In 1947, Meins was appointed by Robert F. Bradford to head the newly created Metropolitan Transit Authority.<ref>{{cite news|title=Meins, Parkman Among 5 Named to New El Board|newspaper=The Boston Daily Globe|date=June 29, 1947}}</ref> Although Meins had a ten-year term, on January 5, 1949, he and the four other members of the Metropolitan Transit Authority Board of Trustees resigned, as they believed incoming Governor Paul A. Dever was entitled to appoint his own board. Dever had been expected to remove the trustees, as the MTA system had run a $9 million deficit under their leadership.<ref>{{cite news|title=Meins, Other 4 Trustees of M.T.A. Quit|newspaper=The Boston Daily Globe|date=January 6, 1949}}</ref>

==Collector of Customs== In 1953, Meins was appointed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower to serve as Collector of Customs for the Port of Boston. He died on September 14, 1953, at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.<ref name=Obituary />

==References== {{reflist}}

{{s-start}} {{S-ppo}} {{succession box | before = Sinclair Weeks | title = Chairman of the Massachusetts Republican Party | years = 1938 | after = George W. Schryver}} {{S-gov}} {{succession box | before = William H. Burke, Jr. | title = Collector of Customs for the Port of Boston | years = 1953 | after = Maynard Hutchinson}} {{s-end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Meins, Carroll L.}} Category:1892 births Category:1953 deaths Category:Businesspeople in the confectionery industry Category:Massachusetts Republican Party chairs Category:Republican Party members of the Massachusetts House of Representatives Category:Politicians from Boston Category:Collectors of the Port of Boston Category:20th-century members of the Massachusetts General Court