{{Infobox person | name = Charles Kenneth Claunch, Sr. | image = Muir claunch crim 1938.jpg | image_size = | caption = Claunch (c) | birth_date = {{Birth date|1899|10|7}} | birth_place = [[Chicago, Illinois]] | death_date = {{Death date and age|1978|11|9|1899|10|7}} | death_place = [[Ormond Beach, Florida]] | occupation = [[Politician]] | spouse = | parents = | children = }} '''Charles Kenneth Claunch, Sr.''' (October 7, 1899{{spaced ndash}}November 9, 1978) was an usher for the [[White House]] who was appointed as Government Secretary to the [[United States Virgin Islands]] and was briefly acting-[[Governor of the United States Virgin Islands|Governor]] in 1955 after a scandal.<ref>His Florida death certificate lists his birth as October 7, 1898 and the [[Social Security Death Index]] lists it as October 7, 1899. The SSDI is always considered more accurate since he would have to have submitted a birth certificate when he applied for Social Security.</ref>
==Biography== Claunch was born in [[Chicago, Illinois]], and joined the [[United States Navy]] in 1918 where he was assigned to the White House as an assistant to a naval aide. In 1938, with a rank of [[chief petty officer]], he resigned from the Navy to accept a position as an usher in the White House.<ref>{{cite news |title=Body of Gus Gennerich Will Be Taken to Washington on the Cruiser Indianapolis. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1936/12/02/archives/presidents-guard-dies-in-restaurant-body-of-gus-gennerich-will-be.html |quote=... accompanied by Charles Claunch, Chief Yeoman, United States Navy |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=December 2, 1936 |accessdate=2008-07-01 }}</ref> In 1943, his wife committed suicide.
He was appointed Government Secretary, a position in the territorial government equivalent to [[Lieutenant Governor]] of a state, on March 25, 1954.<ref>{{cite news |title=White House Usher Named To $9,800 Job. |url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/506317312.html?dids=506317312:506317312&FMT=CITE&FMTS=CITE:AI&type=historic&date=Mar+26,+1954&author=&pub=Chicago+Tribune&desc=WHITE+HOUSE+USHER+NAMED+TO+$9,800+JOB&pqatl=google |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120112005113/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/506317312.html?dids=506317312:506317312&FMT=CITE&FMTS=CITE:AI&type=historic&date=Mar+26,+1954&author=&pub=Chicago+Tribune&desc=WHITE+HOUSE+USHER+NAMED+TO+$9,800+JOB&pqatl=google |url-status=dead |archive-date=January 12, 2012 |quote=Charles K. Claunch, 55, White House usher and a native of Chicago, was appointed government secretary of the Virgin islands today by President ... |publisher=[[Chicago Tribune]] |date=March 26, 1954 |accessdate=2008-07-01 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Claunch, Assistant Usher, Will Be Next to Governor in the Virgin Group|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1954/03/26/archives/white-house-aide-gets-islands-post-claunch-assistant-usher-will-be.html?scp=1 |quote=Charles Kenneth Claunch, who has been working at the White House since 1929, was called in a week ago by President Eisenhower, who said he was sorry that Mr. Claunch would have to leave the executive mansion. |work=The New York Times |date=March 26, 1954 |accessdate=2008-07-01 }}</ref> After a scandal and the resignation of Governor [[Archie Alexander]], Claunch was made acting-Governor from August 17 to October 31, 1955. He was reportedly offered the position of full Governor, but declined. The Washington Post reported that he was the only white man to have served under Alexander's government. He resigned in 1957. He died on November 9, 1978, in [[Ormond Beach, Florida]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Charles Kenneth Claunch |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=fHYpAAAAIBAJ&sjid=8tIEAAAAIBAJ&pg=2050,4521941&dq=charles+claunch&hl=en |quote=Born In Chicago, Mr. Claunch moved here from Orlando in 1973. He was a Navy veteran of World War I and a member of St. Brendan's Catholic Church Survivors ... |work=[[Daytona Beach Morning Journal]] |date=November 10, 1978 |accessdate=2010-06-25 }}</ref>
==See also== {{Portal|Biography}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Further reading== *''[[The Washington Post]]''; April 5, 1938; White House Changes. *''[[The Washington Post]]''; Jan 10, 1943; City News In Brief. *''The New York Times''; August 19, 1955; Island Choice Weighed.
==External links==
{{S-start}} {{Succession box|title=[[Governor of the United States Virgin Islands|Governor of the U.S. Virgin Islands]]|before=[[Archibald A. Alexander]]|after=[[Walter A. Gordon]]|years=1955<br/><small>''Acting-Governor''</small>}} {{S-end}} {{Governors of the U.S. Virgin Islands}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Claunch, Charles Kenneth}} [[Category:1899 births]] [[Category:1978 deaths]] [[Category:Military personnel from Illinois]] [[Category:Politicians from Chicago]] [[Category:United States Navy sailors]] [[Category:Governors of the United States Virgin Islands]] [[Category:20th-century American people]]