Edwin Denby (politician)

{{Short description|American lawyer and politician (1870–1929)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=July 2024}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Edwin Denby | image = ECDenby.jpg | office = 42nd [[United States Secretary of the Navy]] | president = [[Warren G. Harding]] [[Calvin Coolidge]] | term_start = March 6, 1921 | term_end = March 10, 1924 | predecessor = [[Josephus Daniels]] | successor = [[Curtis D. Wilbur]] | state1 = [[Michigan]] | district1 = {{ushr|MI|1|1st}} | term_start1 = March 4, 1905 | term_end1 = March 3, 1911 | predecessor1 = [[Alfred Lucking]] | successor1 = [[Frank Ellsworth Doremus|Frank Doremus]] | office2 = Member of the [[Michigan House of Representatives]] | term2 = 1903 | birth_date = {{birth date|1870|2|18}} | birth_place = [[Evansville, Indiana]], U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|1929|2|8|1870|2|18}} | death_place = [[Detroit]], [[Michigan]], U.S. | party = [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] | spouse = [[Marion Bartlett Thurber]] | education = [[University of Michigan|University of Michigan, Ann Arbor]] {{small|([[Bachelor of Laws|LLB]])}} | allegiance = {{flag|United States}} | branch = {{flag|United States Navy}} {{flag|United States Marine Corps}} | service_years = 1898 {{small|(USN)}} 1917–1919 {{small|(USMC)}} | rank = [[Gunner's mate|Gunner's Mate 3rd Class]] {{small|(USN)}} [[Major (rank)|Major]] {{small|(USMC)}} | battles = [[Spanish–American War|Spanish-American War]] [[World War I]] }} '''Edwin Denby''' (February 18, 1870 – February 8, 1929) was an American [[lawyer]] and politician who served as [[United States Secretary of the Navy|Secretary of the Navy]] in the administrations of [[Warren G. Harding]] and [[Calvin Coolidge]] from 1921 to 1924. He also played a notable role in the infamous [[Teapot Dome scandal]] which took place during the Harding presidency. He was the son of [[Charles Harvey Denby]], grandson of [[Graham N. Fitch]], brother of [[Charles Denby, Jr.]], and uncle of dance critic [[Edwin Denby (poet)|Edwin Orr Denby]].

==Early life and education== Denby was born in [[Evansville, Indiana]], where he attended the public schools. In 1885, his father, [[Charles Harvey Denby]], was appointed United States minister at [[Peking]], [[China]], by President [[Grover Cleveland]], and Edwin accompanied him. He worked in the maritime customs service from 1887 to 1894. He then returned to the United States and graduated from [[law school]] at the [[University of Michigan]] in 1896. While attending the University of Michigan, Denby played on the [[1895 Michigan Wolverines football team]]. He was subsequently admitted to the [[bar (law)|bar]] and began practicing as a lawyer in [[Detroit, Michigan|Detroit]].

In 1898 Denby enlisted in the [[United States Navy]] and served aboard the [[auxiliary cruiser]] [[USS Yosemite (1892)|USS ''Yosemite'']] in the [[Caribbean]]. He was discharged with the rating of [[Gunner's mate|Gunner's Mate 3rd Class]].

==Political and military career== He was a member of the [[Michigan House of Representatives]] in 1903. In 1904, Denby was elected as a [[United States Republican Party|Republican]] from [[Michigan's 1st congressional district]] to the [[50th United States Congress|59th]], [[60th United States Congress|60th]] and [[61st United States Congress|61st]] Congresses, serving from March 4, 1905, to March 3, 1911. Denby served as chairman of the [[United States House Committee on Naval Affairs]].

He was defeated in 1910 general election by [[Democrat (United States)|Democrat]] [[Frank E. Doremus]] and resumed his law practice in Detroit. He served as president of the Detroit Board of Commerce in 1916, and in 1917 enlisted as a [[Private (rank)|private]] in the [[United States Marine Corps]] when the U.S. entered [[World War I]]. He was discharged in 1919 with the rank of [[Major (United States)|major]].

When [[Warren G. Harding]] became President in March 1921, he appointed Denby Secretary of the Navy. During the crisis of mail robberies in 1921, Denby issued orders that Marines should be put in mail trucks and rail cars as protectors of the U.S. Mails.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Rail Detectives Victors in War on Crime|journal=[[Popular Mechanics]]|date=March 1924|volume=41|issue=3|pages=336–339}}</ref> In his stirring order "To the Men of the Mail Guard", Denby impressed upon his former service the importance of the high duty entrusted to them: "If two Marines are covered by a robber, neither must put up his hands, but both must immediately go for their guns. One may die, but the other will get the robber, and the mail will get through. ''When our Corps goes in as guards over the mail, that mail must be delivered, or there must be a Marine dead at the post of duty. There can be no compromise ...''" Within days, the robberies stopped, and there was not a single delivery of the mails disrupted while Marines stood the watch.

===Teapot Dome scandal=== {{Main|Teapot Dome scandal}} Shortly afterwards, Denby got Harding's approval to transfer control of the naval oil reserves at [[Teapot Rock|Teapot Dome]], [[Wyoming]], and [[Elk Hills Oil Field|Elk Hills]], [[California]], from the [[United States Department of the Navy|Department of the Navy]] to the [[Department of the Interior]], headed by [[Albert B. Fall]]. Fall proceeded to lease these oil fields to friends who were heads of oil companies in exchange for over $400,000 in personal loans. Despite attempts to keep the deal secret, ''[[The Wall Street Journal]]'' leaked news of the leasing, and the [[United States Senate|Senate]] decided to launch an inquiry into the matter.

The investigation began in October 1923 after Harding's death, and the Senate Committee on Lands and Public Surveys, which carried out the inquiry, concluded in 1924 that the Teapot Dome and Elk Hills leases to the oil companies had been fraudulent and corrupt. Both Denby and Fall were forced to resign from office as a result; however, it is apparent that President Harding did not have an active role in the wrongdoing.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Murray|first=Robert K.|title=The Politics of Normalcy: Governmental Theory and Practice in the Harding–Coolidge Era|publisher=W. W. Norton & Company|date=1973|ref={{sfnRef|Murray 1973}}|isbn=0-393-05474-8|page=[https://archive.org/details/politicsofnormal00robe/page/107 107]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/politicsofnormal00robe/page/107}}</ref>

==Death== Following his resignation, Denby went back to practicing law in Detroit, where he died at age 58. Detroit's [[Denby High School|Edwin C. Denby High School]] is named in his honor, as is the Denby Center for Children and Family Services, which the Salvation Army opened in Detroit in 1930 to provide housing and treatment for abused and neglected children.

A portrait of Edwin Denby, painted by Robert Grafton, hangs in the Michigan State Capitol Building.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Edwin Denby |url=https://mscac.emuseum.com/objects/23/edwin-denby?ctx=2f2d8d36dc5f4e42874ffe5bdbed7c3c2927d45c&idx=1 |access-date=2025-11-10 |website=mscac.emuseum.com}}</ref>

<gallery> File:Edwin Denby cropped from 1895 University of Michigan football team photo.jpg|Denby as a [[Michigan Wolverines]] football player in 1896 File:LTEDenby.jpg|[[Sergeant#United States|Sergeant]] Edwin Denby, [[United States Marine Corps|USMC in 1918]] File:Denby-Daniels.jpg|Denby shaking hands with his predecessor as Secretary of the Navy, [[Josephus Daniels]] File:Mrs. Edwin Denby LOC npcc.03610.jpg|Mrs. Edwin Denby </gallery>

==See also== {{Portal|Biography}} * [[Little Green House on K Street]]

==References== {{reflist}} * {{CongBio|D000232|Edwin Denby}} Retrieved on 2008-02-24. * [http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/dempster-denious.html#R9M0IUSIH Edwin Denby] at [[The Political Graveyard]]

==External links== {{Commons category|Edwin Denby}} * [http://lcweb2.loc.gov/service/mss/eadxmlmss/eadpdfmss/2007/ms007015.pdf The Denby Family Papers at The Library of Congress] * [https://mscac.emuseum.com/objects/23/edwin-denby?ctx=2f2d8d36dc5f4e42874ffe5bdbed7c3c2927d45c&idx=1 Portrait of Edwin Denby, MI State Capitol]

{{S-start}} {{S-par|us-hs}} {{US House succession box | state=Michigan | district=1 | before=[[Alfred Lucking]] | after=[[Frank E. Doremus]] | years=March 4, 1905 – March 3, 1911 }} {{S-gov}} {{Succession box | before=[[Josephus Daniels]] | title=[[United States Secretary of the Navy]] | years=March 6, 1921 – March 10, 1924 | after=[[Curtis D. Wilbur]]}} {{S-end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Denby, Edwin}} [[Category:1870 births]] [[Category:1929 deaths]] [[Category:Republican Party members of the Michigan House of Representatives]] [[Category:Michigan Wolverines football players]] [[Category:United States secretaries of the navy]] [[Category:American Episcopalians]] [[Category:Michigan lawyers]] [[Category:United States Marine Corps officers]] [[Category:Politicians from Detroit]] [[Category:Politicians from Evansville, Indiana]] [[Category:Military personnel from Indiana]] [[Category:Teapot Dome scandal]] [[Category:Harding administration cabinet members]] [[Category:Coolidge administration cabinet members]] [[Category:University of Michigan Law School alumni]] [[Category:Republican Party United States representatives from Michigan]] [[Category:United States Marine Corps personnel of World War I]] [[Category:United States Navy sailors]] [[Category:20th-century members of the Michigan Legislature]] [[Category:20th-century United States representatives]]