Charles W. Sawyer (February 10, 1887 – April 7, 1979) was an American lawyer and diplomat who served as the United States Secretary of Commerce from May 6, 1948 to January 20, 1953 in the administration of Harry Truman.
Early life
Sawyer was born in Cincinnati, Ohio on February 10, 1887. He was a son of Caroline (née Butler) Sawyer and Edward Milton Sawyer, a Maine Republican who moved to Ohio become a principal.[1]
Sawyer (in the foreground) as Secretary of Commerce at a meeting of Truman's cabinet (February 1949)
He served as a member of Cincinnati City Council from 1912 until 1916 when he ran for Mayor of Cincinnati losing to George Puchta. Prior to his political career, he worked at the Cincinnati law firm of Dinsmore & Shohl.
Secretary of State James F. Byrnes (center), President Truman (left) and Ambassador Sawyer, on the president's arrival in Antwerp en route to Germany to attend the Potsdam Conference.
In 1948, Sawyer was chosen to succeed W. Averell Harriman as the United States Secretary of Commerce.[11][12] While Secretary of Commerce, Sawyer was ordered by Truman to seize and operate the steel mills in 1952.[13] This seizure was executed to prevent a labor strike which Truman believed would hamper the ability of the United States to proceed in the war in Korea.
While Secretary of Commerce, Secretary Sawyer declared the first National Secretaries Week from June 1 to 7, 1952. He designated Wednesday, June 4, as National Secretaries Day for this formerly male-dominated field of work turned female-dominated by sociocultural anamorphisms. Upon the end of Truman's term as office, Sawyer's term as Commerce Secretary also ended and he was succeeded by the Republican Sinclair Weeks who served during the administration of President Dwight D. Eisenhower.[14]
Later career
When Sawyer returned to Cincinnati after serving President Truman, he joined the law firm of Taft, Stettinius, and Hollister, which had been founded by another prominent Cincinnati politician, Robert A. Taft (the elder son of President William Howard Taft), and became its managing partner. Following Taft's death, Sawyer succeeded to his seat on the board of the Central Trust Company, a Cincinnati bank.[15]
In 1968, he authored Concerns of a Conservative Democrat which was published by the Southern Illinois University Press. Sawyer served on the Hoover Commission on Overseas Economic Operations Task Force, the Commission on Money and Credit, and the World's Fair Site Committee.
Sawyer gave $1 million to purchase 123 acres of riverfront property in Cincinnati for what became Sawyer Point Park.[16]
Personal life
Ambassador Sawyer, Mrs. Sawyer, and Harold Stark walking to the meeting with President Harry S. Truman in July 1945.Mrs. Elizabeth Sawyer leaving the Augusta after paying respects to President Truman in 1945.
On July 15, 1918 Sawyer married his first wife, Margaret Sterrett Johnston, a niece of Col. William Cooper Procter of Procter & Gamble. Together, they had five children, two daughters and three sons, including:[16] Anne Johnston Sawyer (who married John Pattison Williams. She later married John Bradley Greene);[16] Charles W. Sawyer II; Jean Johnston Sawyer (who married the Very Rev. John J. Weaver, Dean of Detroit Cathedral, in 1948);[17] John William Sawyer; and Edward Milton Sawyer.[16]
After Margaret's death in 1937, Sawyer married his second wife, Countess Elizabeth (née Lippelman) de Veyrac (1907-1999), on June 10, 1942.[18] Elizabeth, who was living in Glendale, Ohio, was previously married to Louis Renner of Cincinnati and then Count Robert de Veyrac.[19] They had no children.[1]
