Frank L. Greene

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Frank Lester Greene
Frank Greene
Bain News Service photo, circa 1920-1925.
United States Senator
from Vermont
In office
March 4, 1923 – December 17, 1930
Preceded by Carroll S. Page
Succeeded by Frank C. Partridge
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Vermont's 1st district
In office
July 30, 1912 – March 3, 1923
Preceded by David J. Foster
Succeeded by Frederick G. Fleetwood
Personal details
Born (1870-02-10)February 10, 1870
St. Albans, Vermont
Died Script error: The function "death_date_and_age" does not exist.
St. Albans, Vermont
Resting place Greenwood Cemetery, St. Albans, Vermont
Spouse(s) Jessie Emma Richardson (m. February 20, 1895)[1]
Children Richardson Lester Greene (b. March 27, 1896)
Dorothy Greene (b. November 18, 1897)
Stuart (b. December 2, 1901)[2]
Occupation Newspaper editor
Militia officer
Legislator

Frank Lester Greene (February 10, 1870 – December 17, 1930) was a United States Representative and Senator from Vermont.

Early life

Frank Greene was born in St. Albans, Vermont on February 10, 1870. He attended the public schools in St. Albans and Cleveland, Ohio. The Greene family had relocated to Cleveland because Frank's father Lester had become Secretary/Treasurer of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers. When Frank Greene was 13 his father became ill and could no longer work. The family returned to Vermont and Frank quit school to help support his family by taking a job as a messenger with the Central Vermont Railway. He remained with the railroad until 1891, learning shorthand and stenography and advancing to the position of chief clerk in the general freight department. Having worked part-time as a correspondent for The Boston Globe and other newspapers beginning in 1888, in 1891 Greene made journalism his full-time career, first as a reporter for and later as editor of the St. Albans Messenger.[3] He was president of the Vermont Press Association from 1904 to 1905.[4]

Military service

Greene served in the Vermont National Guard from 1888 to 1900. Enlisting as a private, during the Spanish–American War he commanded an infantry company as a captain. Greene later served as adjutant of 3rd Brigade, First Division, Third Army Corps. After the war Greene was commissioned a colonel on the staff of Edward Curtis Smith, the Governor of Vermont, and Greene's former employer on the Central Vermont Railroad and the St. Albans Messenger.[5]

Beginning of political career

A Republican, Greene was Chairman of Vermont's Young Men's Republican Club in the 1890s. He was Chairman of the St. Albans Republican Committee, and a Delegate to several county and state conventions. He was an Alternate to the 1904 Republican National Convention and a Delegate to the one in 1908.[6]

In 1906 Greene was appointed to head a commission that examined the state normal schools, and in 1908 he was a member of the commission that proposed amendments to the Vermont Constitution.[7][8]

Congressional career

Greene was elected as a Republican to the House of Representatives in the 62nd Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the death of David J. Foster. He was reelected every two years from 1912 to 1920, and served from July 30, 1912 to March 3, 1923.[9] In 1914 he was chairman of the Vermont State Republican Convention.[10] He was a Regent of the Smithsonian Institution from 1917 to 1923.[11]

In 1922 Greene was elected to the U.S. Senate.[12] While in the Senate, he was Chairman of the Committee on Enrolled Bills (69th through 71st Congresses).[13] Greene was reelected in 1928 [14] and served from March 4, 1923 until his death.[15]

Gunshot wound

On the evening of February 15, 1924, Greene was walking with his wife near an alley on Capitol Hill when Prohibition agents were about to arrest several men unloading a still from their car.[16] The bootleggers ran, the agents fired their guns, and Greene was struck in the head by a stray bullet.[17][18] Greene was in critical condition for several weeks, and never fully recovered.[19][20] His right arm was paralyzed, and his legs were severely weakened.[21]

Death and burial

Greene died in St. Albans on December 17, 1930 from complications during surgery for a hernia.[22][23] He was interred in Greenwood Cemetery.[24][25]

Civic and fraternal memberships

Greene was a member of the Vermont Historical Society, Vermont Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, Military Order of Foreign Wars, United Spanish War Veterans, Masons (Knights Templar and Shriners), Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, Grange, Order of Owls, National Press Club and Army and Navy Club.[26]

Honors

Greene received an honorary Master of Arts degree from Norwich University in 1908.[27] He received an honorary LL.D. from Norwich in 1915.[28]

References

  1. ↑ Walter Anson Greene, Ella Louise Geib Greene, A Greene Family History, 1981, page 118
  2. ↑ William Richard Cutter, New England Families, Genealogical and Memorial, Volume 4, 1914, page 2193
  3. ↑ Prentiss Cutler Dodge, Encyclopedia of Vermont Biography, 1912, page 78
  4. ↑ E.P. & G.S.Walton, Vermont Year Book, Formerly Walton's Register, 1907, page 21
  5. ↑ Walter J. Bigelow, Vermont, Its Government, 1920, page 10
  6. ↑ Consolidated Publishing, Who's Who in the Nation's Capital, 1921, page 156
  7. ↑ Vermont Year Book, page 201
  8. ↑ Dodd, Mead and Company, New International Encyclopaedia, 1929, page 682
  9. ↑ George Derby, James Terry White, The National Cyclopædia of American Biography, Volume 3, 1920, page 471
  10. ↑ New York Times, U.S. Senator Greene of Vermont Dead, December 17, 1930
  11. ↑ Marquis Who's Who, Who Was Who in American History: The Military, 1975, page 219
  12. ↑ New York Times, Congress Will Lose Many Noted Chiefs, March 3, 1923
  13. ↑ U.S. Senate Historian, Chairmen of Senate Standing Committees, 1789-Present, 2011, page 21
  14. ↑ New York Times, U.S. Senators Elected, November 8, 1928
  15. ↑ Associated Press, Milwaukee Journal, Franke Greene, Senator, Dies, December 18, 1930
  16. ↑ Atlanta Constitution, U.S. Senator Shot In Effort To Save Wife From Injury, February 16, 1924
  17. ↑ Hartford Courant, U.S. Senator Shot as "Dry" Officers Fight Bootleggers, February 16, 1924
  18. ↑ New York Times, Shot by Dry Agent Hits U.S. Senator, February 15, 1924
  19. ↑ Atlanta Constitution, Wounded Senator May Now Survive, February 22, 1924
  20. ↑ New York Times, Senator Greene Refuses $7,500 Voted to Him by Congress for Wounding by Dry Agent, March 15, 1927
  21. ↑ John J. Duffy, Samuel B. Hand, Ralph H. Orth, editors, The Vermont Encyclopedia, 2003, page 142
  22. ↑ Chicago Tribune, Frank Greene, Senator From Vermont, Dead, December 18, 1930
  23. ↑ Edward W. Pickard, Three Forks News, News Review of Current Events Around the World, January 8, 1931
  24. ↑ New York Times, Senator Greene Buried, December 21, 1930
  25. ↑ Boston Globe, Pay Last Tribute to Senator Greene, December 21, 1930
  26. ↑ Who's Who in the Nation's Capital, page 156
  27. ↑ William Arba Ellis, Norwich University, 1819-1911: Her History, Her Graduates, Her Roll of Honor, Volume 3, 1911, pages 529-530
  28. ↑ Bigelow, Vermont, Its Government, page 10

External links

United States House of Representatives
Preceded by Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Vermont's 1st congressional district
1912 – 1923		 Succeeded by
Frederick G. Fleetwood
United States Senate
Preceded by U.S. Senator (Class 1) from Vermont
1923 – 1930
Served alongside: William P. Dillingham, Porter H. Dale		 Succeeded by
Frank C. Partridge
  1. REDIRECT Template:United States senators from Vermont


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