Charles Edison

1945

42^nd Governor of New Jersey

In office
January 21, 1941 – January 18, 1944

Preceded by

A. Harry Moore

Succeeded by

Walter Evans Edge

United States Secretary of the Navy

In office
January 2, 1940 – June 24, 1940

Preceded by

Claude A. Swanson

Succeeded by

Frank Knox

Born

August 3, 1890
West Orange, New Jersey

Died

July 31, 1969 (aged 78)
New York City

Political party

Democratic

Spouse

Carolyn Hawkins

Religion

Presbyterian

Biography

Born at his parents' home, Glenmont, in West Orange, New Jersey, he attended the Hotchkiss School in Lakeville, Connecticut. He married his college sweetheart Carolyn Hawkins on March 27, 1918. They had no children. For a number of years Charles Edison ran Edison Records. Charles became president of his father's company Thomas A. Edison, Inc. in 1927, and ran it until it was sold in 1957, when it merged with the McGraw Electric Company to form the McGraw-Edison Electric Company. Edison was board chairman of the merged company until he retired in 1961.^[1]

On January 18, 1937, President Roosevelt appointed Charles Edison as Assistant Secretary of the Navy, then as Secretary on January 2, 1940, Claude A. Swanson having died several months previously.^[2] Edison himself only kept the job until June 24, resigning to run his gubernatorial campaign. During his time in the Navy department, he advocated construction of the large Iowa-class battleships, and that one of them be built at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, which secured votes for Roosevelt in Pennsylvania and New Jersey in the 1940 presidential election; in return, Roosevelt had BB-62 named the USS New Jersey.^[3]

In 1940, he won election as Governor of New Jersey, running in reaction to the political machine run by Frank Hague, but broke with family tradition by declaring himself a Democrat. As governor, he proposed updating the New Jersey State Constitution. Although it failed in a referendum and nothing was changed during his tenure, state legislators did reform the constitution later.^[1] In 1948, he established a charitable foundation, originally called "The Brook Foundation", now the Charles Edison Fund.^[4]

Between 1951 and 1969, he lived in the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, where he struck up a friendship with Herbert Hoover, who also lived there.^[5] In 1962, Edison was one of the founders of the Conservative Party of New York State. ^[6]

In 1967, Edison hosted a meeting at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York that led to the founding of the Charles Edison Youth Fund, later the Charles Edison Memorial Youth Fund. Attending the meeting were Rep. Walter Judd (R-Mn), author William F. Buckley, organizer David Jones, and Edison's political advisor Marvin Liebman. The name of the organization was changed in 1985 to The Fund for American Studies [1], in keeping with Edison's request to drop his name after 20 years of use.

His personal mascot was the owl, and he collected objects depicting owls. Charles Edison died on July 31, 1969 in New York City. ^[7] He is buried in Rosedale Cemetery in Orange, New Jersey.

See also

References

^ ^a ^b ""GEDIS.pdf"". Retrieved on September 23, 2007.
^ Secretaries of the Navy, Naval Historical Center. Accessed August 6, 2007.
^ Comegno, Carol. "Historian details the role politics played in battleship's creation", Courier-Post, January 6, 2000. Accessed May 27, 2007. "Professor Jeffery Dorwart, of Rutgers-Camden said the ship was named after the state by President Franklin Roosevelt to repay a political debt to Charles Edison, the son of inventor Thomas Edison."
^ ""Charles Edison"". Retrieved on September 23, 2007.
^ John D. Venable, Out of the Shadow: the Story of Charles Edison (Charles Edison Fund, 1978), p. 271.
^ Niels Bjerre-Poulsen, Right Face: Organizing the American Conservative Movement 1945-65 (Museum Tusculanum Press, 2002), p. 143. (ISBN 978-8772898094)
^ "Charles Edison, 78, Ex-Governor Of Jersey and U.S. Aide, Is Dead", New York Times (August 1, 1969). Retrieved on 2007-07-21. "Charles Edison, former Governor of New Jersey, ... Mr. Edison, who had been admitted to the hospital on Wednesday, was 78 years ..."