Newton D. Baker to Charles W. Chesnutt, 19 September 1915
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[1]
NEWTON D. BAKER
1851 CRAWFORD ROAD
September 19, 1915
My dear Mr Chesnut:
The splendid success of the Perry Celebration was due primarily to the enthusiasm and efficiency of those who accepted service on the committee, and I want you to know that I appreciated your share in it all.1
Quite incidentally I think the celebration did much to
[2]
lessen several inter-race prejudices and to make us a more unified body of citizens; and of course every dead prejudice is a live possibility.
Correspondent: Newton D. Baker (1871–1937) was a White lawyer and Democratic politician born in West Virginia. He earned a law degree from Washington and Lee University in Virginia, and practiced law in West Virginia and then in Cleveland, Ohio, where he founded a prestigious corporate law firm, Baker, Hostetler, and Sidlo, in 1916. In Cleveland, he served as city solicitor (1901–1909) and mayor (1912–1915), then as U.S. Secretary of War (1916–1921). In early 1932 he was interested in being a presidential candidate, but did not publicly announce; his name was also circulated as a potential U.S. Supreme Court nominee.
1. In 1915, the annual celebration to commemorate the Battle of Lake Erie was held on September 15 and 16. The September 10, 1813, battle was led by Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry (1785–1819). In 1913, the committee for the Perry Centennial had also included Chesnutt and Mayor Newton D. Baker (1871–1937). [back]
