Philander Knox
 Philander Knox    (politician, lawyer) | ||||||||||||
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| Born | May 6, 1853 | |||||||||||
| Died | October 12, 1921 (Age 68) | |||||||||||
| Nationality | US | |||||||||||
| Alma mater | West Virginia University (Morgantown), University of Mount Union | |||||||||||
| Party | Republican Party (United States) | |||||||||||
A corporate lawyer for the cartel United States Steel Corporation, Knox later was put in the cabinets three different presidents
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Philander Chase Knox was an American lawyer, bank director and politician. A corporate lawyer for the cartel United States Steel Corporation, Knox later was put in the cabinets three different presidents and represented Pennsylvania in the United States Senate.
Born in Brownsville, Pennsylvania, Knox became a prominent attorney in Pittsburgh, forming the law firm of Knox and Reed. With the industrialists Henry Clay Frick and Andrew Mellon, Knox also was director of the Pittsburgh National Bank of Commerce.[1] In early 1901, he accepted appointment as United States Attorney General. Knox worked under President William McKinley until McKinley was assassinated in September 1901, and Knox continued to work under President Theodore Roosevelt until 1904, when he resigned to accept appointment to the Senate.
Knox won re-election to the Senate in 1905 and unsuccessfully sought the 1908 Republican presidential nomination. In 1909, President William Howard Taft appointed Knox to the position of United States Secretary of State. From that post, Knox reorganized the State Department and pursued dollar diplomacy, which focused on encouraging and protecting U.S. investments abroad. Knox returned to private practice in 1913 after Taft lost re-election. He won election to the Senate in 1916 and played a role in the Senate's rejection of the Treaty of Versailles. Knox was widely seen as a potential compromise candidate at the 1920 Republican National Convention, but the party's presidential nomination instead went to Warren G. Harding. While still being in the Senate, Knox died in October 1921.
Legal career
Knox was admitted to the bar in 1875 and practiced in Pittsburgh. From 1876 to 1877, he was Assistant United States Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania. Knox became a leading Pittsburgh attorney in partnership with James Hay Reed, their firm being Knox and Reed (now Reed Smith LLP). In 1897 Knox became President of the Pennsylvania Bar Association. Along with Jesse H. Lippencott, Knox was director of the Fifth National Bank of Pittsburgh. With Henry Clay Frick and Andrew Mellon, he was a director of the Pittsburgh National Bank of Commerce. As counsel for the Carnegie Steel Company, Knox took a prominent part in organizing the United States Steel Corporation in 1901.[2]
