William N. Doak

William N. Doak
The official portrait of William N. Doak hangs in the Department of Labor

3rd United States Secretary of Labor
In office December 9, 1930 – March 4, 1933
President	Herbert Hoover
Preceded by	James J. Davis
Succeeded by	Frances Perkins
Personal details
Born	(1882-12-12)December 12, 1882 Rural Retreat, Virginia, United States
Died	October 23, 1933(1933-10-23) (aged 50) McLean, Virginia, United States
Resting place	Blacklick Cemetery, Blacklick, Virginia, United States
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Emma Doak (1883 - 1951)
Relations	Canaro Draton Doak Elizabeth Dutton Doak
Profession	Politician
Religion	Methodist

William Nuckles Doak (December 12, 1882 – October 23, 1933) was an American labor leader. He was the Vice-President of the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen and served as Secretary of Labor. He died of cardiovascular disease in McLean, Virginia six months after retiring.

Biography

Early life

Doak was born in Rural Retreat, Virginia, on December 12, 1882, the son of Elizabeth (née Dutton) and Canaro Draton Doak. He attended from Virginia public and business, and was a Methodist. Doak married Emma Maria Cricher, on October 15, 1908. Doak served as the Vice-President of the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen from 1916 to 1928.

Department of Labor

On December 9, 1930, Doak was appointed by President Hoover to serve as Secretary of Labor, succeeding Senator James J. Davis.^[1] He encouraged the passing of the Davis-Bacon Act, which determined the prevailing wage to be paid on a government contract or federally funded construction project.

Mexican Repatriation

After President Herbert Hoover appointed Doak as secretary of labor, the Bureau of Immigration launched intensive raids to identify immigrants liable for deportation. Doak believed that removal of illegal aliens would reduce relief expenditures and free jobs for native-born citizens during the Great Depression. ^[2] Though there is no evidence that Doak made any effort to single out any specific ethnic group, this resulted in the targeting of the Mexican community.^[3]

In 1931, the National Commission on Law Observance and Enforcement, (the Wickersham Commission) found the methods employed by Doak's underlings to be unconstitutional.^[4]

Doak retired at the end of President Hoover's administration on March 4, 1933. He died of cardiovascular disease in McLean, Virginia, on October 23, 1933. He is interred in Blacklick, Virginia.

References

↑ The Americans Peoples Encyclopedia. 1955.
↑ http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/disp_textbook.cfm?smtID=3&psid=3699
↑ http://public.csusm.edu/frame004/history.html
↑ http://www.historynet.com/immigrants-the-last-time-america-sent-her-own-packing.htm

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to William N. Doak.

U.S. Department of Labor Biography

United States Secretaries of Labor

Secretaries of Commerce and Labor	Cortelyou Metcalf Straus Nagel

Secretaries of Labor	Wilson Davis Doak Perkins Schwellenbach Tobin Durkin Mitchell Goldberg Wirtz Shultz Hodgson Brennan Dunlop Usery Marshall Donovan Brock McLaughlin Dole Martin Reich Herman Chao Solis Perez Puzder (Nominee)

Cabinet of President Herbert Hoover (1929–33)

Vice President	Charles Curtis (1929–33)

Secretary of State	Frank B. Kellogg (1929) Henry L. Stimson (1929–33)

Secretary of the Treasury	Andrew W. Mellon (1929–32) Ogden L. Mills (1932–33)

Secretary of War	James W. Good (1929) Patrick J. Hurley (1929–33)

Attorney General	William DeWitt Mitchell (1929–33)

Postmaster General	Walter F. Brown (1929–33)

Secretary of the Navy	Charles F. Adams, III (1929–33)

Secretary of the Interior	Ray Lyman Wilbur (1929–33)

Secretary of Agriculture	Arthur M. Hyde (1929–33)

Secretary of Commerce	Robert P. Lamont (1929–32) Roy D. Chapin (1932–33)

Secretary of Labor	James J. Davis (1929–30) William N. Doak (1930–33)

Authority control	WorldCat Identities VIAF: 11874938 LCCN: no92023611

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