George Bruce Cortelyou
1st United States Secretary of Commerce and Labor
In office February 18, 1903 – June 30, 1904
Preceded by	(none)
Succeeded by	Victor H. Metcalf
42nd United States Postmaster General
In office March 6, 1905 – January 14, 1907
Preceded by	Robert J. Wynne
Succeeded by	George von L. Meyer
44th United States Secretary of the Treasury
In office March 4, 1907 – March 7, 1909
President	Theodore Roosevelt
Preceded by	Leslie M. Shaw
Succeeded by	Franklin MacVeagh
Personal details
Born	(1862-07-26)July 26, 1862 New York City, New York, U.S.
Died	October 23, 1940(1940-10-23) (aged 78) Long Island City, New York, U.S.
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Lilly Morris Hinds Cortelyou
Alma mater	Massachusetts State Normal School Georgetown University Columbian University
Profession	Politician

George Bruce Cortelyou (July 26, 1862 – October 23, 1940) was an American Presidential Cabinet secretary of the early 20th century.

Biography[link]

Early life[link]

Born to Rose Seery and Peter Crolius Cortelyou, and part of an old New Netherlands family whose immigrant ancestor arrived in 1652, he was educated at public schools in Brooklyn, the Nazareth Military Academy in Pennsylvania, and the Hempstead Institute on Long Island. At the age of 20, he received a BA degree from Massachusetts State Normal School, a teacher's college in Westfield, Massachusetts. He then studied at and graduated from law schools of Georgetown University and Columbian University (the latter now being George Washington University). Courtelyou then began teaching, later taking a stenography course and mastering shorthand.

In 1891, he obtained a position as secretary to the chief postal inspector of New York. The following year a promotion led to a job as the secretary to the Fourth Assistant Postmaster General in Washington, D.C. In 1895 President Grover Cleveland hired Cortelyou as his chief clerk on the recommendation of Postmaster General Wilson S. Bissell. President Cleveland recommended him as a personal secretary to his successor, William McKinley. Cortelyou was working on improvements in office efficiency in 1901 when President McKinley was assassinated.

McKinley was greeting visitors in the Temple of Music at the Pan-American Exposition on September 6, 1901 in Buffalo, New York when he was shot twice at close range by lone assassin Leon Czolgosz. As McKinley collapsed, he was caught and supported by his aides, among them George Cortelyu. As he was held in their arms he whispered, "My wife... be careful, Cortelyu, how you tell her. Oh, be careful."

After succeeding president Theodore Roosevelt took office, he tasked Cortelyou with transforming the White House into a more professional organization. Cortelyou developed procedures and rules that guided White House protocol and established processes where there had been only personal prerogative. Cortelyou is also credited with establishing an improved line of communication between the President's office and the press; he provided reporters with their own workspace, briefed journalists on notable news, handed out press releases. Cortelyu is credited with instituting the first systematic gathering of press commentary for a sitting president's perusal. These "current clippings" were the first attempt by a President to gauge public opinion through the media. Cortelyou selected items objectively, a practice that would not be consistently followed by his successors.

Secretary of Commerce & Labor[link]

During this time, Cortelyou served as the first United States Secretary of Commerce and Labor from February 18, 1903 to June 30, 1904; as United States Postmaster General from 1905 to 1907; and as United States Secretary of the Treasury from March 4, 1907 to March 7, 1909; all under President Theodore Roosevelt.

Cortelyou also served as chairman of the Republican National Committee from 1904 through 1907, working for the successful re-election of Roosevelt.

He was made an honorary member of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Fraternity on April 9, 1903. He had attended the New England Conservatory of Music, where the fraternity was founded.

Secretary of the Treasury[link]

Cortelyou was Secretary of the Treasury during the devastating Panic of 1907. Like his predecessor, Treasury Secretary Leslie M. Shaw, Cortelyou believed it was Treasury's duty to protect the banking system, but he realized that the Treasury was not equipped to maintain economic stability.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: George B. Cortelyou

He eased the crisis by depositing large amounts of government funds in national banks and buying government bonds. To prevent further crises, Cortelyou advocated a more elastic currency and recommended the creation of a central banking system. In 1908, the Aldrich-Vreeland Act was passed, providing special currency to be issued in times of panic, and creating a commission, which led to the creation of the Federal Reserve in 1913.

He returned to private enterprise as the president of the Consolidated Gas Company, later New York Gas Company.

Death[link]

He died in Long Island City, New York, in 1940. He is buried in the Memorial Cemetery of St. John's Church in Cold Spring Harbor, New York. Brooklyn's Cortelyou Road and the Cortelyou Road Station, in the Flatbush section, are named for him.

External links[link]

Biography portal

• George B. Cortelyou at Find a Grave

v t e United States Secretaries of Commerce Secretaries of Commerce & Labor Cortelyou Metcalf Straus Nagel Secretaries of Commerce Redfield Alexander Hoover Whiting Lamont Chapin Roper Hopkins Jones Wallace Harriman Sawyer Weeks Strauss Mueller Hodges Connor Trowbridge Smith Stans Peterson Dent Morton Richardson Kreps Klutznick Baldrige Verity Mosbacher Franklin Brown Kantor Daley Mineta Evans Gutierrez Locke Bryson

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v t e Cabinet of President Theodore Roosevelt (1901–1909) Vice President None (1901–1905) Charles W. Fairbanks (1905–1909) Secretary of State John M. Hay (1901–1905) Elihu Root (1905–1909) Robert Bacon (1909) Secretary of the Treasury Lyman J. Gage (1901–1902) Leslie M. Shaw (1902–1907) George B. Cortelyou (1907–1909) Secretary of War Elihu Root (1901–1904) William H. Taft (1904–1908) Luke E. Wright (1908–1909) Attorney General Philander C. Knox (1901–1904) William H. Moody (1904–1906) Charles J. Bonaparte (1906–1909) Postmaster General Charles E. Smith (1901–1902) Henry C. Payne (1902–1904) Robert J. Wynne (1904–1905) George B. Cortelyou (1905–1907) George von L. Meyer (1907–1909) Secretary of the Navy John D. Long (1901–1902) William H. Moody (1902–1904) Paul Morton (1904–1905) Charles J. Bonaparte (1905–1906) Victor H. Metcalf (1906–1908) Truman H. Newberry (1908–1909) Secretary of the Interior Ethan A. Hitchcock (1901–1907) James R. Garfield (1907–1909) Secretary of Agriculture James Wilson (1901–1909) Secretary of Commerce and Labor George B. Cortelyou (1903–1904) Victor H. Metcalf (1904–1906) Oscar S. Straus (1906–1909)