born Jan. 4, 1858, Lynchburg, Va., U.S.
died May 28, 1946, Washington, D.C.
U.S. politician.
Largely self-educated, he pursued a successful career in journalism, eventually becoming proprietor of two Lynchburg newspapers. In the U.S. House of Representatives (1902–18), he sponsored legislation that established the Federal Reserve System. As secretary of the treasury (1918–20) he supported efforts by Pres. Woodrow Wilson to bring the U.S. into the League of Nations. Appointed, then elected, to the U.S. Senate (1920–46), he became a leader of the conservative Southern Democratic bloc. An expert on monetary policy, he coauthored legislation that established the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) in 1933. Though he supported Franklin Roosevelt for president in 1932, he soon became one of his sharpest critics.