Charles Nagel, Sr., U. S. Secretary of Commerce and Labor

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Nagel

Charles Nagel (August 9, 1849 – January 5, 1940) was a United States politician and lawyer from St. Louis, Missouri. He was Secretary of Commerce and Labor during President William Howard Taft's administration (1909–1913).

Biography

Born August 9, 1849, in Colorado County, Texas, to Hermann and Friedericke Litzmann Nagel, Charles Nagel moved to a boarding school in St. Louis, Missouri, for high school and stayed to study law at Washington University Law School. He graduated with his law degree in 1872. Nagel furthered his education by traveling to Europe and learning political economy at the University of Berlin.

Returning to St. Louis in 1873, Nagel joined the state bar and began to practice law. He was a member of the firm Finkelnburg, Nagel and Kirby, and later of Nagel and Kirby. His first foray into politics came when he won election to the Missouri House of Representatives in 1881, where he served until 1883. He was president of the St. Louis city council from 1893 to 1897. He also taught at St. Louis Law School (1885–1909) and was a member of the Republican National Committee (1908–1912).

Nagel was a corporate attorney for Adolphus Busch when President William Howard Taft chose him, in 1909, as Secretary of Commerce and Labor, a position he held until the end of the Taft administration in 1913. He was the last person to serve in the post before it was separated to two cabinet positions, Secretary of Commerce and Secretary of Labor. While heading the Department of Commerce and Labor, Nagel made it more accessible to the needs of businessmen while also expanding the Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization.

Nagel was also a founder of the United States Chamber of Commerce. Following his time in the cabinet, Nagel returned to the practice of law, arguing before the Supreme Court three times before his death. He died in St. Louis, Missouri on January 5, 1940 and was interred there in Bellefontaine Cemetery.

Family[edit] Nagel was married twice: first, in 1876, to Fannie Brandeis, the sister of Louis Dembitz Brandeis, later a Supreme Court justice. She died in 1889 and he married Anne Shepley in 1895. He had six children, including Charles Nagel, Jr., an architect and curator.

Charles Nagel, attorney, was born in Bernardo, Texas, on August 9, 1849, the son of Hermann and Friederike (Litzmann) Nagel, both natives of Prussia. His father was a graduate in medicine of the University of Berlin. His parents came to America in 1847 and settled in Colorado County, then moved to Millheim in Austin County in 1855. Opposed to both slavery and secession, Dr. Nagel took young Charles to Mexico in 1863. They later traveled by ship to New York, thence to St. Louis in 1865 where his mother joined them. Charles attended country schools in Texas, completed high school in St. Louis in 1868, and graduated from St. Louis Law School in 1872. This was followed by a year of study at the University of Berlin. He was awarded an honorary LL.D. degree by Brown University, Villanova University, and Washington University in 1911 and a doctor of political science degree by the University of Berlin in 1928.

Nagel began a career as an attorney in St. Louis in 1873. Active in public affairs and politics, he was elected a member of the Missouri House of Representatives (1881–83), president of the St. Louis city council (1893–97), and member of the Republican National Committee (1908–12). In March 1909 President William Howard Taft appointed him Secretary of Commerce and Labor, the first native-born Texan to become a member of a president's cabinet. He was also a founder of the United States Chamber of Commerce. Following four years' service in Washington, Nagel returned to his law practice in St. Louis. In his later years he wrote A Boy's Civil War Story (1934), an account of his boyhood in Texas.

On August 4, 1876, in Louisville, Kentucky, Nagel married Fannie Brandeis, sister of United States Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis. After her death in 1889 he married Anne Shepley in 1895. He was the father of six children, including Charles Nagel, who was the first director of the National Portrait Gallery at the Smithsonian Institution. Charles Sr. died in St. Louis on January 5, 1940.