Biography of William Gibbs McAdoo


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McAdoo, William Gibbs. American railway official and cabinet officer. Was born at Marietta, GA, 1863. He was educated at the University of Tennessee, studied law, and was admitted to the bar. After practicing his profession in Chattanooga, he located in New York in 1892. Ten years later, he was made president of the Hudson and Manhattan Railway, which under his management completed the fourth tunnel under the Hudson River in 1909. He was appointed secretary of the treasury in 1913. In 1914 he married Eleanor Wilson, the youngest daughter of the president. Following their transfer to government control in 1917, Secretary McAdoo was made director-general of railroads. In 1918, he was made general manager of the United States war finance corporation established by Congress, but in December of that year, he resigned all his high official positions and reengaged in personal business affairs. At the Democratic National Convention of 1920, he was one of the leading candidates for the presidential nomination.