Edwin Denby, Blank, [Plaster]

Edwin Denby, Blank, [Plaster]

Figure sculpture, American--20th century

Plaster blank with pencil outline of figures of Edwin Denby. The yellowish discoloring is from shellac used to seal the plaster.. There is also a symbol with eagles on shields on th lower left drawn in pencil.


DENBY, Edwin, (grandson of Graham Newell Fitch), a Representative from Michigan; born in Evansville, Vanderburg County, Indiana, February 18, 1870; attended the Michigan public schools; went to China in 1885 with his father, who was a United States Minister; employed in the Chinese imperial maritime customs service 1887-1894; returned to the United States in 1894; was graduated from the law department of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor in 1896; was admitted to the bar and commenced practice in Detroit in 1896; during the war with Spain served as a gunners mate, third class, United States Navy, on the Yosemite; member of the state house of representatives in 1903; elected as a Republican to the Fifty-ninth, Sixtieth, and Sixty-first Congresses (March 4, 1905-3, 1911); unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1910 to the Sixty-second Congress; resumed the practice of law in Detroit; also engaged in banking with various other business enterprises; President of the Detroit Charter Omission in 1913 and 1914; president of the Detroit Board of Commerce in 1916 and 1917; enlisted as a private in the United States Marine Corps in 1917; retired as major in the United States Marine Corps Reserve in 1919; appointed chief probations officer in the recorder's court of the city of Detroit and in the circuit court of Wayne County in 1920; appointed Secretary of the Navy by President Harding and served from March 4, 1921, until March 10, 1924, when he resigned in the aftermath of the Teapot Dome scandal; again resumed the practice of law and various business enterprises; died in Detroit, Michigan, February 8, 1929; interment in Elmwood Cemetery.

Fredericks, Marshall M., 1908-1998

1953

Use of this image requires permission from the Marshall M. Fredericks Sculpture Museum

Sculpture
Relief Sculpture

University Center (Mich.)

37" x 31" x 3"

Plaster

1999.135

Storage Room B - M3

10/25/1999 gifted to MFSM

Edwin C. Denby (February 18, 1870 – February 8, 1929) was an American lawyer and politician who served as Secretary of the Navy in the administrations of Warren G. Harding and Calvin Coolidge from 1921 to 1924. He also played a notable role in the infamous Teapot Dome Scandal which took place during the Harding presidency. He was the son of Charles Harvey Denby and grandson of Graham N. Fitch.


Early life

Denby was born in Evansville, Indiana where he attended the public schools. In 1885, his father, Charles Harvey Denby, was appointed United States minister at Peking, China, by President Grover Cleveland, and Edwin accompanied him. He worked in the maritime customs service from 1887 to 1894. He then returned to the United States and graduated from law school at the University of Michigan in 1896. He was subsequently admitted to the bar and began practicing as a lawyer in Detroit.

Political and military career

He was a member of the Michigan House of Representatives in 1903. In 1904, Denby was elected as a Republican from Michigan's 1St congressional district to the 59th, 60, and 61St Congresses, serving from March 4, 1905 to March 3, 1911. Denver served as chairman of the United States House Committee on Naval Affairs.

He was defeated in 1910 general election by Democrat Frank E. Dornick and resumed his law practice in Detroit. He served as president of the Detroit Board of Commerce in 1916, and in 1917 enlisted as a private in the United States Marine Corps when the U.S. entered World War I. He retired in 1919 with the rank of major.


When Warren G. Harding became President in March 1921, he appointed Denby Secretary of the Navy. During the crisis of mail robberies in 1921, Denby issued orders that Marines should be put in mail trucks and rail cars as protectors of the U.S. Mails. In his stirring order "To the Men of the Mail Guard", Denby impressed upon his former service the importance of the high duty entrusted to them: "If two Marines are covered by a robber, neither must put up his hands, but both must immediately go for their guns. One may die, but the other will get the robber, and the mail will get through. When our Corps goes in as guards over the mail, that mail must be delivered, or there must be a Marine dead at the post of duty. There can be no compromise..." Within days, the robberies stopped, and there was not a single delivery of the mails disrupted while Marines stood the watch.

Teapot Dome Scandal

Shortly afterward, Denby got Harding's approval to transfer control of the naval oil reserves at Teapot Dome, Wyoming, and Elk Hills, California from the Department of the Navy to the Department of the Interior, headed by Albert B. Fall. Fall proceeded to lease these oil fields to friends who were heads of oil companies in exchange for over $400,000 in loans. Despite attempts to keep the deal secret, the Wall Street Journal leaked news of the leasing, and the Senate decided to launch an inquiry into the matter. Throughout this time, Harding continued to back both Denby and Fall.

The investigation began in October 1923 after Harding's death, and the Senate Committee on Lands and Public Surveys, which carried out the inquiry, concluded in 1924 that the Teapot Dome and Elk Hills leases to the oil companies had been fraudulent and corrupt. Both Denby and Fall were forced to resign from office as a result.

Death

Following his resignation, Denby went back to practicing law in Detroit, where he died several weeks before his 59th birthday. Detroit's Denby High School is named in his honor, as is the Denby Center for Children and Family Services, which the Salvation Army opened in Detroit in 1930 to provide housing and treatment for abused and neglected children.


Source: Wiesbaden