Charles W. Sawyer

Charles W. Sawyer (February 10, 1887 – April 7, 1979) was an American lawyer and diplomat who served as the U.S. secretary of commerce from May 6, 1948, to January 20, 1953, in the administration of Harry Truman.

Early life Sawyer was born in Cincinnati on February 10, 1887. He was a son of Caroline (née Butler) Sawyer and Edward Milton Sawyer, a Maine Republican who moved to Ohio become a principal. After completing initial training at Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indiana, he served with the 158th Depot Brigade Camp Sherman, Ohio and was assigned as the post's provost marshal. In August 1918, he was promoted to Major. After the Armistice of November 11, 1918 ended the war, Sawyer continued to serve in Europe as part of the Occupation of the Rhineland.

Post-war career Sawyer was also involved in several business ventures, including the American Rolling Mill Company and a share of the Cincinnati Reds, the Cincinnati Gardens, and a chain of newspapers and radio stations (through Great Trails Broadcasting Corporation). He was the 44th lieutenant governor of Ohio from 1933 to 1935. Sawyer authored the Twenty-first Amendment which repealed the Eighteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution which established the prohibition of alcohol in the United States. From 1936 to 1944, Sawyer served as a member of the Democratic National Committee. In 1938, he was an unsuccessful candidate for governor of Ohio. Two years later, President Harry Truman appointed Sawyer to the U.S. Civil Service Commission's Review Board. Sawyer had first met Truman upon the latter's arrival in Antwerp en route to Germany to attend the Potsdam Conference.

Secretary of Commerce In 1948, Sawyer was chosen to succeed W. Averell Harriman as the United States Secretary of Commerce. While Secretary of Commerce, Sawyer was ordered by Truman to seize and operate the steel mills in 1952. This seizure was executed to prevent a labor strike which Truman believed would hamper the ability of the United States to proceed in the war in Korea.

While Secretary of Commerce, Secretary Sawyer declared the first National Secretaries Week from June 1 to 7, 1952. He designated Wednesday, June 4, as National Secretaries Day for this formerly male-dominated field of work turned female-dominated by sociocultural anamorphisms. Upon the end of Truman's term as office, Sawyer's term as Commerce Secretary also ended and he was succeeded by the Republican Sinclair Weeks who served during the administration of President Dwight D. Eisenhower.

Later career When Sawyer returned to Cincinnati after serving President Truman, he joined the law firm of Taft, Stettinius, and Hollister, which had been founded by another prominent Cincinnati politician, Robert A. Taft (the elder son of President William Howard Taft), and became its managing partner. Following Taft's death, Sawyer succeeded to his seat on the board of the Central Trust Company, a Cincinnati bank.

In 1968, he authored Concerns of a Conservative Democrat which was published by the Southern Illinois University Press. Sawyer served on the Hoover Commission on Overseas Economic Operations Task Force, the Commission on Money and Credit, and the World's Fair Site Committee.

Sawyer gave $1 million to purchase 123 acres of riverfront property in Cincinnati for what became Sawyer Point Park. John William Sawyer; and Edward Milton Sawyer. Elizabeth, who was living in Glendale, Ohio, was previously married to Louis Renner of Cincinnati and then Count Robert de Veyrac. They had no children.

He died in April 1979, at age 92, at his home in Palm Beach, Florida. He was buried at Spring Grove Cemetery near his birthplace in Cincinnati, Ohio.