Background
Homer Stille Cummings was born on April 30, 1870 in Chicago, Illinois, United States. He was the son of Uriah C. Cummings, manufacturer and authority on cement, and Audie Schuyler Stillé.
(Temporary Chairman of the Democratic National Convention ...)
Temporary Chairman of the Democratic National Convention San Francisco, Cal.f June 28, 1920 Ladies and Gentlemen of the Convention: At this high hour when the destinies not only of political parties hut of peoples are at stake; when social unrest is everywhere apparent; when existing forms of government are being challenged, and their very foundations disturbed or swept away, it is well for us, here in A merica, to pause for a period of solemn deliberation. We, who assemble in this great convention, counsel together, not merely as members of a party, but as children of the Republic. (A pplause) .L ove of country and devotion to human service should purge our hearts of all unworthy or misleading motives. Let us fervently pray for a Divine Blessing upon all that we do or undertake. Let us pledge ourselves anew to equality of opportunity; the unity of our country above trie interests of groups or classes; and the maintenance of the high honor of America in her dealings with other nations. (A pplause) The people will shortly determine which political instrumentality is best suited to their purposes, most responsive to their needs. (Typographical errors above are due to OCR software and don't occur in the book.) About the Publisher Forgotten Books is a publisher of historical writings, such as: Philosophy, Classics, Science, Religion, History, Folklore and Mythology. Forgotten Books' Classic Reprint Series utilizes the latest technology to regenerate facsimiles of historically important writings. Careful attention has been made to accurately preserve the original format of each page whilst digitally enhancing the aged text. Read books online for free at www.forgottenbooks.org
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Homer Stille Cummings was born on April 30, 1870 in Chicago, Illinois, United States. He was the son of Uriah C. Cummings, manufacturer and authority on cement, and Audie Schuyler Stillé.
Homer graduated from the Heathcote School in Buffalo, New York. He received the Ph. B. degree from the Sheffield School of Yale University in 1891 and the L. L. B. from Yale Law School in 1893.
He practiced law in Stamford, Connecticut, and in 1909 joined with Charles D. Lockwood to form Cummings and Lockwood. He remained a partner in this firm until 1933.
He was an incisive, dramatic trial lawyer and an astute, imperturbable, and loyal political manager.
In 1900, 1901, and 1904, Cummings was elected mayor of Stamford, where he instituted a progressive municipal program.
He was nominated for congressman-at-large in 1902 and for U. S. senator in 1910 and 1916. Each time he lost narrowly.
He served as state's attorney for Fairfield County from 1914 to 1924. During Cummings' last year as county prosecutor, a vagrant, Harold Israel, was indicted for the murder of a popular parish priest on a street corner in Bridgeport. The evidence, including a confession, appeared overwhelming, but Cummings, after scrupulous investigation, became convinced of Israel's innocence. In a gripping courtroom scene he asked for and secured dismissal of the charge. In 1931 the National Commission on Law Observance and Enforcement (the Wickersham Commission) praised this act, and a film, Boomerang (1947) dramatized the affair.
Cummings began his association with the national Democratic party in 1900, when he was named committeeman from Connecticut, a post he held until 1925. He was a delegate-at-large to the 1900 Democratic convention, the first of many conventions he was to attend. In the 1912 campaign he directed the Democratic speaker's bureau from Washington, D. C. He served as vice-chairman of the national committee from 1913 to 1919 and as chairman from 1919 to 1920. Cummings greatly admired Woodrow Wilson and delivered a passionate keynote address at the 1920 convention in praise of the stricken president. Cummings vainly attempted to calm the bitterly divided Democratic convention of 1924.
As chairman of the Committee on Resolutions, he tried to formulate a compromise plank on the controversial issue of the Ku Klux Klan. For the rest of the decade his political activity was restrained.
With the coming of the Great Depression, Cummings reentered politics.
Following the election, Roosevelt chose Cummings as governor-general of the Philippines. However, when Senator Thomas Walsh, who had been designated attorney general, died on March 2, 1933, Roosevelt named Cummings to lead the Justice Department on March 4. Cummings accepted the post on a temporary, emergency basis, and then, a few weeks later, permanently.
He served almost six years as attorney general; only William Wirt served longer (1817 - 1829). Cummings transformed the Department of Justice.
In 1937 Cummings published We Can Prevent Crime, and, with Carl McFarland, an assistant attorney general, Federal Justice, a comprehensive departmental history. The Selected Papers of Homer Cummings (1939), edited by Carl B. Swisher, supplemented the history.
Cummings' path as protector of New Deal programs was thorny. During his first week as attorney general, he advised Roosevelt that the Trading with the Enemy Act of 1917 permitted the president to close banks and regulate gold hoarding and export. Cummings personally argued the right of the government to ban gold payments before the Supreme Court and won the "gold clause" cases. The department's defense of subsequent administration measures was notoriously unsuccessful, however. During 1935-1936, the Court, frequently by 5-to-4 votes, overthrew eight key statutes, including the National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) and the Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA). The obtuseness of the conservative Court majority rankled.
Cummings was eager to expand the judiciary and was outraged by the proliferation of lawsuits and injunctions against the government. After the election of 1936, Roosevelt instructed him to draft legislation for court reform. Neither wished to alter the Constitution. Both were attracted by an idea, proposed earlier by conservative Justice James McReynolds, to add a judge for every judge who refused to retire at age seventy at full pay. Such a measure might give the president the opportunity to appoint fifty new judges, including six to the Supreme Court. Roosevelt launched the proposal, prepared secretly by Cummings, on February 5, 1937. The uproar that confronted the "court-packing plan" is well known. After 168 days the Senate killed the bill by returning it to committee.
Cummings retired on January 2, 1939. He entered private law practice in Washington and instituted a spring golf tournament that annually brought executives, lawyers, and politicians together. He also retained his interest in the Connecticut Democratic party, along with a residence in Greenwich, and served on the Greenwich Town Committee until 1951. He died in Washington, D. C.
(Temporary Chairman of the Democratic National Convention ...)
In 1896 he supported William Jennings Bryan, and Connecticut Democrats nominated him for secretary of state. The decision for Bryan rested on his conviction that government, law, and the Democratic party were the instruments for the achievement of social justice in America.
Unlike most Northeasterners, he supported William G. McAdoo over Alfred E. Smith for the presidential nomination.
In 1932 he helped persuade twenty-four senators and numerous congressmen to announce their support for Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Cummings married four times. His marriage to Helen W. Smith in 1897 ended in divorce in 1907. They had one son. His 1909 marriage to Marguerite T. Owings was dissolved in 1928. The marriage to Mary Cecilia Waterbury in 1929 was happy; she died ten years later. He published a memoir, The Tired Sea (1939), as a tribute to Cecilia. In 1942 he married Julia Alter, who died in 1955.