Background
Donaldson was born on August 17, 1885 in Hanson, Illinois. He was the son of Moses Martin Donaldson, a merchant and postmaster, and Amanda Saletha Little.
Donaldson was born on August 17, 1885 in Hanson, Illinois. He was the son of Moses Martin Donaldson, a merchant and postmaster, and Amanda Saletha Little.
Donaldson attended public schools in Oconee, Illinois and furthered his education at Sparks Business College, Shelbyville, Illinois and at the Shelbyville Normal School.
In 1903 Donaldson began teaching in one-room schoolhouses in Shelby, Montgomery, and Christian counties. After five years of teaching, Donaldson became one of the first letter carriers in Shelbyville, where he earned $50 a month.
In 1910, Donaldson left the United States Post Office Department to become a clerk in the War Department. In 1911 he was appointed to the position of post-office clerk and supervisor in Muskogee, Oklahoma. He worked there until 1915, when he became an inspector in the Kansas City, Missouri, division of the Post Office Department. Donaldson remained in Kansas City from 1915 to 1932, and it was there that he became acquainted with Harry Truman (then a judge) in the 1920's. While in Kansas City, he also investigated postal fraud. He gained some notoriety when he helped convict a polar explorer of mail fraud and won a promotion for finding an elusive train robber.
On August 1, 1932, he was appointed inspector in charge of the Chattanooga, Tennessee, division. In 1933, Donaldson was transferred to Washington, D. C. , as deputy second assistant postmastergeneral. From 1936 to 1943 he served as deputy first assistant postmaster general, and from 1943 to 1945, as chief post-office inspector. On July 5, 1946, Donaldson was appointed first assistant postmaster general and became the chief spokesman for the department before Congress. In November 1947, Postmaster General Robert E. Hannegan, the chairman of the Democratic National Committee and a long-time friend and associate of President Truman, retired because of poor health. The Republican-controlled Congress had attacked Hannegan and the Post Office Department for being too political and providing substandard service. The department was also subjected to intensive study in 1947-1948 by the Commission on Organization of the Executive Branch of Government (the Hoover Commission), headed by former president Herbert Hoover and appointed by Truman. The Hoover Commission recommended that the postmaster general be a cabinet member but not an official of a political party. As a result of these circumstances, Truman named Donaldson postmaster general in November; the appointment was confirmed by the Senate on December 16, 1947. He was the first bona fide career official appointed to the position of postmaster general since Horatio King, who served briefly in 1861, and the first to assume cabinet rank.
Donaldson's most controversial move came on April 18, 1950, when, in response to a Truman order to reduce the traditional postoffice deficit, he severely cut back postal services. He cut home deliveries in residential areas from two to one per day, reduced the number of street collections, curtailed window service in post offices, and cut by half the deliveries of parcel post to business firms. Donaldson claimed that the reductions in service would save $80 million a year and help reduce the deficit. Donaldson's economy moves angered postal patrons and employees alike. His critics claimed that Donaldson's acquiescence in postal budget cuts constituted "the Rape of the Mail Service. " Moreover, postal layoffs and a temporary moratorium on wage increases prompted the National Association of Letter Carriers to adopt a resolution asking their leaders to "extend every effort in the direction of securing a new Postmaster General with a background of fairness to labor. " Despite Donaldson's economy measures, the deficit continued to climb in his final year in office.
He died in Kansas City, Missouri, on March 25, 1970, and was buried at the Forest Hill Cemetery in Kansas City, Missouri.
As postmaster general, Donaldson worked to improve the efficiency of the department and reduce its annual deficit. Acting upon a recommendation of the Hoover Commission embodied in a 1949 congressional act, Donaldson created the position of deputy postmaster general and eliminated the numerical order of precedence of the four assistant postmasters general, designating them instead by their functions: operations, transportation, finance, and facilities. The innovation was designed to protect the deputy, who was to be a career man, from the political turnover that generally affected the department. Subsequent administrations ignored the reform and continued to treat the deputy posts as patronage positions. Donaldson also appointed a seven-member advisory board from various areas of business and established a research-and-development section.
To improve efficiency, he created a new money-order system and set up new accounting procedures. During his tenure, a highway post-office service was established, railroad transportation was expanded, and air parcel post was extended to eighty-two countries.
Donaldson was a Methodist and a Freemason.
On August 14, 1911, Donaldson married Nell Fern Graybill; they had three children.