Background
Oscar Littleton Chapman was born "born under a tobacco plant" near Omega, Halifax County, Virginia, United States on October 22, 1896. He was the son of James Jackson Chapman, a farmer, and Rosa Archer Blount.
https://www.amazon.com/Alaska-Reconnaissance-Development-irrigation-Production/dp/B001VO4SRU?SubscriptionId=AKIAJRRWTH346WSPOAFQ&tag=prabook-20&linkCode=sp1&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=B001VO4SRU
https://www.amazon.com/Colorado-Diamond-Jubilee-Statehood-Exhibition/dp/B00DJIY5OW?SubscriptionId=AKIAJRRWTH346WSPOAFQ&tag=prabook-20&linkCode=sp1&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=B00DJIY5OW
Oscar Littleton Chapman was born "born under a tobacco plant" near Omega, Halifax County, Virginia, United States on October 22, 1896. He was the son of James Jackson Chapman, a farmer, and Rosa Archer Blount.
He was educated in public and private schools, and enlisted in the United States Navy following graduation from Randolph-Macon Academy in June 1918. Chapman's humanitarian concerns led him to study the social sciences at the University of New Mexico (1927 - 1928) and culminated with his receiving an LL. B. from the Westminster Law School in 1929.
Chapman served as a pharmacist's mate on hospital ships, crossing the Atlantic thirty-six times before contracting tuberculosis. He was sent to Fort Lyon Hospital in Denver, Colorado, where he recovered. Believing "there was more independence of thought in the Western states, " Chapman remained in Denver. Chapman's increasingly progressive thought, stemming from his rural Populist roots, was reinforced in 1921 when he met the liberal Benjamin B. Lindsey, judge of the Juvenile Court of Denver. Chapman served the court as assistant chief probation officer (1922 - 1924) while taking night classes at the University of Denver, and later as chief probation officer (1924 - 1927). He also began the study of law at this time. He was admitted to the Colorado bar and joined the Denver law firm of Edward P. Costigan, a friend of Lindsey's, that same year. His ability to work behind the scenes as a political strategist first became evident when he nominated, then successfully managed, Costigan's United States Senate bid in 1930, a role he repeated for Alva B. Adams two years later. Chapman also promoted Franklin D. Roosevelt's 1932 presidential campaign in a five-state western area. Declining the offer of a higher-paying but less desirable federal appointment, Chapman entered public office as an assistant secretary of the interior in May 1933. The youngest member of the "Little Cabinet, " he held the position for the next thirteen years, routinely passed over for the post of undersecretary. Yet, having few political ambitions of his own, Chapman quietly carried out his duties under outspoken Interior Secretary Harold Ickes, the "Old Curmudgeon. " Raised amid the social injustices of the post-Reconstruction South, Chapman championed civil rights and humanitarian causes throughout his lifetime. He served as chairman of the American Legion's State Child Welfare Committee in Colorado and as president of the state board of control of the Colorado Boys' Industrial School (1930 - 1936). Chapman continued the tradition in the District of Columbia by serving on the Public Works Board, the Committee on Race Relations, and the advisory board of the National Training School for Boys. He also assisted numerous governmental humanitarian committees and headed charitable fund drives. When anti-Semitism strengthened in Europe in the late 1930's, Chapman organized the Washington branch of the Emergency Committee to Save the Jewish People. His most noteworthy act during this period was orchestrating the 1939 Easter Sunday concert by Marian Anderson on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial after she was refused permission to sing in Constitution Hall and was denied use of a school auditorium because of her race. Fittingly, he later became a chief sponsor of the mural painted in an Interior Department hallway commemorating the event. Soon afterward, he became coordinator of Roosevelt's 1940 election activities in the eleven western states. During World War II he served on an interdepartmental committee considering charges of subversive activity by federal employees and chaired the personnel advisory board of the Army's Office of the Provost Marshal General. Chapman was considered a contender to fill the Colorado Senate seat vacated following the death of Alva Adams in 1942. He decided not to run, for his primary concern was the continuation of New Deal politics--party leaders feared that a defeat might directly reflect upon the president during the election. In 1944, Chapman served as western campaign manager for the Roosevelt-Truman ticket even though he had supported the renomination of Henry A. Wallace for vice-president at the Democratic National Convention. He embraced Truman's Fair Deal politics and became one of the architects, as well as unofficial manager, of the president's upset victory over Republican candidate Thomas E. Dewey in 1948. Initially considered as a possible running mate, Chapman tirelessly campaigned as Truman's advance man, traveling more than twenty-five thousand miles to promote the Democratic platform and bring disparate groups together in support of the president. The dossier he compiled enabled Truman to discuss local concerns at whistlestops across the country while placing blame for political ineptitude upon Congress. As a result, Dewey's accusations carried less weight with the public in the closing weeks of the campaign. As a reward for his efforts in the presidential election, Chapman was nominated in November 1949 to succeed Krug, who had predicted Truman's defeat and had become an embarrassment to the administration. Yet the nomination was also made because Chapman knew more about the workings of the Interior Department than anyone else. Finally, it put a westerner in charge of a "western" department. In September, following the outbreak of the Korean conflict and rising anti-Communist anxieties, Senator Andrew F. Schoeppel charged Chapman with involvement in subversive organizations. The secretary, an unabashed liberal, was quickly cleared of any misconduct. Steadfast in his New Deal beliefs, Chapman sought both conservation and development during his tenure as secretary. He successfully incorporated the Jackson Hole National Monument into Grand Teton National Park and authorized the opening of a large portion of the Joshua Tree National Monument to mining. As oil became a critical issue in the early 1950's, Chapman pursued the possibilities of exploration in Alaska and along the continental shelf. He also furthered research on synthetic fuel from coal and oil shale. Western irrigation projects, especially the proposal to use Dinosaur National Monument as a reservoir area, proved quite controversial. Chapman came to disagree with Ickes over the Bureau of Indian Affairs' attempts to regulate lawyers' contracts with native Americans. In 1952, Chapman served as campaign adviser to Adlai Stevenson after once again being considered as a vice-presidential candidate. He resigned his post in 1953 following Stevenson's defeat. Remaining active in civic and humanitarian affairs, he died in Washington, D. C. , and was interred at Arlington National Cemetery.
He married Olga Pauline Edholm, a nurse, on December 21, 1920; they had no children. She died in 1932.
On February 24, 1940, Chapman married Ann Kendrick, his secretary; they had one child.