Frank Knox (1874-1944)
William Franklin "Frank" Knox was born on January 1st (New Year's Day), 1874 in Boston, Massachusetts to Sarah Collings Barnard Knox and William E. Knox. Both of his parents were Canadian. His mother Sarah was from Charlottetown, the capital of Prince Edward Island and his father William was from New Brunswick.
In 1881, when Knox was only seven years old, the Second Mexican War broke out after the United States declared war on the Confederate States over the latter's annexation of the Mexican states of Sonora and Chihuahua. The Confederacy's allies of Great Britain and France declared war on the USA soon after. At first the war was a world away from the young Knox. As he recalled in his memoirs "Frank Knox: A Life Thus Far"; "At that young age, I remember hearing about the war and I knew it existed, but it all seemed so distant to me at that very young age." This all changed for the young Knox when the Royal Navy bombarded Boston in the summer of 1881. Though the Knox Family home was some distance from where the shells hit, the blast from the shells could still be felt from where the Knox home was located. As Knox states in his memoirs; "I could feel the ground and walls of my house shacking. I, only a young child, was simply terrified. Within minutes of the beginning of the Royal Navy bombing, our family packed up the essentials and fled the city. I must have cried the whole time we were running away to the outskirts of the city, just one out of so many others looking for safer ground away from the range of the Royal Navy's guns." The event had a major impact upon the young Knox. It taught him for the first time the horrors of what war must be and also ingrained in him a sense of patriotism and pride for his home-country, the United States of America. This is somewhat ironic considering both of Knox's parents were Canadian and the USA and Canada were at war with one another during the Second Mexican War. Nevertheless, by all accounts, Knox's parents were truly loyal to their adoptive home-country of the United States of America.
After the British bombardment of Boston ended, the Knox family went back to their home, which luckily only suffered minor damage, and collected the rest of their belongings. After that, the Knox family sold their Boston home and moved inland to the city of Chicopee. It was while living in his new home in Chicopee that Knox first heard of Theodore Roosevelt and George Armstrong Custer's victory over Charles "Chinese" Gordon at the Battle of the Teton in Montana Territory. The battle fascinated the young Knox due to the amazing and selfless heroism displayed by both Roosevelt and Custer, and for their country no less. As a result, growing up, the young Knox's heroes were none other than Theodore Roosevelt and George Armstrong Custer. This idolization of the two would eventually inspire Knox to seek a career in the military.
In 1882, the Second Mexican War ended in American, and Knox, only eight years old, was very much saddened by his countries loss in the war. Nevertheless, the young Knox soon had reason to be happy again. That October, his family moved to Lansing, the capital of Michigan, to seek new opportunities. It was there that is father found work as a grocery store owner, and the family's fortunes began to rise again. It was also in Lansing that Knox lived and grew up throughout his teenage years. Knox first became interested in politics during his later years at high school. The adolescent Knox began to drift towards the Republican Party and their ideology supporting civil service reform, bimetallism, and moderate militarization and armed forces reform. In 1892, after graduating High School, Knox, now eighteen, became a member of the Republican Party. That same year, Knox was selected to serve in the military. While Knox was disappointed that he would have to put any sort of political career on hold, he was proud none the less to be serving in the US Armed Forces.
Knox would end up serving two years in the US Army as an infantryman and another eight years in the reserves. During his years in the reserves, Knox admits in his memoirs that "a good part of me, an adventurous young man, wanted to see military action. I not only wanted to see action for the sake of action, but I also wanted to do it to serve my country. I thought my chance came in '95 over Haiti, then again in '97 over Nicaragua, but I was wrong on both accounts. In a way I was glad our country wasn't involved in some useless war, but nevertheless I had an itching for adventure." Knox's golden opportunity would eventually come during his fifth year in the reserves, that year being 1899, the same year Knox changed his name to "Frank" from "William Franklin". On October 11th, 1899, Great Britain invaded the Boer Republics of the Orange Free State and South African Republic. Thus, the Second Boer War (1899-1902) began. This immediately strained Anglo-American relations, with the American public, Knox included, supported the Boer Republics. One man in particular, Knox's childhood hero Theodore Roosevelt, was the biggest critic of Britain's actions against the Boers and the staunchest supporter of the Boer Republic's fight against Britain. When President Mahan refused to give any government sanctioned aid to the Boers, Roosevelt formed the Stuyvesant Brigade on October 30th, 1899. The Stuyvesant Brigade was named after Peter Stuyvesant (1612-1672), the last governor of the Dutch Colony of New Nederland and a significant figure in the early history New York, in honor of the United States' shared Dutch Heritage with the beleaguered Boers. The Stuyvesant Brigade was set up as a regiment of irregular cavalry modeled on Roosevelt's Unauthorized Regiment of the Second Mexican War, though Roosevelt would not personally lead the regiment. On November 6th, 1899, a week after the brigade was established, Knox, seeing his opportunity for military service, action and experience, joined the Stuyvesant Brigade while he was stationed in New York City. On November 24th, 1899, Knox and the rest of the Stuyvesant Brigade left New York City for the Boer Republics. The ship carrying the Stuyvesant Brigade rounded the Cape of Good Hope and landed in Lourenço Marques, the capital of Portuguese Mozambique/East Africa, as Portugal was neutral in the Boer War. From there the Brigade marched inland to Pretoria, the capital of the South Africa Republic, also known as the Transvaal Republic, arriving in the city on November 30th. From there the Brigade was sent off the front-lines. While in the Stuyvesant Brigade, Knox fought alongside Boer General Louis Botha at the Battle of Colenso on December 15th, 1899. Knox also saw action at the battles of Vaal Krantz (February 5th-7th, 1900) and Sanna's Post (March 31st, 1900). At the Battle of Witpoort on July 16th, 1900, Knox, serving alongside fellow Stuyvesant Brigade member Frederick Russell Burnham, was shot in the shoulder by the a British soldier. As a result, Knox was sent away from the battle to a Boer military hospital, and would spend the next few months there (Burnham meanwhile retreated along with much of the rest of the Boers). Knox eventually returned to the frontlines after healing and fought in the Battle of Battle of Leliefontein on November 7th, 1900. At the Second Battle of Elands River on September 17th, 1901, Knox and and a number of other Stuyvesant Brigade members, fighting alongside Boer General and future South African Prime Minister Jan Smuts, were taken prisoner by the victorious British Army. Knox spent the remainder of the war, eight months, in a POW camp outside of Cape Town. He, along with many other brigade members, was finally released in June of 1902, thanks to the masterful negotiating of Adelbert Hay, the US ambassador the Boer Republics. As a result, Knox returned to New York City a hero, and took part in a parade welcoming home the members of the Stuyvesant Brigade on June 30th, 1902. Knox, proud of his service in the Brigade and proud of his fighting British aggression against the Boers, remained in the reserves until October of 1902.
Knox continued to live in New York until January of 1903, when he decided to move back to his adoptive hometown of Lansing, Michigan. There he kept a low profile, until October of 1903, when, still a member of the Republican Party, Knox became a newspaper reporter for a local Republican Newspaper, The Lansing Herald. While writing for The Lansing Herald, Knox wrote a number of articles supporting Republican President hopeful William Jennings Bryan during the 1904 election, as well articles supporting Philander Knox (no relation) during the 1908 election. In 1910, Knox became editor and chief of The Lansing Herald. During his time as editor and chief, Knox would support 1912 Republican Presidential hopeful Gilbert Hitchcock.
It was also during Knox's time as editor and chief that the Great War broke out and came to North America in August of 1914. Knox, despite being a Republican, supported his childhood hero President Theodore Roosevelt and his and Democrat's decision to go to war against the Confederate States, Great Britain, Canada and the rest of the Entente Powers. Though Knox was forty years old when the war broke out, he decided it was his patriotic duty to serve his country in the war by re-joining the military. As a result, Knox left his post as editor and chief and rejoined the army on October 1st, 1914. During the entirety of the war, Knox served as an artillery officer, in the Susquehanna Front from 1914-1916 and on the Kentucky Front from 1916-1917. It was during this latter service that Frank Knox meet for the first and only time his old childhood hero General George Armstrong Custer. Knox would later recall feeling very much humbled in Custer's presence, and would note Custer's pride when Knox told him he had been one of his hero's as a child.
After the war ended, Knox returned to his job as a newspaper man and the editor and chief of the The Lansing Herald. He continued in this capacity until 1919 when he became owner of the newspaper. He would end up owning the The Lansing Herald for another two and a half-years. That came to an end in the autumn of 1921, when Knox sold the paper and decided to pursue a career in politics. As it would turn out, Knox would prove to have a successful political career. He was elected to the Michigan Senate as a Republican in the Michigan Senate elections in November of 1922. He would serve in the Michigan senate for another decade, until he was elected Governor of Maine under the banner of the Republican Party in 1930, and was inaugurated as much on January 1st, 1931 (which also happened to be Knox's 57th birthday). As governor, Knox was known for supporting public works programs, which in turn gave many new jobs to the citizens of Michigan. At the 1932 Republican National Convention in Detroit, Knox put his hat in the ring as one of the many Republican hopefuls for the Presidency, using his time so far as Michigan governor and his record in the US Army and the Stuyvesant Brigade to help garner support for his campaign. He lost on the second ballot and eventually lost to war hero and fellow newspaper publisher Robert R. McCormick. While Knox was disappointed at this turn of events, he nevertheless supported McCormick's run for the Presidency. Knox was once again a presidential hopeful at the 1936 Republican National Convention in Portland, Oregon. He came closer to getting the nomination this time around, but lost to Alf Landon. Once again, Knox supported the conventions victor, this time said victor being Alf Landon.
Knox continued to serve as Governor of Michigan until January 1st, 1937, his 63rd birthday. After that he moved back to Lansing with his wife Annie Reid Knox. Soon after, Knox re-purchased The Lansing Herald. During his second ownership of The Lansing Herald, Knox wrote a number of articles critical of President Al Smith, who Knox admits he once luck-warmly supported, over his policy of Appeasement towards the Confederate States. He called the 1940 Kentucky and Houston Plebiscites "grave, dangerous errors which would only embolden that mad-man Featherson and his band of murderous thugs." Knox also wrote a number of articles supporting the buildup and preparedness of the US Armed forces in the wake of Confederate rearmament. In one article, Knox refereed to a "Second Great War" as "only inevitable".
Knox would prove right when on June 22nd, 1941, the Confederate States invaded the United States, and Britain, France and Russia did likewise in regards to Germany. Despite Knox's criticizing of Al Smith, President Smith greatly respected Knox for his journalistic honesty and bravery in the US Army during GWI and in the Stuyvesant Brigade during the Second Boer War. As a result on July 1st, 1940, President Smith, in an effort to garner tri-partisan support for American's war effort, appointed Knox Secretary of the Navy. Knox publicly admitted it was a cabinet position he was honored to have, and moved right away to Philadelphia to conduct his new duties. During his time as Secretary of the Navy, Knox, among other things, oversaw the general progress and buildup of the US Navy in both the Atlantic and Pacific Naval theaters of GWII. Knox also oversaw the commission of a number of new naval vessels and traveled extensively to Navy installations worldwide, on both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of the USA and in Haiti, Liberia, Ireland, Germany and Denmark.
In 1941, Frank Knox was one of the many attendants of Al Smith's funeral in Philadelphia.
Sadly, Knox never lived to see the end of the Second Great War. Suffering from a series of heart attacks, he died on April 28th, 1944 at the age of 70. On July 20th, 1944, almost three months after his death, he was finally buried with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery. The Gearing-class Destroyer USS Frank Knox , commissioned in January, 1945, was named in his honor. Knox also posthumously received the Medal for Merit from President Thomas Dewey on April 28th, 1945, the one year anniversary of his death.
