Gordon Woodbury

Gordon Woodbury (1863–1924) was the United States Assistant Secretary of the Navy from 1920 to 1921.

Woodbury (left) meeting with Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels, 1920

Biography

Woodbury was born in New York City in 1863 and raised in Bedford, New Hampshire. He was educated at Harvard University and then returned to New Hampshire to pursue a career in politics. At one point, he was editor of the Manchester Union, the leading Democratic paper in New Hampshire. He was repeatedly elected to the New Hampshire General Court, but failed in his 1916 bid to become the member of the United States House of Representatives for New Hampshire's 1st congressional district, losing to Republican Cyrus A. Sulloway.

In 1920, Franklin D. Roosevelt resigned as Assistant Secretary of the Navy in order to run for Vice President in the 1920 presidential election. President of the United States Woodrow Wilson named Woodbury as Roosevelt's successor and he subsequently served as Assistant Secretary of the Navy from August 27, 1920 until March 9, 1921.

Woodbury remained in Washington, D. C. after stepping down as Assistant Secretary of the Navy, living at the Wardman Park Hotel.

In 1922, Woodbury planned to sail to the Mediterranean and the South Seas in his yacht, the Half Moon, but was caught in a hurricane and swept into the ocean, although all but one person survived.

Woodbury died in 1924.

References

• Profile at the Political Graveyard
• "Swept Off Yacht; Returned by Wave", New York Times, Jan. 31, 1922