Dawes, Charles Gates

Dawes, Charles Gates dôz [key], 1865–1951, American statesman and banker, b. Marietta, Ohio. Admitted (1886) to the bar, Dawes practiced law in Lincoln, Nebr., until 1894 and became interested in various gas and electric companies. He was a member of the Republican executive committee in William McKinley's presidential campaign (1896) and served (1897–1901) as comptroller of the Treasury. He organized the Central Trust Company of Illinois in 1902 and became a prominent figure in banking. After the United States entered World War I he was general purchasing agent of the American Expeditionary Force.

In 1921 he was appointed director (the first) of the U.S. Bureau of the Budget (see budget); in 1923–24 he was head of the reparations committee that advanced the Dawes Plan as a means of stabilizing postwar German finances. His work was recognized by the award (shared with Sir Austen Chamberlain) of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1925. Dawes served (1925–29) as Vice President under Calvin Coolidge. Herbert Hoover appointed him ambassador to London in 1929, and in 1932 he was made president of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation. His many books include Notes as Vice President (1935), A Journal of Reparations (1939), and Journal as Ambassador to Great Britain (1939).

See biography by B. N. Timmons (1953).

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2024, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

See more Encyclopedia articles on: U.S. History: Biographies