Newton D. Baker

Newton Diehl Baker (1871–1937) was an American lawyer and public official known for progressive-era reform and national service during World War I. Born in Martinsburg, West Virginia, he studied at Johns Hopkins University and earned a law degree from Washington and Lee University. After moving to Cleveland, Ohio, he entered municipal politics and served as the city’s mayor from 1912 to 1915, associated with the reform movement of the period. In 1916 President Woodrow Wilson appointed him U.S. Secretary of War, a post he held through 1921, overseeing the Army’s rapid expansion and mobilization for the war. Baker later returned to legal practice and public affairs.