Henry Clay Payne

Henry Clay Payne ( born November 23, 1843 in Ashfield, Franklin County, Massachusetts, † October 4, 1904 in Washington DC ) was an American politician of the Republican Party. He was a member of the cabinet of U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt as Postmaster General.

Henry Payne, who grew up in Massachusetts, graduated in 1859 at the Shelburne Falls Academy. He made ​​an attempt to join the Union army during the Civil War, but was rejected due to his poor health. In 1863, he moved to Milwaukee, where he found employment in the textile trade.

His political career began in 1872 in Payne Milwaukee County as a member of the Young Men's Republican Club, the local youth organization of the Republican Party. He trod in the hierarchy the way up, became secretary and later chairman of the Association. In 1876 he was appointed postmaster of Milwaukee, where he stayed for ten years.

In the following years, Payne focused on his career. He was 1885 President of the Telephone Company of Wisconsin, after then director of the First National Bank of Milwaukee and president of the Milwaukee and Northern Railroad, the Milwaukee Electric Railway and Light Company and the Milwaukee and Cream City Traction Company. In 1893 he was elected to the tram from Milwaukee as president of the American Street Railway Association grounds of merit. Later that year, he served as a trustee of the Northern Pacific Railway.

On January 9, 1902 Henry Payne joined the succession of Charles Emory Smith as Postmaster General in the Cabinet Roosevelt. After the death of Mark Hanna, the longtime chairman of the Republican National Committee, in February 1904 he also took over the post. However, Payne died himself in October of the same year.