T. Coleman du Pont

Thomas Coleman du Pont ( born December 11, 1863 in Louisville, Kentucky, † November 11, 1930 in Wilmington, Delaware) was an American businessman and politician ( Republican), who represented the state of Delaware in the U.S. Senate.

Early years

Thomas Coleman du Pont, who was mainly known by his middle name Coleman, was a cousin of Henry A. du Pont, who sat from 1906 to 1917 for Delaware in the U.S. Senate. His great-grandfather Eleuthère Irenee du Pont had immigrated from France and had the company EI du Pont de Nemours and Company Founded in 1802, a gunpowder manufacturer. It later became the globally operating chemical company DuPont.

After visiting the Urbana University in Ohio and the Chauncy Hall School in Boston Coleman du Pont graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he made his degree in engineering. After that he worked as an engineer in the coal mines, which were in the possession of his family. He then worked in road construction. In 1894 he became general manager of the Johnson Street Rail Company in Johnstown ( Pennsylvania).

Rise as an entrepreneur

With his two cousins ​​Alfred I. du Pont and Pierre S. du Pont Coleman du Pont took over the financial control of the explosives business her family in Delaware. By 1902-1915 he was this company before as president; at this time were more than 100 companies on competition in the DuPont Group. With the E. I du Pont de Nemours Company, a holding company was founded with its headquarters in New Jersey under his supervision. 1907, the DuPont Company was sued for Violating Antitrust regulations. Coleman du Pont sold its stake in the company in 1914 and left it in the following year.

As a result, du Pont operated in the hotel industry. Among other things, he had the management control of the Hotel McAlpin in Manhattan and the Claridge Hotel in Atlantic City. Together with his business partner Lucius M. Boomer in 1918 he acquired the Waldorf -Astoria in New York, 1920, the Willard Hotel in Washington DC and 1925, the Bellevue -Stratford Hotel in Philadelphia. Moreover, he was also active in the insurance industry and took over in 1915, the Equitable Life Assurance Society, the oldest mutual insurance company in the world, by J. P. Morgan.

Political career

In 1908, Coleman du Pont was a member of the Republican National Committee, where he served until 1930. Under his leadership, split into several fractions Republican Party of Delaware took back to their unit.

Following the resignation of U.S. Senator Josiah O. Wolcott on July 2, 1921 du Pont was appointed by Governor William Denney to his successor in Congress. He took his seat in Washington, D.C. from 7 July of the same year, but lost both the election and the election for the next legislative session to Democrat Thomas F. Bayard, so he first had to back down from the Senate on November 7, 1922.

In 1924 he successfully applied for his party's nomination for Delaware's second Senate seat, he prevailed in the primary against incumbent L. Heisler Ball. He won The actual choice then to Democrat James M. Tunnell, whereupon he returned to Congress on March 4, 1925. However, health problems forced him already on December 9, 1928 his resignation again.

In his last years, Coleman du Pont faced litigation for land sales in Florida over. It was also discussed about his involvement in the Teapot Dome scandal. He died in November 1930 of esophageal cancer and was buried in the family cemetery in Greenville.

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