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{{short description|American politician (1858–1918)}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|name = George Meyer
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|predecessor3 = [[William Franklin Draper (politician)|William Draper]]
|successor3 = [[Henry White (diplomat)|Henry White]]
|office4 = [[
|term_start4 = 1894
|term_end4 = 1896
|predecessor4 = [[William Emerson Barrett]]
|successor4 = [[John L. Bates]]
|term_start5 = 1892
|term_end5 = 1894
|predecessor5 =
|successor5 =
|office6 = Member of the [[Boston Board of Aldermen]]
|term6 = 1891
|predecessor6 =
|successor6 =
|office7 = Member of the [[Boston Common Council]]
|term_start7 = 1889
|term_end7 = 1891
|predecessor7 =
|successor7 =
|birth_name = George von Lengerke Meyer
|birth_date = {{birth date|1858|6|24}}
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==Biography==
Meyer was a native of [[Boston, Massachusetts|Boston]], reared in a patrician society.<ref name=anb>{{Cite ANB|title=Meyer, George von Lengerke|author=Wayne A. Wiegand |id=0600433}}</ref> His paternal grandfather, George Augustus Meyer (also the name of von Lengerke Meyer's father), had emigrated from [[Germany]] to [[New York City]].<ref name=dab>{{Cite DAB|title=Meyer, George von Langerke|author=Paul H. Buck|year=1933}}</ref> Meyer graduated from Harvard in 1879, and for twenty years was in business as a merchant and trustee.<ref name=colliers>{{Cite Collier's|wstitle=Meyer, George von Lengerke |year=1921}}</ref> In 1885, he married Marian Alice Appleton.<ref name=dab/> He was a director of various trust companies, banks, manufacturing companies, and public utilities concerns.<ref name=amer>{{Americana|wstitle=Meyer, George von Lengerke|inline=1 |year=1920}}</ref> While managing his business affairs, he also held positions in state and local government, his public service beginning
He was a conservative [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]], and in 1899 was appointed a national committeeman.<ref name="dab"/> Republican Presidents [[William McKinley]] and [[Theodore Roosevelt]] appointed Meyer to [[United States Ambassador to Italy|ambassadorships in Italy]] (1900–1905) and Russia (1905–1907). His patrician roots facilitated his interactions with the nobility of Europe, then in control of the continent. Roosevelt often used him to deliver messages to [[Wilhelm II of Germany|Kaiser Wilhelm II]] in preference to the official ambassador, [[Charlemagne Tower, Jr.|Charlemagne Tower]].<ref name=anb/> As ambassador to Russia, he presented Roosevelt's proposals with regard to the [[Russo-Japanese War]] directly to the Czar.<ref name=dab/>
Meyer also served as Roosevelt's [[Postmaster General of the United States|Postmaster General]], from
Upon taking office in March 1909, President Taft appointed Meyer to the position of Secretary of the Navy, a post which Meyer held throughout Taft's term. During this period, the Navy made its first experiments with [[Naval aviation|aviation]], although Meyer initially opposed the project.{{Citation needed|date=April 2011}} In separate tests in 1910 and 1911, civilian pilot [[Eugene Ely]] proved the feasibility of [[Aircraft carrier|carrier]]-based aviation, by taking off from and landing on a Navy warship.
[[File:William H Taft - A W Butt - Geoge v. L. Meyer.jpg|thumb|At naval review in [[New York Harbor]] with [[William Howard Taft|President Taft]] and [[Archibald Butt|Capt. A. W. Butt]]]]
After 1911, Meyer was an overseer of Harvard University.<ref name="amer" /> He retired from national politics and returned to Massachusetts after Taft left office in 1913. He joined the effort to reelect Theodore Roosevelt in 1916.<ref name="anb" /> The foremost critic of [[Woodrow Wilson]]'s naval policies,<ref name="anb" /> on the outbreak of [[World War I]] he urged preparedness and criticised America's naval administration. He was actively associated with the [[National Security League]] and the [[Navy League of the United States|Navy League]]. Among the organizations for which he was a director were the Amoskeag Manufacturing Co., Old Colony Trust Co., Puget Sound Light & Power Co., Walter Baker Co., and Ames Plow Co.<ref name="eb" />▼
In December 1916 Meyer, Roosevelt and other philanthropists including Scottish-born industrialist John C. Moffat, [[William A. Chanler]], [[Joseph Choate]], [[Clarence Mackay]], [[John Grier Hibben]], and [[Nicholas Murray Butler]] purchased the [[Château de Chavaniac]], birthplace of the [[Marquis de Lafayette]] in [[Auvergne (province)|Auvergne]] to serve as a headquarters for the [http://www.chateau-lafayette.com/Lafayette-Memorial.html French Heroes Lafayette Memorial Fund],<ref>[http://newspapers.bc.edu/cgi-bin/bostonsh?a=d&d=BOSTONSH19170106-01.2.14# "Americans buy Lafayette's Home," ''The Sacred Heart Review,'' Volume 57, Number 4, 6 January 1917, p. 3.]</ref> which was managed by Chanler's ex-wife Beatrice Ashley Chanler.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=oZEVAAAAYAAJ&
▲After 1911, Meyer was an overseer of Harvard University.<ref name="amer"/> He retired from national politics and returned to Massachusetts after Taft left office in 1913. He joined the effort to reelect Theodore Roosevelt in 1916.<ref name="anb"/> The foremost critic of [[Woodrow Wilson]]'s naval policies,<ref name=anb/> on the outbreak of [[World War I]] he urged preparedness and criticised America's naval administration. He was actively associated with the [[National Security League]] and the [[Navy League of the United States|Navy League]]. Among the organizations for which he was a director were the Amoskeag Manufacturing Co., Old Colony Trust Co., Puget Sound Light & Power Co., Walter Baker Co., and Ames Plow Co.<ref name="eb"/>
▲In December 1916 Meyer, Roosevelt and other philanthropists including Scottish-born industrialist John C. Moffat, [[William A. Chanler]], [[Joseph Choate]], [[Clarence Mackay]], [[John Grier Hibben]], and [[Nicholas Murray Butler]] purchased the [[Château de Chavaniac]], birthplace of the [[Marquis de Lafayette]] in [[Auvergne (province)|Auvergne]] to serve as a headquarters for the [http://www.chateau-lafayette.com/Lafayette-Memorial.html French Heroes Lafayette Memorial Fund],<ref>[http://newspapers.bc.edu/cgi-bin/bostonsh?a=d&d=BOSTONSH19170106-01.2.14# "Americans buy Lafayette's Home," ''The Sacred Heart Review,'' Volume 57, Number 4, 6 January 1917, p. 3.]</ref> which was managed by Chanler's ex-wife Beatrice Ashley Chanler.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=oZEVAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=bibliogroup:%22Harper%27s+Pictorial+Library+of+the+World+War%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=NGIuUpWnH7Wy4AOekYGYCA&ved=0CC8Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false Albert Bushnell Hart, ''Harper's Pictorial Library of the World War, Volume 7,'' Harper, 1920; p. 110.]</ref><ref>"Americans Aid War Refugees in Paris Mrs. William Astor Chanler Tells of Work Done Through Lafayette Fund;" ''The Philadelphia Inquirer;'' 8-04-1918; Vol. 179, Issue: 35; p. 11, Philadelphia, PA.</ref>
He died in Boston on March 9, 1918.
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==See also==
{{Portal|Biography|Politics}}▼
* [[115th Massachusetts General Court (1894)]]
* [[116th Massachusetts General Court (1895)]]
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* {{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/georgevonlengerk00howe|title=George von Lengerke Meyer: his life and public services|year=1919|author=M. A. DeWolfe Howe|publisher=Dodd, Mead and Co|location=New York}}
* ''Boston Transcript'', March 11, 1918
* {{Cite book|title=Patrician in the Progressive Era:
*''Who's who in State Politics, 1912'' Practical Politics (1912) p. 9.
==External links==
▲{{Portal|Biography|Politics}}
{{commons}}
*{{Find a Grave|16418630|
{{s-start}}
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[[Category:American people of German descent]]
[[Category:Harvard University alumni]]
▲[[Category:Members of the Massachusetts House of Representatives]]
[[Category:Politicians from Boston]]
[[Category:Speakers of the Massachusetts House of Representatives]]
[[Category:United States
[[Category:Boston City Council members]]
[[Category:United States
[[Category:Taft administration cabinet members]]
[[Category:Theodore Roosevelt administration cabinet members]]
[[Category:20th-century American politicians]]
[[Category:Republican Party members of the Massachusetts
[[Category:Businesspeople from Boston]]
[[Category:20th-century American diplomats]]
[[Category:19th-century American politicians]]
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