Josephus Daniels

Who was Josephus Daniels?

Josephus Daniels was a newspaper editor and publisher from North Carolina who was appointed by United States President Woodrow Wilson to serve as Secretary of the Navy during World War I. He was also a close friend and supporter of President Franklin Roosevelt and served as his Ambassador to Mexico, 1933-41.

He was a newspaper editor and publisher from the 1880s to his death; most famously at the Raleigh News and Observer. As Secretary of the Navy, he handled formalities in world War I while his top aide Franklin Delano Roosevelt, handled the major wartime decisions. As ambassador to Mexico, he dealt with the anti-American government and its expropriation of American oil investments. At the state level he was a leading progressive, supporting public schools and public works, and calling for more regulation of trusts and railroads. He supported prohibition and woman suffrage, and used his newspapers to support the regular Democratic Party ticket. He opposed the Ku Klux Klan, but was a longtime champion of white supremacy, arguing that as long as Blacks had political power they would block progressive reforms.