View source for Alexander Trowbridge

{{short description|American politician}}
{{Use American English|date=April 2025}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2025}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name                = Sandy Trowbridge
| image               = AlexanderBuelTrowbridge.jpg
| office              = 17th [[United States Secretary of Commerce]]
| president           = [[Lyndon B. Johnson]]
| term_start          = June 14, 1967
| term_end            = March 1, 1968<br>{{small|Acting: January 31, 1967 – June 14, 1967}}
| predecessor         = [[John T. Connor]]
| successor           = [[C. R. Smith]]
| birth_date          = {{birth date|1929|12|12}}
| birth_place         = [[Englewood, New Jersey]], [[United States|U.S.]]
| death_date          = {{death date and age|2006|4|27|1929|12|12}}
| death_place         = [[Washington, D.C.]], [[United States|U.S.]]
| restingplace        = [[Arlington National Cemetery]]
| party               = [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]
| spouse              = Nancey Horst {{small|(Divorced)}}<br>Ellie Hutzler
| children            = 3, 2 stepchildren
| education           = [[Princeton University]] {{small|([[Bachelor of Arts|A.B.]])}}
}}
'''Alexander Buel "Sandy" Trowbridge III''' (December 12, 1929{{spaced ndash}}April 27, 2006) was an American politician and businessman. He was the [[United States Secretary of Commerce]] from June 14, 1967, to March 1, 1968, in the administration of [[President of the United States|President]] [[Lyndon B. Johnson]].

==Biography==

[[File:Gravesite of United States Marine Corps Major Alexander Trowbridge in Columbarium Court 8 at Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Va., April 18, 2024.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Grave at Arlington National Cemetery]]
Trowbridge was born on December 12, 1929, at 1:05 p.m. in [[Englewood, New Jersey]]. He was the son of [[American University]] Professor of [[Russia]]n History Alexander Buel Trowbridge Jr., and the grandson of Alexander Buel Trowbridge, the former dean of the [[Cornell University]] College of the Architecture (1897–1902).{{citation needed|date=February 2010}} His grandmother Gertrude Mary Sherman was the great-great-granddaughter of American founding father [[Roger Sherman]].{{citation needed|date=February 2010}} His mother, the former Julie Chamberlain, who was the executive director of the [[Woodrow Wilson Foundation]] from 1942 to 1961.<ref name="Julie">"Julie C. Herzog, Headed the Wilson Foundation." ''New York Times.'' May 15, 1980.</ref> Trowbridge's parents divorced, and he was raised by his mother.<ref>Trowbridge's step-great-grandfather was also a [[Secretary of Commerce]].  Julie Chamberlain married [[Paul M. Herzog]], the former [[List of Chairs of the National Labor Relations Board|Chairman]] of the United States [[National Labor Relations Board]], in 1959. Herzog's first wife was the former Madeleine Schafer—the granddaughter of [[Oscar Straus (politician)|Oscar S. Straus]], the former [[United States Secretary of Commerce and Labor|Secretary of Commerce and Labor]] under President [[Theodore Roosevelt]] and the first [[Jew]]ish [[United States Cabinet|Cabinet Secretary]] in 1929. See: [https://www.nytimes.com/1986/11/25/obituaries/paul-m-herzog-dean-at-harvard-headed-nlrb-under-truman.html "Paul M. Herzog, Dean at Harvard."] ''[[The New York Times|New York Times]].'' November 25, 1986; "Madeleine Schafer Engaged to Marry." ''New York Times.'' January 29, 1929.</ref>

As a young man, Trowbridge attended [[Phillips Academy]] in [[Andover, Massachusetts]], in 1947, before graduating with an A.B. from the [[Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs]] at [[Princeton University]] in 1951 after completing a senior thesis titled "The Spanish Loan. A Case Study of Executive-Congressional Relations in the Formulation and Control of American Foreign Policy."<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Trowbridge|first=I. I. I.|date=1951|title=The Spanish Loan. A Case Study of Executive-Congressional Relations in the Formulation and Control of American Foreign Policy|url=http://dataspace.princeton.edu/jspui/handle/88435/dsp01t148fh92n}}</ref><ref name=NYTObit>Saxon, Wolfgang. [https://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/28/us/28trowbridge.html?scp=1&sq=Alexander+Buel+Trowbridge&st=nyt "Alexander Trowbridge, 76, Ex-Secretary of Commerce, Dies"], ''[[The New York Times]]'', April 28, 2006.</ref> After [[World War II]], he worked with various reconstruction efforts. After working with the International Intern Program of the United Nations in [[Lake Success, New York]], he served in the [[Korean War]] in the [[United States Marine Corps|Marine Corps]].

Between 1954 and 1965, he was an oil businessman. In 1965, President [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] appointed him to serve as the Assistant Secretary of Commerce. On January 19, 1967, he became acting Secretary of Commerce, and in June of that year he became [[U.S. Secretary of Commerce]], a position he served in until March 1, 1968. He resigned to return to business, serving first as the President of the [[American Management Association]], in May 1968,<ref>Robert Sobel (ed.). ''Biographical Directory of the United States Executive Branch, 1774–1989.'' 1990. p. 357</ref> before the joining Allied Chemical as a Vice-Chairman of the Morristown, New Jersey–based parent company and the Chairman of their Canadian subsidiary, Allied Chemical Canada Ltd. of Pointe-Claire (QC).

He later served as head of the [[National Association of Manufacturers]] from 1980 until 1989. In the early 1990s, he served as a member of the [[Competitiveness Policy Council]].

As Secretary of Commerce, he proposed to re-merge of the [[United States Department of Commerce|Department of Commerce]] and the [[United States Department of Labor|Department of Labor]].

Trowbridge died in [[Washington, D.C.]], on April 27, 2006, at the age of 76, after suffering from [[Lewy body dementia]]. He is buried at the [[Arlington National Cemetery]] in [[Arlington, Virginia]].

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/abtrowbridgejr.htm Arlington National Cemetery]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20060901105923/http://www.andover.edu/news/TrowbridgeObit.htm Phillips Andover Obit]
*[https://www.nytimes.com/1981/05/14/obituaries/abuel-trowbridge-professor-at-american-university-is-dead.html A.Buel Trowbridge, Professor At American University, Is Dead]
*[https://archive.today/20121212194853/http://millercenter.virginia.edu/Ampres/essays/lbjohnson/cabinet/612?PHPSESSID=5ab112e910f9c94379e32507a43a1bb9 American President: Alexander B. Trowbridge (1967 - 1968)]
*[http://rmc.library.cornell.edu/Aap-exhibit/AAP7.html The College of Architecture: A True Art Sentiment]
*{{C-SPAN|5225}}
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{{U.S. Cabinet official box
| before= [[John T. Connor]]
| after= [[Cyrus R. Smith]]
| years= June 14, 1967 – March 1, 1968
| president= [[Lyndon B. Johnson]]
| department= Secretary of Commerce}}
{{s-end}}
{{USSecCommerce}}
{{LBJohnson cabinet}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Trowbridge, Alexander B.}}
[[Category:1929 births]]
[[Category:2006 deaths]]
[[Category:Politicians from Englewood, New Jersey]]
[[Category:Businesspeople from Bergen County, New Jersey]]
[[Category:Military personnel from Bergen County, New Jersey]]
[[Category:Princeton University alumni]]
[[Category:United States secretaries of commerce]]
[[Category:Lyndon B. Johnson administration cabinet members]]
[[Category:20th-century American politicians]]
[[Category:Presidents of the American Management Association]]