View source for Maurice Thatcher

{{Short description|American politician (1870–1973)}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Maurice Thatcher
| image name = Maurice-H.-Thatcher.jpg
| caption     = 
| birth_name  = Maurice Hudson Thatcher 
| birth_date  ={{Birth date|1870|8|15|mf=y}}
| birth_place =[[Chicago]], [[Illinois]]
| death_date  ={{death date and age|1973|1|6|1870|8|15}}
| death_place= [[Washington, D.C.]]
| state = [[Kentucky]]
| district = {{ushr|Kentucky|5|5th}}
| term = March 4, 1923 – March 3, 1933
| preceded = [[Charles F. Ogden]]
| succeeded = [[William Voris Gregory]]
| party = [[United States Republican Party|Republican]] 
| spouse = 
| religion = 
| signature = Maurice-H.-Thatcher-sig.jpg
| signature_alt= M. H. Thatcher
| order2 = 5th
| title2 = [[List of Governors of Panama Canal Zone|Military Governor of Panama Canal Zone]]
|appointed2 = [[William Howard Taft]] 
| term_start2 =  May 13, 1910	
| term_end2 =  August 8, 1913
| predecessor2 =   [[Joseph Clay Styles Blackburn]]
| successor5 =   [[Richard Lee Metcalfe]]
}}

'''Maurice Hudson Thatcher''' (August 15, 1870{{spaced ndash}}January 6, 1973) was an American politician and attorney who was the 5th [[List of Governors of Panama Canal Zone|Military Governor of the Panama Canal Zone]] from 1910 to 1913 and a [[United States House of Representatives|U.S. Representative]] from [[Kentucky]] from 1923 to 1933.

== Biography ==
Born in Chicago, Illinois, Thatcher's family moved to [[Butler County, Kentucky]] in 1874 and settled near [[Morgantown, Kentucky|Morgantown]]. Thatcher worked in farming, on a newspaper and in county offices.  He was elected the circuit court clerk for Butler County in 1892 and served from January 1, 1893, until his resignation in 1896. He studied law in [[Frankfort, Kentucky]] and was admitted to the bar in 1898, commencing his law practice in Frankfort. Thatcher was an Assistant [[Attorney General of Kentucky]] 1898–1900 and then moved to [[Louisville, Kentucky]] in 1900. He was an Assistant [[United States Attorney]] for the Western District of Kentucky from 1901 to 1906 and a state inspector and examiner for Kentucky 1908–1910.

Thatcher was also a member of the Isthmian Canal Commission and governor of the [[Panama Canal Zone|Canal Zone]] from 1909 to 1913. Thatcher was the Commission's longest-lived and last surviving member.

During his congressional tenure, he guided the passage of several Kentucky landmarks and parks: [[Mammoth Cave National Park]], [[Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park|Lincoln's birthplace]], and the [[Zachary Taylor National Cemetery]]. In 1932, he gave up his seat in an unsuccessful attempt to defeat [[Alben W. Barkley]] for election to the [[United States Senate]].

Thatcher served as the general counsel of the Gorgas Memorial Institute of Tropical and Preventative Medicine, Inc., in [[Washington, D.C.]], beginning in 1939 and became its vice president in 1948, a post he held until 1969 when he was made honorary president, a position previously reserved for [[President of the United States|Presidents of the United States]]. In 1962, the first bridge connecting both sides of the Panama Canal was named after him: Thatcher Ferry Bridge. In 1979, the name was officially changed to the [[Bridge of the Americas]].

Thatcher was a [[Vegetarianism|vegetarian]].<ref>{{cite journal|year=1965|title=Thatcher Returning to States After Visit|journal=Congressional Record: Proceedings and Debates of the 89th Congress|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.31210025939495&view=1up&seq=217|volume=111|issue=11|pages=14517}}</ref>

==Legacy==
As of 2017, he is the second-longest lived person to have served in the [[United States Congress]], having lived to the age of 102 years and 144 days, behind [[Elizabeth Hawley Gasque]], who lived to the age of 103 years, 249 days.

== References ==
{{CongBio|T000142}}
{{Reflist}}
* {{cite book |last=Johnson |first=E. Polk |title=A History of Kentucky and Kentuckians: The Leaders and Representative Men in Commerce, Industry and Modern Activities |publisher= Lewis Publishing Company |year=1912 |url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_FXQUAAAAYAAJ |accessdate=2008-11-10 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_FXQUAAAAYAAJ/page/n408 906]–908}}

==External links==
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Maurice Thatcher}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-ppo}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Richard P. Ernst]]}}
{{s-ttl|title={{nowrap|[[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] nominee for [[United States Senator]] [[List of United States Senators from Kentucky|from]] [[Kentucky]] ([[Classes of United States Senators|Class 3]])}}|years=[[1932 United States Senate election in Kentucky|1932]]}}
{{s-aft|after=John P. Haswell}}
{{s-off}}
{{succession box|
 before=[[Joseph Clay Styles Blackburn]]|
 title=[[List of Governors of Panama Canal Zone|Military Governor of the Panama Canal Zone]]|years=May 13, 1910 - August 8, 1913|
 after=[[Richard Lee Metcalfe]]
 }}
{{s-par|us-hs}}
{{succession box | title=[[U.S. Congressman]], [[Kentucky's 5th congressional district]] | before=[[Charles F. Ogden]] | after=[[William Voris Gregory]] | years=1923-1933}}
{{s-end}}
{{USCongRep-start|congresses= 68th–72nd [[United States Congress]]es |state=[[Kentucky]]}}
{{USCongRep/KY/68}}
{{USCongRep/KY/69}}
{{USCongRep/KY/70}}
{{USCongRep/KY/71}}
{{USCongRep/KY/72}}
{{USCongRep-end}}
{{Governors of the Panama Canal Zone}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thatcher, Maurice}}
[[Category:1870 births]]
[[Category:1973 deaths]]
[[Category:American prosecutors]]
[[Category:Governors of the Panama Canal Zone]]
[[Category:Kentucky lawyers]]
[[Category:American men centenarians]]
[[Category:People from Butler County, Kentucky]]
[[Category:Politicians from Chicago]]
[[Category:Politicians from Louisville, Kentucky]]
[[Category:Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Kentucky]]
[[Category:United States Department of Justice lawyers]]
[[Category:United States military governors]]
[[Category:20th-century members of the United States House of Representatives]]