Slattery, Harry, 1887-1949

Conservationist and U.S. government official.

From the description of Papers, 1890-1953 (bulk 1928-1944). (Duke University Library). WorldCat record id: 122427426

From the description of Papers, 1901-1953. (Duke University Library). WorldCat record id: 20159093

• 1887, June 13: Born, Greenville, South Carolina
• 1909 - 1912 : Secretary to Gifford Pinchot, chief forester in Theodore Roosevelt's administration.
• 1912 - 1917 : Executive Secretary of the National Conservation Association, appointed by its founder, Pinchot
• 1917 - 1918 : Special Assistant to Franklin K. Lane, Secretary of the Interior
• 1919 - 1923 : Counsel to the National Conservation Association
• 1923 - 1933 : Practiced law in Washington
• 1925 - 1929 : Executive and counsel for the National Boulder Dam Association
• 1929 - 1932 : Counsel for the National Conservation Commission
• 1931 - 1933 : Washington representative for New York Power Authority
• 1933 - 1938 : Personal assistant to Harold Ickes, Secretary of the Interior Assistant to administrator of Federal Emergency Administration of Public Works
• 1938 - 1939 : Undersecretary of the Interior
• 1939 - 1944 : Administrator of Rural Electrification Administration (REA), from which he resigned after a conflict with the Secretary of Agriculture in 1944
• 1940 - 1942 : Consultant to the power subcommittee of the advisory commission of the Council of National Defense
• 1944: Received LL.D. from the University of South Carolina
• 1949, Sept. 1: Died

Slattery attended Mount Saint Mary's College in Maryland, Georgetown University and George Washington University. As part of government efforts to indict big business for the exploitation of the country's natural resources, he was involved in Senate investigations of the Mulhall exposure during Wilson's administration and the Teapot Dome Scandal of 1921. The 1944 controversy between the REA and the Department of Agriculture over the administration of REA led to a Senate investigation. Slattery was involved in the passage of a federal coal and oil leasing measure, federal water power legislation, Alaska coal and home rule acts, and rural electrification legislation. He was a member of the National Power Policy Committee, the Energy Resources and Land Committees of the National Resources Planning Board, the Interbureau Coordinating Committee, the Federal States Relations Committee, the Society of American Foresters, the National Press Club, the Missouri Athletic Club, and Delta Theta Phi Fraternity.

From the guide to the Harry A. Slattery Papers, (Duke University. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library)