Joseph H. Choate Jr.

Joseph Hodges Choate Jr. (February 2, 1876 – January 19, 1968), was an American lawyer who chaired the Voluntary Committee of Lawyers, a group established in 1927 that promoted the repeal of prohibition. Upon repeal in 1933, President Franklin Roosevelt named Choate the first head of the Federal Alcohol Control Administration (FACA).

For his father, the U.S. lawyer and diplomat, see Joseph Hodges Choate.
Joseph H. Choate Jr.
Born
Joseph Hodges Choate Jr.

(1876-02-02)February 2, 1876
Manhattan, New York, U.S.
DiedJanuary 19, 1968(1968-01-19) (aged 91)
Mount Kisco, New York, U.S.
Alma mater
Spouse(s)
Cora Lyman Oliver
​
​
(m. 1903; died 1955)​
Children4
Parents
Relatives
AwardsLegion of Honour

Early life
His father, Ambassador Choate, December 1910.
His mother, Caroline Sterling Choate

Joseph Hodges Choate Jr. was born on February 2, 1876, in New York City, where he grew up, as well as at Naumkeag, his family's country estate in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. He was youngest of five children born to U.S. lawyer and diplomat Joseph Hodges Choate and artist and activist Caroline Dutcher Sterling Choate. His older siblings were Ruluff Sterling Choate, George Choate, Josephine Choate, and Mabel Choate. In 1899, his father was appointed Ambassador to the Court of St. James in London by President William McKinley and served from 1899 to 1905, continuing under President Theodore Roosevelt.[1]

His paternal grandparents were Margaret Manning (née Hodges) Choate and Dr. George Choate, a physician. Among his extended family were uncles William Gardner Choate, a U.S. District Judge of the Southern District of New York (who established Choate School), and Dr. George Cheyne Shattuck Choate.[1] Her maternal grandparents were Caroline (née Dutcher) Sterling and Frederick Augustine Sterling, who were both from Connecticut.[1]

Like his father and uncle William before him, he graduated from Harvard University in 1897 and Harvard Law School.[2]

Career

Upon his father's appointment as Ambassador, the younger Choate left law school in Cambridge and joined him in London as Third Secretary of the Embassy. Choate returned in 1901 to finish his law degree and graduated the following year.[3]

After gaining admission to the bar, Choate practiced law in New York City becoming senior partner in the firm of Choate, Byrd, Léon & Garretson (which was named Choate, Regan, Davis & Hollister at the time of his death).[3] He chaired the Voluntary Committee of Lawyers, a group established in 1927 that promoted the repeal of prohibition. Upon repeal in 1933, President Franklin Roosevelt named Choate the first head of the Federal Alcohol Control Administration (FACA),[4] where he fought for lower priced liquor as a way to end bootlegging. He served until 1935 when the agency was replaced by the Federal Alcohol Administration, part of the Department of the Treasury.[5] His successor was Franklin Chase Hoyt.[6]

Choate was active in support of the Fusion candidacy of Mayor Fiorello H. LaGuardia and in 1936, he was chairman of the 50th anniversary celebration of the Statue of Liberty. The following year he was made an officer of the French Legion of Honour.[3]

Quotes

One of Choate's very famous quotes was "You cannot live without lawyers, and certainly you cannot die without them."[7]

Personal life

In 1903, Choate was married to Cora Lyman Oliver (1876–1955), daughter of General and Assistant Secretary of War Robert Shaw Oliver and Marion Lucy (née Rathbone) Oliver. Cora's older brother was noted psychiatrist and medical historian John Rathbone Oliver. They had homes in Mount Kisco, New York, in New York City at 950 Fifth Avenue, and in North Haven, Maine. They were the parents of four children, including:

He died at his home in Mount Kisco on January 19, 1968.[3] After a funeral at St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Mt. Kisco, he was buried with his family at Stockbridge Cemetery in Stockbridge, Massachusetts.

Descendants

Through his daughter Helen, he was a grandfather of diplomat Nicholas Platt (b. 1936), the former U.S. Ambassador to Zambia, the Philippines, and Pakistan; and the great-grandfather of actor Oliver Platt (b. 1960).[17]

References
  1. Cutter, William Richard; Adams, William Frederick (1910). Genealogical and Personal Memoirs Relating to the Families of the State of Massachusetts. Lewis Historical Publishing Company. p. 2443. Retrieved 15 May 2019.
  2. "DACS". www.wesleyan.edu.
  3. "Joseph H. Choate, Lawyer, 91, Dead. Led Federal Unit to Guide Liquor Industry at Repeal". The New York Times. January 20, 1968. Retrieved 2010-11-04. Joseph H. Choate Jr., a distinguished lawyer who was chairman of the Federal Alcohol Control Administration from 1933 to 1935, died today in his home on ...
  4. Correspondent, From a Staff (30 November 1933). "Choate Made 'Czar' to Control Liquor; Roosevelt Appoints Son of Former Ambassador to Head Federal Board". The New York Times. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
  5. Times, Special to The New York (26 September 1935). "Roosevelt Praises Work of Choate; President Makes Public Correspondence on Resignation of FACA Head". The New York Times. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
  6. Hurd, Charles W. (17 September 1935). "Control of Liquor Put Under Hoyt; Retired New York Jurist Is Named by Roosevelt to Head New FAA". The New York Times. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
  7. Voorhees, Randy (2001). The Trouble with Law Is Lawyers. Andrews McMeel Publishing. p. 73. ISBN 978-0-7407-1893-9. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
  8. Treaster, Joseph B. (3 November 1979). "Charles Barney Harding, a Financier, Is Dead at 80; A Distinguished Family Chairman in '40 and '4l". The New York Times. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
  9. "Mrs. Geoffrey Platt". The New York Times. 22 June 1974. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
  10. "Miss Helen Choate Makes Her Debut; Introduced at a Dance at Home of Her Parents, Mr. and Mrs. Joseph H. Choate Jr. Luncheon for Debutantes Misses Elizabeth and Sophie Gay Entertained at Pierre's – Miss Susan D. Tilton Presented". The New York Times. 12 December 1925. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
  11. Pace, Eric (15 July 1985). "Geoffrey Platt Is Dead at 79; Led City Preservation Move". The New York Times. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
  12. "Miss Helen Choate Engaged to Marry; Her Troth to Geoffrey Platt Told by Her Parents, Mr. arid Mrs. Joseph H. Choate Jr. Fiance Is an Architect – He Is a Graduate of Harvard, Where He Was Captain of the University Crew". The New York Times. 26 September 1932. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
  13. "Helen Choate Wed to Geoffrey Platt; Ceremony in Church of the Heavenly Rest Performed by the Rev. Dr. Thayer. A Full Choral Service – Bride Is Granddaughter of the Late Joseph H. Choate – Wedding Trip to West Indies". The New York Times. 21 December 1932. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
  14. "Hallowell—Norwood P. Jr". The New York Times. 30 March 1979. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
  15. "Priscilla Choate Engaged to Wed; New York Girl to Become the Bride of N. P. Hallowell Jr. of Milton, Mass. – Both of Noted Families – Bride-Elect a Daughter of the Joseph H. Choates--Her Grandfather Once an Ambassador". The New York Times. 29 August 1933. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
  16. "Joseph H. Choate 3d, Groton lawyer, 61". The Boston Globe. 20 December 1973. p. 76. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
  17. "Weddings; Camilla Campbell, Oliver Platt". New York Times. 1992-09-13. Retrieved 2008-03-10.
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