Joshua Willis Alexander (January 22, 1852 in Cincinnati, Ohio

Cincinnati, Ohio

Cincinnati is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio. Cincinnati is the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located to north of the Ohio River at the Ohio-Kentucky border, near Indiana. The population within city limits is 296,943 according to the 2010 census, making it Ohio's...

 – February 27, 1936) was United States Secretary of Commerce

United States Secretary of Commerce

The United States Secretary of Commerce is the head of the United States Department of Commerce concerned with business and industry; the Department states its mission to be "to foster, promote, and develop the foreign and domestic commerce"...

 from December 16, 1919 - March 4, 1921 in the administration of President Woodrow Wilson

Woodrow Wilson

Thomas Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States, from 1913 to 1921. A leader of the Progressive Movement, he served as President of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913...

. He attended Christian University in Canton, Missouri

Canton, Missouri

Canton is a city in Lewis County, Missouri, United States. The population was 2,557 at the 2000 census. Canton is the site of Culver-Stockton College, a small liberal arts college affiliated with the Christian Church...

 and later moved to Gallatin, Missouri

Missouri

Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...

, where he served as mayor and then as a representative in the Missouri General Assembly (1882-1887). He served as a judge on Missouri's 17th Circuit until 1905.

Alexander,a member of the United States Democratic Party, served as a United States Representative

United States House of Representatives

The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...

 from Missouri from 1907 until his resignation to become Commerce Secretary in 1919. He served as chairman of the House Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries and took a lead role in shaping wartime shipping legislation, which drew him to the attention of President Wilson. He also gained prominence for his service as Chairman of the United States Commission to the international conference on the safety of life at sea in London in 1913.

After his tenure as Secretary of Commerce, Alexander returned to the practice of law in Missouri. He served as a delegate to the state's constitutional convention in 1922-23.

Joshua W. Alexander was a brother of the Delta Kappa Epsilon

Delta Kappa Epsilon

Delta Kappa Epsilon is a fraternity founded at Yale College in 1844 by 15 men of the sophomore class who had not been invited to join the two existing societies...

 fraternity (Phi chapter).

Family

Alexander married Roe Ann Richardson, the daughter of a judge, on February 3, 1876. The couple had eight children.

Alexander's son, aviator Walter Alexander, was killed in a propellor accident at Bolling Field in 1920. Another son, George Forrest Alexander

George Forrest Alexander

George Forest Alexander , was a judge of the United States territorial court for the Alaska Territory from 1933 to 1947. Prior to that, Alexander had been in private practice in Portland, Oregon for over 20 years. Alexander died in Portland and was interred at River View Cemetery.-References:...

, became a federal judge in Juneau, Alaska.