Julius Albert Krug was a U.S. Secretary of the Interior under President Harry Truman.

A native of Madison, Wisconsin

Madison, Wisconsin

Madison is the capital of the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Dane County. It is also home to the University of Wisconsin–Madison....

, Krug graduated from the University of Wisconsin–Madison

University of Wisconsin–Madison

The University of Wisconsin–Madison is a public research university located in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. Founded in 1848, UW–Madison is the flagship campus of the University of Wisconsin System. It became a land-grant institution in 1866...

 in 1929. His first notable jobs were with the Tennessee Valley Authority

Tennessee Valley Authority

The Tennessee Valley Authority is a federally owned corporation in the United States created by congressional charter in May 1933 to provide navigation, flood control, electricity generation, fertilizer manufacturing, and economic development in the Tennessee Valley, a region particularly affected...

, where he worked as chief power engineer, and then manager of power. In 1941, Krug was promoted to chief of the power branch of the Office of Production Management. After the beginning of World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, this office became the War Production Board

War Production Board

The War Production Board was established as a government agency on January 16, 1942 by executive order of Franklin D. Roosevelt.The purpose of the board was to regulate the production and allocation of materials and fuel during World War II in the United States...

. Krug was promoted to director of the Office of War Utilities in 1943.

In April 1944, Krug enlisted in the United States Navy

United States Navy

The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...

. He was recalled that August to serve as chairman of the War Production Board, where he served until the board's dissolution in November 1945. President Truman nominated Krug for the position of Secretary of the Interior on February 26, 1946. Krug took office on March 18.

As Secretary, Krug opposed lumber

Lumber

Lumber or timber is wood in any of its stages from felling through readiness for use as structural material for construction, or wood pulp for paper production....

 companies' efforts to gain logging rights to huge forests in Washington state, and opposed the building of unnecessary dam

Dam

A dam is a barrier that impounds water or underground streams. Dams generally serve the primary purpose of retaining water, while other structures such as floodgates or levees are used to manage or prevent water flow into specific land regions. Hydropower and pumped-storage hydroelectricity are...

s. As the administrator of coal mines in the United States, he led failed negotiations between John L. Lewis

John L. Lewis

John Llewellyn Lewis was an American leader of organized labor who served as president of the United Mine Workers of America from 1920 to 1960...

 and mine owners in an attempt to end a nationwide strike by the United Mine Workers of America.

In August, 1949, Krug chaired the 19-member United States Citizens Committee that participated in the United Nations Scientific Conference on Conservation and Utilization of Resources, held at Lake Success, New York

Lake Success, New York

Lake Success is a village in Nassau County, New York in the United States. The population was 2,934 at the 2010 census.Lake Success is in the Town of North Hempstead on northwest Long Island. Lake Success was the temporary home of the United Nations from 1946 to 1951, occupying the headquarters of...

. Other members of the committee included Herbert Hoover

Herbert Hoover

Herbert Clark Hoover was the 31st President of the United States . Hoover was originally a professional mining engineer and author. As the United States Secretary of Commerce in the 1920s under Presidents Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge, he promoted partnerships between government and business...

, Thomas Watson

Thomas Watson

-Bishops:*Thomas Watson *Thomas Watson , English clergyman-Writers:*Thomas Watson , English poet and translator*Thomas Watson -Bishops:*Thomas Watson (bishop of Lincoln) (1515–1584)*Thomas Watson (bishop of St David's) (1637–1717), English clergyman-Writers:*Thomas Watson (poet) (c. 1557–1592),...

, Howard E. Babcock

Howard E. Babcock

Howard Edward Babcock was the Chairman of Cornell Board of Trustees from 1940 to 1947. He served on the Federal Farm Board as well as on the board of the Central Bank for Cooperatives. He was co-president of the National Cooperative Council and chairman of the American Institute of...

, and Randolph Greene Pack

Randolph Greene Pack

Randolph Greene Pack , son of Charles Lathrop Pack, grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, at the turn of the century...

.

Krug resigned from the cabinet effective December 1, 1949, and moved on to private industry as a utilities consultant in Washington. He also served as chairman of the board of Brookside Mills

Brookside Mills

Brookside Mills was a textile manufacturing company that operated in Knoxville, Tennessee, USA, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The company's Second Creek factory was the city's largest employer in the early 1900s. Brookside Village, a neighborhood in North Knoxville, was originally...

, and cofounded the Volunteer Asphalt Company in Knoxville, Tennessee

Knoxville, Tennessee

Founded in 1786, Knoxville is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Tennessee, U.S.A., behind Memphis and Nashville, and is the county seat of Knox County. It is the largest city in East Tennessee, and the second-largest city in the Appalachia region...

.

Krug is buried in Arlington National Cemetery

Arlington National Cemetery

Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington County, Virginia, is a military cemetery in the United States of America, established during the American Civil War on the grounds of Arlington House, formerly the estate of the family of Confederate general Robert E. Lee's wife Mary Anna Lee, a great...

alongside his wife, Margaret Krug, who was interred there in 1986. They had two children, Marilyn and James.