Harold Theodore Tate

Harold Theodore Tate was Treasurer of the United States from May 31, 1928 until January 17, 1929, serving under President Calvin Coolidge. While holding that post, his duties included being the signatory on United States currency.

He was the son of Allen S. Tate and Ariana Peck Tate of Grainger County, Tennessee. He had previously served as Deputy Treasurer of the United States, and one of his duties in that post included signing the President's paycheck. His signature was the first to be included on the modern sized United States paper money as Treasurer of the United States.

Managing money seems to have run in this family, H. T. Tate's brother Ernest having served as Treasurer of the Southern Railway, headquartered at 15th and K Street N.W. in Washington, D.C., just a few blocks away from the United States Department of the Treasury.

Siblings H.T. Tate and Ernest Tate were, respectively, the grand-uncle and grandfather of radio broadcaster, David Tate.

Sources

• Leaves from the Family Tree, by Penelope Johnson Allen, reprinted in The Chattanooga Sunday Times, December 6, 1936 (This article erroneously names Oscar Tate as Treasurer of the United States. Oscar was the brother of H. T. Tate.).
• Excerpts from History of Tennessee, The Goodspeed Publishing Co., Nashville, TN 1887.