David F. Houston

David Franklin Houston (February 17, 1866 – September 2, 1940) was an American academic, businessman and conservative Democratic politician. He served under President Wilson as the 5th Secretary of Agriculture and the 48th United States Secretary of the Treasury.

Young Houston age 19, (April 1885).

Houston was born in Monroe, North Carolina, on February 17, 1866. He was the son of William Henry Houston, a horse dealer and grocer, and his wife, the former Pamela Ann Stevens. He graduated from the University of South Carolina in 1887 and did graduate work at Harvard University, where he received a M.A. in political science in 1892. Houston married Helen Beall on December 11, 1895. They had five children: David Franklin, Jr., Duval, Elizabeth, Helen and Lawrence Beid Houston.

Houston taught political science at University of Texas. He became an adjunct member of the faculty in 1894 and was named dean of the faculty in 1899. He then became president of the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas (now Texas A&M University) from 1902 until 1905. In 1905 he returned to UT to become that institution's president, serving until 1908. During his tenure at UT Austin, the school opened a doctoral program and a law school.

Houston left Texas to serve as chancellor of Washington University in St. Louis, a position he held from 1908 to 1913. During his tenure he established the School of Architecture and strengthened the medical school through partnerships with Children's and Barnes hospitals. He left the university to become the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture.

Under President William McKinley he was on the board of visitors of the United States Military Academy at West Point. Later in life, he was an overseer of Harvard University and on the Columbia University Board of Trustees.

Houston served as President Woodrow Wilson's Secretary of Agriculture from 1913 to 1920, when he became the Secretary of the Treasury until 1921.

During his time as Agriculture Secretary many important agricultural laws were passed by the U.S. Congress, including the Smith-Lever Act, the Farm Loan Act, the Warehouse Act, and the Federal Aid Road Act.

Houston's former house in the Dupont Circle neighborhood of Washington, D.C..

Houston came to the Treasury Department as World War I was ending and his brief tenure was marked by stormy controversies over federal monetary policies. As ex officio Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, he issued severe warnings and, increased rediscount rates in order to prevent the inflation that the European allies were experiencing. Houston predicted a fall in U.S. prices, particularly of farm products, after the optimism of the Armistice wore off. He pushed for easier credit for farmers and urged them to produce less.

But when prices fell more dramatically than expected in 1920, farm spokesmen unfairly accused Houston of deliberately wrecking agrarian prosperity. Abroad, England and France were pushing to cancel their war debts. Houston, the U.S. Congress and the President, against cancellation, converted the short-term debts to long-term loans. Houston resigned at the end of President Wilson's term, after only a year in office.

After leaving the U.S. federal government, Houston became as the president of the Bell Telephone Securities and a vice president at AT&T. Houston also served as a director of AT&T, the Guaranty Trust Company and the United States Steel Corporation. He was president of the Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York for ten years.

Houston died of a heart attack on September 2, 1940 at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center in New York City. He was buried next to his wife at Saint John's Church Cemetery in Oyster Bay, New York.

Houston published A Critical Study of Nullification in South Carolina (1896) to establish his place in academia. He later published a two-volume memoir of his experiences as a cabinet member, Eight Years with Wilson's Cabinet.