Albert S. Burleson
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Albert Sidney Burleson (1863-1937) was a United States Postmaster General and Congressman. He came from a wealthy Southern family deeply loyal to the South - his father and grandfather were both Confederate officers. In his early political career, Burleson represented Texas in the House, where he was active in promoting the development of agriculture.
In 1913 he was appointed Postmaster General by Woodrow Wilson. To his credit, he initiated the parcel post and airmail services, increasing mail service to rural areas. However, Burleson was one of the most reactionary politicians to have served as Postmaster General, and for that reason (and several others) his term is often seen as one of the worst in the history of the post. Burleson persecuted blacks in the mail service, segregating workers and firing southern black postal workers. He drew criticism from labor unions by forbidding postal employees to strike. Business leaders were angered by inefficiency and almost dictatorial heavy-handedness in government control of communications. During World War I, Burleson vigoriously enforced the Espionage Act, ordering local postmasters to send to him any illegal or suspicious material that they found. The movement of major radical pamphlets such as Emma Goldman's Mother Earth and Max Eastman's The Masses through the mail was slowed drastically, and often times such pamphlets were never delivered. Anti-war material banned from the mail. Albert Burleson's actions as Postmaster General are a prime example of Red Scare interference with freedom of speech.
In 1919 he became chairman of the United States Telegraph and Telephone Administration and in 1920 chairman of the United States Commission to the International Wire Communication Conference, soon retiring in 1921.
External links
- University of Texas biography (http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/view/BB/fbu38.html)
- A critical view of the Postmaster (http://www.americanpresident.org/history/woodrowwilson/cabinet/postmaster/postmaster/h_index.shtml)
| Preceded by: Frank H. Hitchock | Postmaster General | Succeeded by: Will H. Hays |