There are heavy hitters sitting in that circle.Originally Posted by David Merrill
Houston
In 1913 Woodrow Wilson, after conferring with Edward M. House, picked Houston as secretary of agriculture. An unusual amount of agricultural legislation was passed during the seven years Houston held the office: the Smith-Lever Act (agricultural extension), the Farm Loan Act, the Warehouse Act (storage of nonperishable crops), and the Federal Aid Road Act, which for the first time established effective cooperation between the states and the federal government in the building of national highways.
During the last year of Wilson's presidency, Houston served as secretary of the treasury. He described his cabinet experience in his memoirs, Eight Years With Wilson's Cabinet, a two-volume work published in 1926.
After leaving government service Houston began a successful business career that culminated in his election in June 1930 as president of the Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York, a position he held for ten years. He was also a director of several corporations, including the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, the Guaranty Trust Company, and the United States Steel Corporation. He served as overseer of Harvard University and as a member of the board of trustees of Columbia University.
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