William Marion Jardine
William Marion Jardine (January 16, 1879 January 17, 1955) was a U.S. administrator and educator. He served as the United States Secretary of Agriculture from 1925 to 1929 and as the U.S. Ambassador to Egypt in 1930.
Education
William Marion Jardine was born in Oneida County, Idaho, on January 16, 1879. He graduated from the agricultural college of Utah State University in Logan, Utah. He was married to Effie Lane Nebecker on September 6, 1905. Jardine attended graduate school at the University of Illinois. Although Jardine had a strong interest in practical farming, he was also attracted to opportunities in education. He began teaching at his alma mater in Utah, where he soon became a professor of agronomy. In 1910, Professor Jardine moved to Manhattan, Kansas, where he had accepted the position of agronomist at the Kansas State Agricultural College. Three years later, Jardine was made dean of the Division of Agriculture and director of the Agriculture Experiment Station.
President of Kansas State University
On March 1, 1918 William Marion Jardine became the seventh president of Kansas State University and held the office until February 28, 1925 when he was succeeded by Francis David Farrell. The office had been left vacant after Dr. Henry Jackson Waters resigned to become managing editor of the Weekly Kansas City Star. During his time in office, he penned several handbooks, such as "Suggestions for Teachers Giving Practical Instruction to City Boys in (a) Care and Handling of Work Horses (b) Care, Adjustment, and Use of Farm Machinery (c) Care and Handling of Dairy Cows and Milk", which was published by the Kansas State Council of Defense.
Secretary of Agriculture
President Jardine achieved an outstanding reputation for his work in agricultural education that extended far beyond the borders of the state of Kansas. As a result, in 1925, President Calvin Coolidge appointed him Secretary of Agriculture, a position he held for the next four years. Jardine played an integral part in the 1926 formation of the Board of Trade Clearing Corporation after the Chicago Board of Trade adopted his suggestions for regular reporting of large trader positions, a business conduct committee and the formation of a centralized clearing house.
Post-Secretarial life
Jardine served the Herbert Hoover Administration as United States Ambassador to Egypt from October 13, 1930, to September 5, 1933. After returning to Kansas in 1933, Jardine became president of the Municipal University of Wichita. Jardine was appointed as the Kansas State Treasurer on October 2, 1933, and took oath the following day. He served in this capacity from October 3, 1933, to April 1, 1934, when he resigned. William Jardine's very active career in education and government service ended with his death on January 17, 1955, in San Antonio, Texas. He was a Congregationalist and was a member of the Freemasons, Rotary, Alpha Zeta, Beta Theta Pi, Phi Kappa Phi, and Sigma Xi.
References
- "Former Secretaries". United States Department of Agriculture. Retrieved on February 28, 2006.
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