Swanson, Claude Augustus

Swanson, Claude Augustus, 1862–1939, American politician, b. Pittsylvania co., Va. He practiced law in Chatham, Va., and after serving (1893–1905) in the U.S. House of Representatives he was (1906–10) governor of Virginia. In the U.S. Senate (1910–33), Swanson became recognized as one of the foremost authorities on naval and foreign affairs in the United States; he was a delegate to the London Naval Conference in 1931 and the Geneva Disarmament Conference in 1932. As U.S. Secretary of the Navy (1933–39), Swanson directed a vast naval expansion program.