Woodbury, Levi
Levi Woodbury (1789-1851) --
9th Secretary of the Navy, 23 May 1831 - 30 June 1834
Levi Woodbury was born in Francestown, New Hampshire, on 22 December 1789. He graduated from Dartmouth College in 1809 and received a further education in the law. Woodbury was politically active as a member of the Republican Party in New Hampshire, served on the state Supreme Court, was the state's Governor and a United States Senator.
In 1831, President Andrew Jackson appointed Senator Woodbury as his second Secretary of the Navy. During his three years in that office, the Navy continued on a path of economy and mild reform. Woodbury implemented mild and generally ineffectual measures to curtail the consumption of grog and the use of flogging as a punishment. Operationally, he promoted further measures to expand U.S. naval presence in the Orient in support of American commerce.
Woodbury was Secretary of the Treasury from 1834 to 1841, serving Presidents Jackson and Martin Van Buren in that post. He was again a U.S. Senator in 1841-46 and an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1846 until his death on 4 September 1851.
Several U.S. Navy, Revenue Cutter Service and Coast Guard ships have been named in honor of Levi Woodbury, including: USS Woodbury (DD-309), 1920-1923; USRC Woodbury (Schooner, 1837-1847); USRC Woodbury (Steamer, 1864-1915) and USCGCWoodbury (WPC-155, 1927-1948).
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