The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, July 9, 1918, takes pleasure in presenting the Army Distinguished Service Medal to Brigadier General Herbert M. Lord, United States Army, for exceptionally meritorious and distinguished services to the Government of the United States, in a duty of great responsibility during World War I, as Assistant to the Quartermaster General and later as Director of Finance. As such, General Lord was responsible for and had authority over the preparation of estimates, disbursements, money accounts, property accounts, finance reports, and pay and mileage of the Army. The success of the Finance Department was, in a large measure, due to his breadth of vision, executive ability, initiative, and energy. [5]
In March 1919, Congress adjourned without making provisions to pay more than $800 million that the military owed to factories, railroads, and other businesses for services and materiel they provided during the war. [3] On his own initiative, Lord diverted funds appropriated for other purposes so they could be used to pay the debts, which had by then increased to over $1 billion. [3] The creditors were satisfied, which averted an economic crisis, and at the next session of Congress, the House and Senate retroactively approved of Lord's actions. [3]
In the years following the war, soldiers who had sustained wartime wounds, injuries and serious illness applied for disability payments. [3] Because of haphazard recordkeeping that resulted from the exigencies of service on the front lines, veterans often did not have records to verify their units, type of service, or medical condition. [3] Lord took the initiative to pay them based on their own certification of eligibility, with the War Department later using centrally located records for verification. [3] Lord's efforts enabled the eligible veterans to rapidly obtain their disability payments, and Congress once again retroactively approved his actions. [3]
Lord retired from the Army on June 30, 1922, to accept appointment as Director of the U.S. Bureau of the Budget, succeeding its first director, Charles G. Dawes. [2]
Budget director
Lord took over as budget director on July 1, 1922. [3] During his term, Lord prioritized economy in spending, a policy directed by President Calvin Coolidge and continued by his successor Herbert Hoover. [3] Lord was considered by many observers to be obsessed with reducing spending, including such seemingly trivial measures as reducing the size of postal money order blanks by one inch to save $8,000 a year. [3] Scoffers also mocked Lord when he advocated that government employees save money by extending the length of time they used their pencils. [3] Despite the skeptics, when Lord resigned in 1929, the federal treasury's World War I debt had been eliminated. [3] In addition, the federal surplus had reached $2.7 billion, of which $2.4 billion was attributed to Lord's economizing. [3]
Death and burial
Lord suffered a prolonged illness in 1929, which caused him to resign as budget director. [3] He spent part of the winter of 1929-1930 in St. Petersburg, Florida, in the hopes of regaining his health. [3] His condition continued to worsen, and he died at his home in Washington, D.C.'s Woodley Apartments on June 2, 1930. [3] Lord was buried at Arlington National Cemetery. [3]
Family
In 1886, Lord married Annie Stuart Waldo. [2] They were the parents of three children. [2] Stuart Waldo Lord was born in 1886 and died in 1889. [2] Kenneth Prince Lord (1888-1957) was a career Army officer and retired as a brigadier general. [6] Ruth Mayhew Lord (1890-1974) was the wife of Franklin Robinson Van Rensselaer. [2]
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References
- 1 2 Davis, Henry Blaine Jr. (1998). Generals in Khaki. Raleigh, NC: Pentland Press. p. 235. ISBN 978-1-5719-7088-6. OCLC 40298151 – via Google Books.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 "Army Officer Scheduled to Succeed Gen. Dawes Has Unique Service Record". The Sunday Star . Washington, DC. April 9, 1922. p. Part 4, page 5 – via Newspapers.com.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 "Gen. H. M. Lord Dies" . The New York Times . New York, NY. June 3, 1930. p. 31 – via TimesMachine.
- ↑ Chase, William Sheafe, ed. (1884). The Delta Upsilon Quinquennial Catalogue. Boston, MA: Rockwell & Churchill. p. 342 – via Google Books.
- ↑ "Valor awards for Herbert M. Lord". Military Times.
- ↑ "Gen Lord Dies; Served In Two Wars". Hartford Courant . Hartford, CT. Associated Press. April 29, 1957. p. 4 – via Newspapers.com.
External links
- Herbert M. Lord at Arlington National Cemetery
Herbert Mayhew Lord | |
|---|---|
 Lord at work in the Munitions Building, January 1919 | |
| 2nd Director of the United States Agency of the Budget | |
| In office July 1, 1922 –May 31, 1929 |
