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Cosmos
Business Manager Becomes Secretary of War
 On the front cover of
Time magazine for September 2, 1929, is the
portrait of a man in his late 50s, sitting at a writing desk, ink pen
in his right hand. On the desk is the blurry impression of an
official looking document, a glass ink well, and a brass biplane
model. The man is dressed in a black suit with a white
shirt, conservative dark tie, black vest. The eyes of this
white-haired man with white mustache look directly at us from the
cover, his act of writing interrupted by our presence. Below the
portrait, there is no name but there are three words identifying the
man's office: Secretary of War. The man's name is James W.
Good. He was the first--and perhaps the last--Coe graduate to
appear on a cover of Time.
Raised on a farm a few miles north of Cedar Rapids, James Good was the
son of Mr. And Mrs. Henry Good, early Linn County pioneers who
emigrated from Indiana in 1841. After attending a district school
while also working on the farm with his father, Good acquired a
particularly thorough Coe education. He began his studies in the
preparatory academy, probably in the fall of 1885, and entered Coe as a
freshman in the fall of 1888. During his years as a student, Good
exerted what would prove to be a dramatic and lasting impact on the
college. In the fall of 1890, he was one of the students who
established the Cosmos, and he served as the business manager
for two years, ensuring that the publication received sufficient funds
to continue being printed. Good was also an outstanding
orator. He won Coe's oratorical contest his senior year and
placed second at the state content, held in the Greene opera
house.
In the fall of his senior year, Good joined with several other
students–including Frederick Murray and George Bryant-in organizing
Coe's first football team. "Prof" Bryant later recalled that
without Good's efforts, the team would have had no uniforms: "Jim was
the only fellow who had enough money handy to buy suits, so he was made
manager of the first team." Even with Good's best efforts, however, the
suits did not arrive until the day before the first game with Cornell
"and then the team had to chase an express wagon over town to get them."
After his graduation from Coe, studied law at the University of
Michigan, married Lucy Deacon (an 1893 Coe grad), practiced law for
three years in Indiana, and then returned to Cedar Rapids to join a law
firm with his father-in-law. After ten years of practicing law,
the Republican Good entered politics, beginning with his election as
city attorney in 1906. The victor in a controversial utilities
rate case, ultimately decided in his favor by the United State Supreme
Court, Good was elected to the House of Representatives, where he
served for 14 years. In the Republican-dominated house, Good eventually
gained the chairmanship of the Appropriations Committee. While a
Congressman, Good was also elected a member of Coe’s Board of Trustees,
a position he held from 1910 until his death.
In 1922, Good decided to leave elected office and return to private law
practice. But during his years in Washington he had gained some
powerful connections. In 1924 he helped Coolidge win re-election,
and in 1928 he emerged as one of Hoover's "unofficial" campaign
managers, responsible for helping Hoover carry the west. As a
reward for securing Hoover’'s nomination as the Republican
candidate-and for his advice in defeating Al Smith in the November
election--Good was appointed to the Cabinet's No. 3 post, Secretary of
War. According to the cover article in Time
magazine, Good recalled that when he was a congressman, people were
always claiming that the Secretary of War was the "softest job in the
Cabinet," but he found himself surrounded by diverse, demanding issues
concerning military expenditures, the Air Corps, veterans affairs,
projects of the Corps of Engineers, etc.
Regrettably, less than three months after appearing on the cover of Time,
James W. Good was dead, following an operation for gangrenous
appendicitis. A funeral service was conducted in the east room of
the White House and then a burial service was conducted by President
Gage at the First Presbyterian Church in Cedar Rapids. Coe's ROTC
unit, including the band and three companies, formed part of a military
escort for a funeral procession from the church to the Oak Hill
cemetery. At the time of his death, President Hoover offered
these words on this friend from Iowa who had helped him win the
Presidency:
For most of his mature life he served the nation, earning the highest
esteem for his abilities, his fine integrity, and his courageous
spirit. But the first thoughts of those who knew and loved him
are not of public service. It is for his loyal and self-effacing
friendship that thousands remember him; and that affectionate
association is now broken.
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