Inspirational Quotes by Chauncey Depew (American Lawyer, Politician)

Chauncey Mitchell Depew (1834–1928) was an attorney for Cornelius Vanderbilt’s railroad interests, president of the New York Central Railroad System, and a United States senator from New York. He is best remembered as a raconteur, a wit, an after-dinner speaker, and a director of many corporations.

Entering politics as a Republican, Depew served as a member of the New York Assembly 1861–62 and as secretary of state of New York 1864–65. In 1866, he declined an appointment as the first U.S. minister to Japan to become an attorney and lobbyist for Cornelius Vanderbilt’s New York and Harlem Railroad.

Eventually, Depew rose to be president of the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad 1885–98 and board chairman of the entire Vanderbilt railway system from 1898.

Unsuccessful in his bid to obtain the Republican presidential nomination in 1888, Depew was a U.S. senator from New York 1899–1911.

Depew was also a eminent orator and after-dinner speaker, and published many of those speeches—notably, Orations and After Dinner Speeches (1890,) Life and Later Speeches (1894,) My Memories of Eighty Years and Marching On a/k/a My Autobiography (1922,) and Miscellaneous Speeches on the Threshold of Ninety-two (1925.)

More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by Chauncey Depew