Charles Aubrey Eaton
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from New Jersey
In office
March 4, 1925 – January 3, 1953
Preceded byCharles Browne
Succeeded byPeter Hood Ballantine Frelinghuysen, Jr.
Constituency4th district (1925–33)
5th district (1933–53)
Chairman of the United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs
In office
January 3, 1947 – January 3, 1949
Preceded bySol Bloom
Succeeded bySol Bloom
Personal details
Born(1868-03-29)March 29, 1868
near Pugwash, Nova Scotia, Canada
DiedJanuary 23, 1953(1953-01-23) (aged 84)
Washington, D.C., U.S.
Citizenship
  • Canada (1868-1895)
  • United States (1895-1953)
Political partyRepublican
Spouse
Mary Winifred Parlin
​
​
(m. 1895; died 1948)​
RelationsCyrus S. Eaton, nephew
William R. Eaton, nephew
Children6
Alma mater
[1]

Charles Aubrey Eaton (March 29, 1868 – January 23, 1953) was a Canadian-born American clergyman and politician who led congregations at Natick, Massachusetts, 1893–1895; Bloor Street, Toronto, 1895–1901; Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio, 1901–1909; and Madison Avenue, New York City, 1909 to 1916.[2] Eaton served in the United States House of Representatives from 1925 to 1953, representing the New Jersey's 4th congressional district from 1925 to 1933, and (as a result of redistricting based on the 1930 census) the 5th district from 1933 to 1953. He participated in the creation of the United Nations.[1]

Biography

Eaton was clergyman, journalist, U.S. congressman and a signatory to original United Nations Charter. He was born on a farm near Pugwash, Nova Scotia. A son of Stephen Eaton, a shipbuilder and farmer, and Mary Desiah (Parker) Eaton, he attended school locally and worked on his father's farm. From 1884 to 1886, he attended school in Amherst, Nova Scotia, where he was baptized and chose to become a Baptist minister. In 1890, he received a B.A. from Acadia University, Wolfville, Nova Scotia. Three years later he graduated with the B.D. from Newton Theological Institution, Newton Centre, Massachusetts, and was ordained a Baptist minister. In 1893, he served as a pastor at the First Baptist Church of Natick, Massachusetts. At Natick, he met Mary Winifred Parlin (May 11, 1874 – November 12, 1948), daughter of local merchant and Civil War veteran William D. Parlin[3] and Mary Brown.[2] They were married June 26, 1895, and had six children. Also in 1895, he became a citizen of the United States and was named pastor at a Bloor Street church in Toronto. He received the M.A. from McMaster University in Toronto in 1896, was awarded a D.D. by Baylor University in 1899 and Acadia University in 1907, and an LL.D. from McMaster University in 1916.[2][1]

In 1924, Eaton was elected as a Republican from New Jersey to the 69th U.S. Congress and to the thirteen succeeding Congresses, serving until 1952. He was a steadfast opponent of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal.[4][5] However, his ability to work well with both Republicans and Democrats would prompt presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman to frequently invite "Doc" Eaton, as he was sometimes known, to the White House as an informal advisor.[6]

On June 26, 1945, appointed by President Roosevelt, Eaton was one of the signers of the original United Nations Charter, the international organization's foundational treaty, in San Francisco, California.[1][7] In 1947 he became chairman of the United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs and of the Herter Committee.[8] With a Democratic president (Harry S. Truman) and a Republican Congress, and with the influence of economic aid in foreign policy, the chairmanship was a powerful post. Eaton's leadership was at times strongly challenged by the neo-isolationist group in the House, but he achieved the passage of every piece of legislation that he sponsored, including continuation of United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA), a program of aid to Greece and Turkey (the Truman Doctrine), and the Marshall Plan. The opposition to these programs centered in the House and Eaton was their chief defender. The passage of the Marshall Plan was a high point in Eaton's political career. President Truman gave testimony in his memoirs to Eaton for his bipartisan support of American foreign policy.[1] Twenty days after his retirement from Congress, Eaton died in Washington, D.C., and was interred in Hillside Cemetery in Scotch Plains, New Jersey.[9][10]

Evangelism

Rev. Dr. Eaton and Euclid Avenue Baptist Church

In 1904, Eaton's commitment to evangelism got him arrested on the streets of Cleveland, Ohio, for persistently ignoring by-laws prohibiting street preaching. However, he wanted to extend his ministry beyond the churches, into which many of the spiritually needy never stepped. At the same time, Eaton was the preacher at Euclid Avenue Baptist Church, situated on Cleveland's "millionaire's row", and as a result he came to the attention of John D. Rockefeller, a summer resident of Cleveland who attended church there. They became lifelong friends, and this connection influenced Eaton's future path. It also influenced that of another well-known Canadian who went on to have an outstanding career in the United States, his nephew, Cyrus S. Eaton. He introduced him to Rockefeller in 1901, when Cyrus was still a university student. Cyrus went on to work for Rockefeller, and eventually become one of Cleveland's first citizens, and one of America's premier industrialists. Charles moved to North Plainfield, New Jersey, in 1909, and started a dairy farm, while at the same time preaching to a prominent New York City Baptist congregation, the Madison Avenue Baptist Church. The area in which he lived separated from North Plainfield in 1926, and the Borough of Watchung, New Jersey, was founded there. He lived there until his death.[9]

Journalism

Eaton was sociological editor of the Toronto Globe (1896–1901), associate editor of Westminster (1899–1901), special correspondent for The Times, New-York Tribune, and Boston Transcript while in Toronto. He was editor of Leslie's Weekly (1919, 1920), and (while director of labor relations at General Electric's National Lamp Works) editor of Light (1923–1924).[1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Charles Aubrey Eaton". Dictionary of American Biography. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. 1977. GALE|BT2310014222. Retrieved 2011-06-14 – via Fairfax County Public Library.(subscription required) Gale Biography In Context.
  2. 1 2 3 The Eaton Family of Nova Scotia, pg. 136, by Arthur Wentworth Hamilton Eaton. Cambridge, Massachusetts, The Murray Printing Company, privately printed, 1929. Accessed March 23, 2015.
  3. ↑ "National Park Service, Soldier Details, William D. Parlin, Accessed March 20, 2015
  4. ↑ Obituary, Time, February 2, 1953. Accessed September 9, 2007.
  5. ↑ "Clouts from Clergymen", Time, October 28, 1935. Accessed September 9, 2007.
  6. ↑ Memoirs By Harry S. Truman: 1945 Year of Decisions. Garden City, New York: Doubleday (1955).
  7. ↑ "Watchung was represented at signing of UN Charter by Charles Eaton, a former dairy farmer, clergyman and Congressman", nj.com, May 4, 2010. Accessed May 22, 2014
  8. ↑ "Final Report on Foreign Aid of the House Select Committee on Foreign Aid" (PDF). Marshall Foundation. May 1, 1948. Retrieved May 30, 2020.
  9. 1 2 "C. A. Eaton is Dead. Ex-Congressman Strong Backer of Bipartisan Foreign Policy. Was Delegate to San Francisco in 1945. Entered House in 1924. Republican of New Jersey, 84. Did Not Seek Re-election in 1952". The New York Times. January 24, 1953. Charles Aubrey Eaton, who served fourteen consecutive terms as a Republican member of the House Representatives from New Jersey, died here early today
  10. ↑ "Charles Eaton Dead". Associated Press in Lewiston Morning Tribune. January 24, 1953. Retrieved 2013-12-02.
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