Crowder, Enoch Herbert (1859–1932)

Enoch Herbert Crowder (b. 11 April 1859; d. 7 May 1932), U.S. military officer and diplomat. After graduating from West Point in 1881, Crowder received a law degree in 1886. In 1891 he joined the staff of the advocate general of the U.S. Army and went to the Philippines as judge advocate general during the Spanish-American War. During the U.S. provisional government of Cuba in 1906, Crowder served as president of the Advisory Law Commission that wrote legislation for Cuban elections, civil service, the courts, and local and provincial government. He chaired the committee that oversaw the Cuban elections in 1908 and established new electoral laws there in 1919. In 1921 he returned as the personal representative of President Warren Harding to help out following the crash of the economy after the Dance of the Millions. He strongly impressed on President Alfredo Zayas the need for honest government, and was successful in eliminating some corrupt practices. In 1922 he helped secure a $50 million loan for Cuba. From 1923 until his retirement in 1927, Crowder served as ambassador to Cuba.

See alsoCuba: The Republic (1898–1959) .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

David Healy, The United States in Cuba, 1898–1902: Generals, Politicians, and the Search for Policy (1963).

Allan R. Millet, The Politics of Intervention: The Military Occupation of Cuba, 1906–1909 (1968).

Louis A. Pérez, Cuba Under the Platt Amendment, 1902–1934 (1986), and Cuba: Between Reform and Revolution (1989).

Leslie Bethell, Cuba: A Short History (1993).

Additional Bibliography

"Enoch Herbert Crowder." American National Biography vol. 5. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.

                                                       Wade A. Kit