Evening star., 1949-08-29
Charles D. Hi||es> Long Leader
'OfG.O.P. OIdGuord, Dies at 81
Secretary to Toft,
Helped Nominate
Harding in 1920

Charles Dewey Hilles, who
served for more than 80 years in
the inner councils of the Repub-
lican "old guard" before his re-
tirement from the Republican
National Committee in 1887, is
dead at the age of 81.
The one-time Assistant Secre-
tary of the Treasury and secretary
to President Taft died Saturday
at Speonk, N. Y. Born on an Ohio
farm June %, 1867, he was promi-
nent for years as chairman or
member of the Republican Nation
al Committee and as a political
king maker" in the nomination
of Warren G. Harding in 1920.
His interest in welfare work
gave him full life aside. from
politics. He headed the Boys In
dustrial School in Lancaster,
Ohio, at the turn of the century
and later founded a model home
for boys near Dobbs Ferry, N. Y.
He had attained national recog-
milton in such work before he be-
came a political figure. Later he
amassed a fortune in the insur-
ance business.
Appointed Assistant Secretary
of the Treasury in April. 1909. he
served until April, 1911, when
President Taft selected him as
presidential secretary.
Helped Nominate Harding.
At the insistence of President
Taft he was elected chairman of
the national committee in 1912.
He managed the unsuccessful
Taft campaign that year and con-
tinued as chairman through 1915
when Charles Evans Hughes mar
rowly missed the presidency. Mr..
Hilles remained as national COM
mitteeman from New York from
1920 to 1887.
Political friends, as we'll as foes
of Mr.. Hilles, often described him
as an apostle of party regularity
and defender of old party values.
They said he never forgot the
lesson of the 1912 defeat result
ing from Theodore Roosevelt's
Bull Moose" movement that
helped open the White House to
Woodrow Wilson.
During the next four years he
did the lions share of party con-
ciliation work and was in the
forefront of those who brought
about the nomination of Mr..
Hughes.
In 1920 he demonstrated his
power again when the national
convention deadlocked over the
candidates. of Gen. Leonard
Wood and Gov. Frank Lowden
of Illinois. AS head of the New
York delegation. with the support
of New England units, he con-
vinced various other leaders that
Senator Harding of Ohio should
be chosen.
Backed Draft Coolidge" Move.
The political power of Mr.. HiNes
reached it's peak during the presf-
dency of Calvin Coolidge. He
tried unsuccessfully to obtain
another nomination for Mr.. Cool
idge In 1923 despite the famous
IT do not choose to run" state
ment. He spearheaded a draft
Coolidge" move at the national
convention that year.
Mr.. Hilles was a quiet man,
even in politics, but he was re-
garded as forceful and talented as
leader. Party chiefs disclosed
later that he, more than any one
else, squelched the Henry Ford
for President" boom in 1923. Mr.
Hilles also had a notable record
as campaign fund raiser.
At the time of his death Mr..
Hilles was a member of the Exec
utive Committee of the Employers
Liability Assurance Co. in New
York. He formerly was a partner
in the insurance firm of Dwight
and Hilles. He also had many
other business interests.
He married Miss Dollie Bell
Whitley of Lancaster, Ohio, in 1896.
They had two sons and a daugh-
ter. He studied law and practiced
for several years in Lancaster
but as early as 1899 was active
in walfare work and served on
several national and State groups.