Frank Knox William Franklin " Frank " Knox ( January 1 , 1874 – April 28 , 1944 ) was an American newspaper editor and publisher . He was also the Republican candidate in 1936 , and Secretary of the Navy under Franklin D . Roosevelt during most of World War II . Life and career . William Franklin Knox was born in Boston , Massachusetts . His parents were both Canadian : his father was from New Brunswick and his mother Sarah Barnard , was from Charlottetown , Prince Edward Island . When he was nine , his family moved to Grand Rapids , Michigan , where his father ran a grocery store . He attended Alma College in Michigan , where he was a member of the Zeta Sigma Fraternity . During the Spanish - American War , he joined the Army , and served in Cuba with Theodore Roosevelt ' s famous Rough Riders , the 1st US Volunteer Cavalry Regiment . He was a member of Troop D commanded by Captain Robert Huston . As a member of D Troop , Knox fought in Cuba at the Battle of Las Guasimas , and the Battle of San Juan Hill . After the war , Knox became a newspaper reporter in Grand Rapids . This was the beginning of a career that included ownership of several papers . He changed his first name to Frank around 1900 . In 1912 as founding editor of New Hampshire ' s " Manchester Leader " , forerunner to the " New Hampshire Union Leader " , he supported Theodore Roosevelt ' s Progressive ticket . However , with that exception , he adhered to the Republican Party . During World War I , Knox was an advocate of U . S military preparedness and then of participation in the war . When the U . S . declared war on Germany , he rejoined the Army . He reached the rank of Major and served as an artillery officer in France . After the war he returned to the newspaper business . In 1930 , Frank Knox became publisher and part owner of the " Chicago Daily News " . In the 1936 election , he was the Republican nominee for under Alf Landon . Landon , Knox and former President Herbert Hoover were the only supporters of Theodore Roosevelt in 1912 to be later named to a Republican ticket . They lost in a landslide , winning just Maine and Vermont against the Democratic ticket of President Franklin D . Roosevelt and Vice President John Nance Garner . During World War II , Knox again was an advocate of preparedness . As an internationalist , he supported aid to the Allies and opposed isolationism . In July 1940 , he became Secretary of the Navy under Franklin D . Roosevelt ; the Democratic president sought to create bi - partisan support for his foreign and defense policies following the defeat of France . When a new naval officer on Knox ' s staff told him " I ' m no New Dealer " , Knox replied " I fought the President with every resource at my command . But now I ' ve squared my politics with my conscience and I ' m proud to serve under such a great man . At that " , Knox added , " it ' s a good thing to have a couple of fellows around here who " aren ' t " New Dealers ! " Knox carried out Roosevelt ' s plan to expand the Navy into a force capable of fighting in both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans . He traveled extensively to Navy installations worldwide . Following a brief series of heart attacks , Secretary Knox died in Washington , D . C . on April 28 , 1944 while still in office . He was buried on May 1 , 1944 in Arlington National Cemetery with full military honors . Posthumous honors and memorials . The Gearing - class destroyer USS " Frank Knox " ( DD - 742 ) , commissioned in December 1944 , was named in his honor . On May 31 , 1945 he received posthumously the Medal for Merit from President Harry S . Truman . It seems probable that his Canadian roots led his widow , Annie Reid Knox in 1948 to endow several fellowships in his name - the Frank Knox Memorial Fellowships - which allow scholars from Australia , Canada , New Zealand , and the United Kingdom to pursue graduate study at Harvard University or allow recent graduates of Harvard University to travel and research in commonwealth countries . Quotation . After the German massacre of civilians in the Czech village of Lidice in June 1942 in reprisal for the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich , Knox said