John Davis Long John Davis Long ( October 27 , 1838 – August 28 , 1915 ) was a American lawyer , politician , and writer . He served as the 32nd Governor of Massachusetts between 1880 and 1883 . He later served as the Secretary of the Navy from 1897 to 1902 , a period that notably included the Spanish - American War . Born in Buckfield , Maine , Long was educated a lawyer at Harvard , and then settled in Hingham , Massachusetts . He became active in Republican Party politics in the 1870s , winning election to the state legislature in 1874 . He rose rapidly in prominence , and was elected lieutenant governor in 1879 and governor in 1880 . He advocated modest reforms during his three years as governor , which were relatively undistinguished . After returning to private practice he was offered a cabinet post by his friend President William McKinley in 1896 . He chose to become Secretary of the Navy despite lacking detailed knowledge of naval matters . He clashed with his Under - Secretary , Theodore Roosevelt , over expansion of the Navy , but did so when the Spanish - American War broke out in 1898 . He resigned the post after Roosevelt became president , and resumed his law practice . He died at his home in 1915 ; his publications include a lifelong journal , a history of the Spanish - American War , and a verse translation of Virgil ' s " Aeneid " . Early years . John Davis Long was born in Buckfield , Maine on October 27 , 1838 , to Zadoc Long and Julia Temple ( Davis ) Long . He was named for Massachusetts Governor John Davis , a cousin of his mother ' s father . He received his primary education at Hebron Academy , and then attended Harvard , graduating Phi Beta Kappa in 1857 . At Harvard he was a member of the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity ' s Alpha chapter . While at Harvard he wrote both prose and verse for a student magazine , and was chosen to write an ode for his class ' s graduation . He also began a private journal some time before his arrival at Harvard , which he maintained with some regularity for his entire life . After a two - year stint as headmaster of the Westford Academy in Westford , Massachusetts , Long went to Harvard Law School , and became a member of the Massachusetts bar in 1861 . He practiced law , first without success in Buckfield , and then in Boston , and was active in the state militia during the Civil War . He settled into a home in Hingham , Massachusetts in 1869 , and the following year married Mary Woodford Glover of Hingham . The couple had two daughters ( and one stillborn birth ) before her death in 1882 . Massachusetts politics . Long began his involvement in politics at the local level in Hingham in 1870 . Temperance was a major issue which dominated his political beliefs . His early politics was somewhat independent : he supported the reformist Republican Benjamin Butler for governor in 1871 , but received an unsolicited Democratic nomination later that year for a seat in the Massachusetts House of Representatives . He did not campaign , and lost the election to Republican William B . Washburn . Nominated by both Democrats and reformist Republicans in 1872 , he lost again . He thereafter became more of a Republican stalwart , convinced that reform would be best accomplished from within the party organization . In 1874 Long chaired the state Republican convention , and finally won election to the state legislature . He formed a close relationship with Speaker John E . Sanford , and in a politically calculated move , supported the successful gubernatorial candidate in 1875 , Alexander H . Rice , even though Rice supported liberal legislation on alcohol sales that Long opposed . He was able to parlay this support into his own election to the speakership in 1876 . He widened his reform views to the national stage by supporting Benjamin Bristow in his unsuccessful bid for the Republican presidential nomination . In 1878 Long unsuccessfully challenged the incumbent Rice for the gubernatorial nomination . When Rice announced his retirement the following year , Long again sought the nomination . It went to former Lieutenant Governor Thomas Talbot , but Long won the lieutenant governor nomination by acclamation . The Democratic opposition was divided by Benjamin Butler ' s return to that party , and the Republican ticket won the general election . Long capitalized on Talbot ' s avoidance of public ceremonies to maintain a high profile despite the post ' s relative unimportance . He was easily nominated for governor when Talbot announced he would not run for reelection , despite a lack of support from the party leadership . The election was highly divisive , pitting Long against Butler and the divided Democrats . Long was criticized for his lack of Civil War service and attacked for his diversions from the party line , but won a comfortable victory . He was reelected by comfortable margins the two following years . Long ' s time as governor was relatively uneventful . He proposed a number of modest reforms , including a measured expansion of women ' s voting rights ( then restricted to voting for school committees ) , and allowing women to sit on state boards . Most of these reforms were not implemented during his tenure , although some were later enacted into law by his successors . He kept a busy schedule , attending all manner of civic events across the state . In one of his last acts as governor , he appointed Oliver Wendell Holmes , Jr . to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court . The lame duck appointment was occasioned by the sudden resignation of Otis Lord , a Republican who may resigned in order to deny the appointment opportunity to incoming Governor Benjamin Butler ( who had switched to the Democratic Party ) . The appoint was made on December 8 , 1882 , the last day of Long ' s term when the Governor ' s Council ( which had to approve the appointment ) was scheduled to meet . Long was elected to the United States Congress in the 1882 election , and served until 1889 , declining to run for reelection in the 1888 election . In 1886 he was encouraged to stand for the Senate by Henry Cabot Lodge , although Lodge ' s support was apparently part of a ruse to test the strength of the state party leadership . Lodge withdrew his support at the last minute , throwing it instead to the incumbent Henry L . Dawes , and the legislature reelected Dawes to the seat . The incident cooled relations between Lodge and Long . In the wheeling and dealing that preceded the Senate election , Long was offered Democratic support by Butler , but refused , believing that such votes would be seen as tainted by an unsavory political deal . Long ' s tenure in Congress was uneventful , since the Congress was under Democratic Party control for the six years he served . In addition to lobbying the administration for patronage appointments , he sat on a joint committee examining interests of shipbuilding and shipowners , as well as on conference committees dealing with pensions and Navy financing . In 1886 Long married again , to Agnes Pierce , a teacher and daughter of a Universalist minister ; they had one son , born in 1887 . Long decided in 1888 not to run for another term in Congress , and spent the next eight years in private practice . His clients were typically corporate interests , and he appeared on their behalf in court as well as in legislative committee hearings . He was sought after as a public speaker , something he engaged in for many years . He remained somewhat active in Republican Party circles , supporting Roger Wolcott ' s Young Men ' s Republican Club , which sought to bring new blood into the party . When offered the opportunity to challenge longtime Republican Senator George Frisbie Hoar , he refused . In 1889 he was appointed to the committee overseeing the expansion of the Massachusetts State House , a post he held until 1897 . Secretary of the Navy . While in Congress Long had become a close friend of William McKinley , who was elected President in 1896 . McKinley offered Long his choice of several cabinet posts ; Long chose to become Secretary of the Navy , and he was confirmed by the United States Senate on March 2 , 1897 . The appointment brought on a storm of criticism from Henry Cabot Lodge . Lodge had been elected to the Senate , dominated the Republican Party in Massachusetts , and had expected to have a say in choosing a cabinet nominee in return for his support of McKinley . One of Lodge ' s supporters complained that Long was in poor health , and that he would not give the administration " back - bone and vigor " . ( Long had recently stepped back from his law practice after suffering a nervous breakdown . ) Lodge compensated for the setback by helping secure the position of Assistant Secretary for Theodore Roosevelt , a brash and aggressive New Yorker . Long and Roosevelt did not get along : in addition to personality differences , Roosevelt pushed a view to aggressively modernize and expand the Navy , while Long took a more studied and conservative approach . He preferred to expand the Navy more gradually as the nation ' s global interests grew , and committed himself to its peaceful growth in line with McKinley ' s policies . As a result of his disagreements with Roosevelt Long took steps to minimize the amount of power his subordinate could exercise . Roosevelt , on the other hand , sought ways to spur Long into action , writing " I only wish that I could poison his mind so as to make him a shade more truculent in international matters . " He also chafed against Long ' s policy of deferring much of the department ' s work to its permanent bureau chiefs , which resulted in constraints on the flow of information to the administration . ( Long was somewhat proud of the fact that he knew little of the detail of naval affairs , commenting that he was " a civilian who does not know the stem from the stern of a ship . " ) Long believed that ongoing tensions with Spain were unlikely to lead to war , and even if they did , that the war would be easily won . He consequently did not take significant steps to prepare the Navy for that contingency . In January 1898 he ordered the USS " Maine " to Havana , Cuba , as a matter of " customary relations " , although he and McKinley were concerned for the safety of Americans in Cuba due to the ongoing Cuban War of Independence . By early February 1898 the tensions had reached crisis proportions , and Long was compelled to begin drawing up plans for war . The explosion and sinking of the " Maine " at Havana on February 15 was the spark that ignited the Spanish - American War . The administration continued to be opposed to war , but the outcry over the sinking could not be ignored . Ten days after the sinking of the " Maine " Long took a day off , and Roosevelt used his authority in Long ' s absence to issue a number of orders designed to increase the Navy ' s readiness for war , including famously ordering Commodore George Dewey into an aggressive offensive posture in the Spanish Philippines . Long countermanded some of Roosevelt ' s orders afterward , but began stepping up naval war preparations . The loss of the " Maine " highlighted to the administration the nation ' s shortage of modern warships , setting off a scramble for the acquisition of more ships . One significant order Long gave was to transfer the USS " Oregon " , one of the Navy ' s most powerful ships , from the west coast to the Caribbean ; the ship made the journey around Cape Horn from San Francisco to Key West , Florida , in 66 days , a remarkable achievement . When the war was declared in April 1898 Roosevelt resigned his post the next month , a move Long thought foolhardy but later acknowledged was significant in advancing Roosevelt ' s career . Long directed the Navy ' s activities throughout the war , significantly increasing its size in the process . He ordered Dewey to neutralize the Spanish fleet in the Philippines , ordered the seizure of Spanish Guam , and worked to support a blockade and offensive operations against Cuba . He also directed naval resources into threatening postures against mainland Spain to encourage the Spanish recall of a fleet destined for the Philippines . In response to increasing pressure from Navy brass , Long moved to create a permanent advisory staff after the war . The board , created in March 1900 , was designed to unify the work of the Office of Naval Intelligence , the Naval War College , and the fleet leadership for the production of war plans and the proper preparation , planning , and deployment of naval resources in pursuit of objectives defined in those plans . After the war Long moved forward plans to establish a naval base in the Philippines , but funding for the plans was held up in Congress , which repeatedly sought review of potential base locations in the islands . The matter was also caught up in branch rivalry with the War Department , which objected to the Navy ' s establishment of a permanent base there that was not under its authority . Construction of the Subic Bay Naval Base did not begin until after Long left office . Long was promoted as a potential vice presidential candidate by the Massachusetts delegation to the 1900 Republican National Convention , and was a personal favorite of McKinley ' s for the position . However , party leaders objected to him on geographic grounds , and Lodge ( with whom Long continued to feud ) disingenuously wore a Long banner while supporting Roosevelt , who easily won the nomination . The McKinley - Roosevelt ticket won the election , and Long decided to stay on for McKinley ' s second term . Later years . After McKinley was assassinated in September 1901 , Long had a change of heart , and tendered his resignation to President Roosevelt on May 1 , 1902 . The exact reasons for this are unclear , but several factors probably contributed . First , Roosevelt had a close relationship with Long ' s political rival Lodge , was known to disagree with Long on naval matters , and was not welcoming of his presence at the White House . Second , an inquiry into the actions of Admiral Winfield Scott Schley around the July 1898 Battle of Santiago de Cuba had resulted in a significant amount of criticism of Long ' s role in the war . Third , one of his daughters died in October 1901 , less than a month after McKinley ' s assassination . These matters drove Long into a depression , and the situation was further exacerbated when Roosevelt squabbled with him over the beginning of the war , and then made newsworthy overrides of some of his decisions . Historian Wendell Garrett notes that Roosevelt took a great personal interest in the Navy , and had difficulty working with subsequent secretaries . Long returned to Massachusetts , where he resumed his law practice and remained interested in party politics . He sat on a few corporate boards , and served as president of the Puritan Trust Company . He continued to advocate for women ' s suffrage , and served on the boards of several private schools , include his alma mater , Hebron Academy . He regularly spent time in Maine ( having in 1882 repurchased the family home in Buckfield ) , and fell ill there in August 1915 . He returned home to Hingham , where he died on August 28 . Writings and legacy . In addition to Long ' s extensive journal , he wrote on a variety of other subjects . During his unsuccessful attempt to start a law practice in Buckfield he produced a paper on Congressional power and slavery . While in Boston in the eary 1860s he had a play produced locally . In 1878 he produced a verse translation of Virgil ' s " Aeneid " . In 1903 he published " The New American Navy " , a history of the Spanish - American War and the development of the Navy during that time . Among Long ' s charitable works was funding the establishment of a public library in Buckfield in 1900 , which is now known as the Zadoc Long Free Library . USS " Long " ( DD - 209 ) was named in his honor .