caption serviceyears laterwork branch death_date death_place birth_place allegiance unit awards birth_date placeofburial nickname rank image article_title name
first director of the u.s. veterans ' bureau 1894 - 1908 , 1917 - 1918 -lrb- us army -rrb- - 1900 -lrb- us marine corps -rrb- 1900 vice president hurley-mason construction company tacoma , wa us marine corps us army 10 april 1952 washington d.c. scotland republican party world war i : 41st and 33rd infantry divisions world war i : croix de guerre d.s.m. 14 february 1878 arlington national cemetery colonel forbes lieutenant colonel cforbes.jpg charles r. forbes
 charles r. forbes
charles r. forbes

charles robert forbes -lrb- february 14 , 1878 -- april 10 , 1952 -rrb- was appointed the first director of the veterans ' bureau by president warren g. harding on august 9 , 1921 and served until february 28 , 1923 .
caught for army desertion in 1900 , he returned to the military and was a decorated world war i veteran .
he first became active in politics in the pacific northwest .
in 1912 , forbes moved to hawaii and served as chairman on various federal commissions .
while senator warren g. harding was on vacation in hawaii the two met by chance and became friends .
after the 1920 u.s. presidential election , president harding appointed forbes director to the newly created veterans ' bureau , a powerful position in charge of millions of dollars in government expenditures and supplies .
his tenure as the first veterans ' bureau director was characterized by corruption and scandal .
forbes was considered the `` dashing playboy '' of washington and a favorite of president harding .
having returned to the united states after fleeing to europe in 1923 , he was convicted of conspiracy to defraud the u.s. government and sent to federal prison in 1926 , where he was a cellmate of frederick cook , the person who often claimed to be the first to reach the north pole .
forbes was released eight months later in 1927 .
he died in 1952 .
