serviceyears branch death_date allegiance battles birth_date rank image article_title name
1898 -- 1920 united states 23px april 3 , 1960 united states 23px spanish -- american war world war i april 11 , 1879 brigadier general hines library of congress 11405u . tif frank t. hines
 frank t. hines
frank t. hines

frank thomas hines -lrb- 1879 -- 1960 -rrb- was a united states military officer and head of the u.s. veterans bureau -lrb- later veteran 's administration -rrb- from 1923 to 1945 .
hines took over as head of the veterans bureau after a series of scandals discredited the agency .
he was considered a `` man of stern honesty . ''
in response to the scandals the field service was `` centralized to establish strict controls and accountability . ''
hines was born in salt lake city , utah territory , on april 11 , 1879 .
he joined the utah light artillery in 1898 and served in the united states military during the spanish -- american war , becoming a second lieutenant .
he was a captain by world war i , was promoted three times in 1918 , and as a brigadier general served as chief of the embarkation service with responsibility for transporting more than 2 million soldiers to europe in 18 months and shipping them home in 8 months .
he retired from the army in 1920 and became president of the baltic steamship company .
hines served as the administrator of the veterans bureau from his appointment by president harding in 1923 to 1930 , then as the first administrator of its successor , the veteran 's administration , from 1930 to 1945 , when president truman replaced him with gen. omar bradley .
he opposed the payment of the veterans bonus to world war i veterans .
on april 26 , 1932 , during the hearings on payment of adjusted-compensation certificates before the house committee on ways and means he testified : that the trust fund had already been nearly exhausted by the previous year 's act increasing the loan restriction on adjusted compensation accounts to 50 % ; that full payment now would cost the government $ 1,600,000,000 ; and that in any case the accounts represented the only assets many veterans possessed , leaving nothing to families if the veteran should die .
`` we should make every possible effort to see that they get employment .
there is no question about that .
but whether we would be doing the veterans a real service by cashing in these certificates , even if we were in a position to do it , would seem to me very doubtful . ''
he then served as united states ambassador to panama and negotiated an agreement for the united states to lease bases there , where troops had been stationed during the war .
the panama assembly rejected the agreement by a unanimous vote .
hines resigned in 1947 , effective march 1 , 1948 , to become an executive with acacia life insurance company .
hines was a member of the church of jesus christ of latter-day saints -lrb- lds church -rrb- .
until shortly before his death he served as a director of acacia life .
hines died of pneumonia on april 3 , 1960 , in mount alto veterans hospital in washington , d.c. .
he is buried in arlington national cemetery .
