William Alexander Graham [SEP] position held
William Alexander Graham
William Alexander Graham (September 5, 1804August 11, 1875) was a United States Senator from North Carolina from 1840 to 1843, a Senator later in the Confederate States Senate from 1864 to 1865, the 30th Governor of North Carolina from 1845 to 1849 and U.S. Secretary of the Navy from 1850 to 1852, under President Millard Fillmore. He was the Whig Party nominee for vice-president in 1852 on a ticket with General Winfield Scott.
Early life and education.
Graham was born at Vesuvius
Although many had expected Alexander to be appointed President of the Board of Trade, this position went to William Graham, protégé of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Snowden. Instead, Alexander became First Lord of the Admiralty, the only Labour member to hold this position as a cabinet rank. The Admiralty was a political power in its own right, and usually able to resist pressure from the Treasury and from Downing Street. Macdonald's primary concern was international disarmament, and Alexander persuaded the Admiralty to reduce their demands for new