Robert Hannegan

Robert Emmet Hannegan

• Born June 30, 1903 in St. Louis, MO USA
• Died October 6, 1949 in St. Louis, MO USA

Biographical Information

Robert Hannegan was Postmaster General of the United States under President Harry Truman from 1945 to 1947. Before that, he had been the chair of Democratic National Committee, from 1944 to 1947. After leaving politics, he became co-owner of the St. Louis Cardinals with Fred Saigh in 1947, but due to ill health, he sold his shares to Saigh in January of 1949 before passing away a few months later.

A prominent figure in politics in St. Louis, MO, he had been a long-time political supporter of Truman when he was a United States Senator from Missouri (Truman's natural power base was around Kansas City, MO, so support from St. Louis on the other side of the state was crucial to his success). In turn, Truman recommended Hannegan to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt to serve first as Commissioner of National Revenue and then as DNC chair. He then worked hard to ensure that Truman would be the Vice-Presidential candidate in the 1944 Presidential Election, a selection that became crucial when Roosevelt died in 1945, shortly after having been reelected to a fourth mandate.