| Joshua Alexander | |
| Office: | 2nd United States Secretary of Commerce |
| President: | Woodrow Wilson |
| Term Start: | December 16, 1919 |
| Term End: | March 4, 1921 |
| Predecessor: | William C. Redfield |
| Successor: | Herbert Hoover |
| State1: | Missouri |
| Term Start1: | March 4, 1907 |
| Term End1: | December 15, 1919 |
| Predecessor1: | Frank B. Klepper |
| Successor1: | Jacob L. Milligan |
| Office2: | Member of the |
| Term2: | 1883–1887 |
| Birth Name: | Joshua Willis Alexander |
| Birth Date: | 22 January 1852 |
| Birth Place: | Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S. |
| Death Place: | Gallatin, Missouri, U.S. |
| Party: | Democratic |
| Spouse: | Roe Richardson |
| Children: | 8, including George |
| Education: | Culver-Stockton College (BA) |
Joshua Willis Alexander (January 22, 1852 – February 27, 1936) was United States secretary of commerce from December 16, 1919, to March 4, 1921, in the administration of President Woodrow Wilson.[1]
Born on January 22, 1852, in Cincinnati, Ohio, the son of Thomas Willis Alexander and Jane (née Robinson). Alexander attended Culver-Stockton College in Canton, Missouri, and later moved to Gallatin, Missouri, where he served as mayor and then as a state representative in the Missouri General Assembly (1883–1887).[1] He served as a judge on Missouri's 17th Circuit until 1905.[1]
Alexander, a member of the United States Democratic Party, served as a United States representative from Missouri from 1907 until his resignation to become Commerce Secretary in 1919.[1] He served as chairman of the House Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries and took a lead role in shaping wartime shipping legislation, which drew him to the attention of President Wilson.[2] He also gained prominence for his service as Chairman of the United States Commission to the international conference on the safety of life at sea in London in 1913.[3]
After his tenure as Secretary of Commerce, Alexander returned to the practice of law in Missouri.[3] He served as a delegate to the state's constitutional convention in 1922–23.
He died there on February 27, 1936, at the age of 84, eighteen years later, after retiring in Gallatin.[3] Alexander was interred in Brown Cemetery in Gallatin.
Joshua W. Alexander was a brother of the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity (Phi chapter).
Alexander married, the former Roe Ann Richardson (February 3, 1859 - March 18, 1940), the daughter of a judge, on February 3, 1876.[3] The couple had eight children.[3]
Alexander's son, aviator Walter Alexander, was killed in a propeller accident at Bolling Field in 1920.[4] Another son, George F. Alexander, became a federal judge in Juneau, Alaska.[2]
|-|-