1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Knox, Philander Chase

KNOX, PHILANDER CHASE (1853–  ), American lawyer and political leader, was born in Brownsville, Pennsylvania, on the 4th of May 1853. He graduated from Mount Union College (Ohio) in 1872, and was admitted to the Pennsylvania bar in 1875. He settled in Pittsburg, where he continued in private practice, with the exception of two years’ service (1876–1877) as assistant United States district attorney, acquiring a large practice as a corporation lawyer. In April 1901 he became attorney-general of the United States in the cabinet of President McKinley, and retained this position after the accession of President Roosevelt until June 1904, when he was appointed by Governor Pennypacker of Pennsylvania to fill the unexpired term of Matthew S. Quay in the United States Senate; in 1905 he was re-elected to the Senate for the full term. In March 1909 he became secretary of state in the cabinet of President Taft.