William R. Day, 1903-1922

WILLIAM R. DAY was born on April 17, 1849, in Ravenna, Ohio, and was graduated from the University of Michigan in 1870. After privately reading law for one year, Day studied law at the University of Michigan Law School for one year. He was admitted to the bar in 1872 and practiced law in Canton, Ohio for the next twenty-five years. In 1886, Day was elected to the Court of Common Pleas in Canton but resigned after six months to return to his law practice. President William McKinley appointed Day First Assistant Secretary of State in 1897. On April 26, 1898, Day was elected to Secretary. He served in that position until September 16th of that year, when he was appointed as a delegate to the Paris Peace Conference, which ended the Spanish-American War. In 1899, President McKinley appointed Day to the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Four years later, on February 19, 1903, President Theodore Roosevelt nominated Day to the Supreme Court of the United States. The Senate confirmed the appointment on February 23, 1903. Day served on the Supreme Court for nineteen years. He retired on November 13, 1922, and accepted an appointment from President Warren G. Harding to serve on the Mixed Claims Commission to settle outstanding claims from World War I. Day died on July 9, 1923, at the age of seventy-four.