Jesse M. Donaldson

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Jesse M. Donaldson bigraphy, stories - American politician

Jesse M. Donaldson : biography

August 17, 1885 – March 25, 1970

Jesse Monroe Donaldson (August 17, 1885 – March 25, 1970) was the first United States Postmaster General to have started his career as a letter carrier."Donaldson, Jesse Monroe", in Biographical Directory of the United States Executive Branch, 1774-1989, Robert Sobel, ed. (Greenwood Publishing Group, 1990) p108 A Methodist and a Freemason, Donaldson began his postal career in 1908 as one of three mailmen for the Shelbyville, Illinois, post office, then rose through the ranks of the Department, being appointed Postmaster General by President Harry S. Truman in 1947 and serving for the remainder of the Truman Administration until 1953. During this period he modernized the postal service and also announced the "3 cent Gold Star Mothers" stamp in recognition of the Sullivan brothers’ mother. He died in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1970.