Frank McNinch papers

Frank Ramsay McNinch was born to Franklin Alonzo and Sarah Virginia Ramsay McNinch on April 27, 1873. He attended Barriers Military Institute in Charlotte, North Carolina until he was seventeen. After finishing his secondary education, he worked as a traveling salesman for businesses in Charlotte, Richmond, Virginia and New York City.

Late in the nineteenth century he began studying law on his own and then enrolled in law school at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill in 1898. Having prepared himself in law prior to enrolling in law school, he only spent one year in law school and was licensed to practice law in North Carolina in 1899. He began his law career the following year in Charlotte. A few years later in 1904, he was elected to the North Carolina General Assembly. His agenda was to promote Prohibitionism and to reform the North Carolina divorce laws to make it more difficult to obtain a divorce.

From 1917 to 1921, he served two terms as the Mayor of Charlotte and the Commissioner of Finance. He resigned as mayor in 1917 in order to accept an appointment as the regional director of the National Recreation Association of America.

In the 1928 election McNinch campaigned on behalf of Republican candidate Herbert Hoover, even though McNinch was a Democrat. McNinch supported Hoover because the democratic candidate, Alfred Smith, was Catholic and “wet” on the issue of Prohibition. It was during this time that McNinch’s skill as an orator became noticeable to his peers.

He began his career in public service at the national level beginning in 1930 when President Hoover named him to serve as a member of the Federal Power Commission. By law, the President is required to appoint at least one member from the opposing party. In 1933, President Roosevelt appointed him to serve as its Chairman. His agenda as chairman was to ensure availability of cheap electric power. In 1935 he traveled to the World Power Conference at the Hague in the Netherlands as the delegate from the United States. McNinch had the distinction of being appointed to high federal offices by both Democratic and Republican presidents.

On October 1, 1937, President Roosevelt requested that McNinch resign from his position as the Chairman of the Federal Power Commission to take a new position as the Chairman of the Federal Communication Commission. As the new chairman, his agenda was to prevent censorship and to ensure that all had equal time on radio stations, irrespective of position or opinion. McNinch remained in the FCC until 1939, when he became the Special Assistant to the Attorney General—a position he held until 1946.

He married Mary Groome, of Greensboro, NC on June 21, 1905. With her, they had two children: Frank Ramsey McNinch and Mary Groome Ariel McNinch. Following his wife’s death, McNinch married Huldah Groome of Greensboro, NC, on February 12, 1917. With her, he had two children: Huldah Groome and Robert Groome McNinch.

In his personal life, McNinch was a member of the Presbyterian Church, a freemason, and a member of the United American Mechanics.

McNinch died on April 20, 1950.

---------------------- Sources: Frank McNinch papers, mss 426, University of North Carolina Charlotte Library. Powell, William S., ed., Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill.