Frank Knox (Cinco De Mayo)

William Franklin "Frank" Knox (Januay 1, 1874 - April 28, 1944) was the __th President of the United States, serving from January 20, 1941 until his death on April 28, 1944. Prior to the Presidency, he was the Vice President under Herbert Hoover from 1933 until 1941 and was a Chicago newspaper publisher, war veteran and two time Congressman, serving in the United States House of Representatives for New Hampshire's 2nd District from 1903-1913 and Illinois 10th District from 1923-1927, when he retired to return to the newspaper industry. He was a veteran of the Spanish-American War, the Panamanian War, the American occupation of Nicaragua and World War One.

He was the President during World War Two, which occurred during and defined his Presidency. A Democrat, Knox was, like his mentor and predecessor Hoover, a staunch internationalist who opposed the isolationist wing of his party. Knox, in the late 1930s, became at the time the most powerful Vice President in history, being trusted by Hoover to radically restructure the US Navy as a fighting force capable of potentially fighting in both the Pacific and the Atlantic. As President after the Russian attack against Naval Station Anchorage and the Chinese invasion of Guam and Saipan, Knox came before Congress to request a declaration of war against the Grand Alliance. He would die before the war's completion, and he was succeeded by his Vice President, Alf Landon.