Jacob McGavock Dickinson (January 30, 1851 – December 13, 1928) was United States Secretary of War under President William Howard Taft from 1909 to 1911. He was succeeded by Henry L. Stimson. He was an attorney, politician, and businessman in Nashville, Tennessee, where he also taught at Nashville University. He came to have a national role after moving to Chicago, Illinois, in 1899.
Early life
Jacob McGavock Dickinson was born on January 30, 1851, in Columbus, Mississippi. His father, Henry Dickinson, served as a chancery judge in Mississippi from 1843 to 1854. He studied law briefly at Columbia Law School and continued his studies abroad in Leipzig and Paris. During Dickinson's tenure, he proposed legislation to permit the admission of foreign students to West Point, and recommended an annuity retirement system for civil service employees.