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Philander Chase Knox
45th United States Attorney General
In office April 5, 1901 – June 30, 1904
Preceded by	John W. Griggs
Succeeded by	William H. Moody
40th United States Secretary of State
In office March 6, 1909 – March 5, 1913
Preceded by	Robert Bacon
Succeeded by	William Jennings Bryan
Born	May 6, 1853(1853-05-06) Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Died	October 12, 1921 (aged 68) Washington, DC, U.S.
Political party	Republican
Profession	Lawyer, Politician

Philander Chase Knox (May 6, 1853–October 12, 1921) was an American lawyer and politician who served as Attorney General and U.S. Senator and was Secretary of State from 1909-1913.

Knox was born in the Pittsburgh suburb of Brownsville, Pennsylvania, and graduated from Mount Union College in 1872. He was admitted to the bar in 1875 and practiced in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. From 1876-1877 he was Assistant United States Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania and became President of the Pennsylvania Bar Association in 1897.

Knox was a member of the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club, whose earthen dam failed in May 1889, causing the Johnstown Flood. He was also a leading Pittsburgh attorney in partnership with James Hay Reed, their firm being Knox and Reed (now Reed Smith LLP). Knox was a member of the Duquesne Club. Along with fellow South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club member Jesse H. Lippencott, Knox served as a director of the Fifth National Bank of Pittsburgh. Henry Clay Frick, Andrew Mellon and Philander Knox were directors of the Pittsburgh National Bank of Commerce.

Knox was a lifelong friend of President William McKinley. His nickname was “Sleepy Phil” which is said to have been a) because he dozed off during board meetings or b) because Knox was cross-eyed making it difficult for his two eyes to track together.

Knox married Lillie Smith, the daughter of Andrew Smith of the firm Smith, Sutton and Co.

As counsel for the Carnegie Steel Company, he took a prominent part in organizing the United States Steel Corporation in 1901. He served as Attorney General in the cabinets of Presidents McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt from 1901 to 1904. While serving Roosevelt, Knox worked hard with the concept of Dollar Diplomacy. In June 1904, when he was appointed by Governor Samuel W. Pennypacker of Pennsylvania to fill the unexpired term of Matthew S. Quay in the United States Senate; in 1905 he was re-elected to the Senate for the full term (to 1909). After an unsuccessful bid for the Republican Presidential nomination in 1908, he served as Secretary of State in President Taft's cabinet from March 6, 1909 until March 5, 1913.

As Secretary of State, Knox reorganized the Department on a divisional basis, extended the merit system to the Diplomatic Service up to the grade of chief of mission, pursued a policy of encouraging and protecting American investments abroad, and accomplished the settlement of the Bering Sea controversy and the North Atlantic fisheries controversy.

Following his term of office, he resumed the practice of law in Pittsburgh. He was again elected to the Senate from Pennsylvania and served from 1917 to 1921. Knox died in Washington, DC, in 1921.

He is well-known for famous quote to Roosevelt: "Mister President, do not let so great an achievement suffer from any taint of legality," made in regards to the construction of the Panama Canal. A slightly rephrased version of this quote was spoken by Brian Keith as Roosevelt in the film The Wind and the Lion.

• Philander C. Knox at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress

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