Patrick J. Hurley

Patrick Jay Hurley (January 8, 1883, Choctaw Nation, Indian Territory — July 30, 1963, Santa Fe, New Mexico) was a highly decorated American soldier with the rank of Major General, statesman, and diplomat. He was the United States Secretary of War from 1929 to 1933.

He has since been known as 赫爾利 hè ěr lì in China, a phonetic rendering of his last name into Chinese.

Education and early career

Hurley graduated from Indian University (now Bacone College) in 1905 and received his law degree from the National University of Law, Washington, D.C. in 1908. He started a law practice in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1908.

He was admitted to the bar of the Supreme Court in 1912 and was national attorney for the Choctaw Nation from 1912 to 1917. He received a second laws degree from George Washington University, Washington, D.C., in 1913.

Military service

Hurley served in the Indian Territorial Volunteer Militia from 1902 to 1907, and in the Oklahoma National Guard, from 1914 to 1917. During World War I, Hurley served with the Judge Advocate General's Department of the 6th Army Corps, American Expeditionary Force in France. For his service in this capacity, Hurley received the Army Distinguished Service Medal.