Hubert Work (July 3, 1860 – December 14, 1942) was a U.S. administrator and physician. He served as the Postmaster General between 1922 and 1923 in the presidency of Warren G. Harding. He then served as the Secretary of the Interior from 1923-1928 during the administration of Calvin Coolidge.
Work was born in Marion Center, Pennsylvania. Attended medical school at the University of Michigan from 1882-1883, but ultimately received an M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1885. He settled in Colorado and founded Woodcroft Hospital in Pueblo in 1896. In 1921–22, Work served as president of the American Medical Association.
Work was active in the Republican Party, having served as the Colorado state chairman in 1912. In 1914, Work ran unsuccessfully in a special election for the United States Senate having been defeated by the Democrat Charles Spalding Thomas, later the governor of Colorado. Work polled 98,728 votes (39 percent) in a multi-candidate to field to Thomas' 102,037 ballots (40.3 percent). This was Colorado's first Senate election by popular vote under the Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.
He was a Colorado delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1920, and he chaired the Republican National Committee from 1928 to 1929.
During World War I, Work served in the U.S. Army in the Medical Corps and attained the rank of lieutenant colonel.
Work served as the U.S. Assistant Postmaster General from 1921 to 1922 and Postmaster General from 1922 to 1923, under President Harding. He also served as U.S. Secretary of the Interior from 1923 to 1928, under both Harding and Coolidge. During Work's tenure as Secretary of the Interior, American citizenship was formally granted to Native Americans.
He died in Denver and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.
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