William Franklin "Frank" Knox (January 1, 1874 - April 28, 1944) was the United States Secretary of the Navy under Franklin D. Roosevelt from 1940 until his death, a time span which included much of World War II. Prior to that, Knox was the RepublicanVice Presidential candidate in 1936 under Alf Landon against FDR. However, the ticket lost in a landslide and only won eight electoral votes from the two states of Maine and Vermont.
Shortly after the disastrous attack at Pearl Harbor, Frank Knox was called before the Senate about how the US Navy had been so woefully unprepared. TexasDemocratTom Connally was particularly tenacious in the questions he put to Knox. The New Yorker reported on that investigation in great detail.[1]