General Leonard Wood

Wood, Leonard A graduate of Harvard Medical School (1884), Wood began his military career the next year as a civilian contract surgeon with the U.S. Army in the Southwest, achieving the rank of captain and assistant surgeon by 1891. He was awarded a Medal of Honor for his service with the expedition against the Apache Indians who were resisting the capture of their leader, Geronimo (1886). After the outbreak of the Spanish-American War (1898), Wood and his friend …

…on the tenth ballot. The following year, President Harding--recognizing Wood's administrative talent and experience--appointed him to the Wood-Forbes Mission to the Philippines. The mission reported that a grant of immediate independence to the islands would be premature and urged the U.S. government not to be left in a position of responsibility without authority. Wood was then appointed governor-general of the Philippines, a post he held until forced to resign by a terminal illness in 1927.