Badge

Title:

La Societe des Quarante Hommes et Huit Chevaux Badge

Object Name:

Badge

Object ID:

2025.016.01

Date:

1930-1939

Description:

Badge. La Societe des Quarante Hommes et Huit Chevaux (The Society of 40 Men and 8 Horses, or commonly abbreviated as The Forty and Eight). Light blue silk ribbon with pin bar holding a rectangular bronze medal showing a relief image of two World War 1 American soldiers, a French boxcar marked "40 HOMMES / 8 CHEVAUX" and a horse. The reverse is stamped "PAT. APPD. FOR". c. 1930-1939.

Material:

Bronze
Silk

Dimensions:

H-2.5 W-1.5 D-0.313 inches

Provenance:

Badge owned by John L. Sullivan (1899-1982), passed to his daughter, Patricia Meyers. John L. Sullivan (1899-1982) was born and raised in Manchester. He entered Dartmouth College in 1917, and registered for the draft on September 12, 1918. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy on October 1, 1918 and was discharged on December 21, 1918. Returning to Dartmouth, he graduated in 1921, and then in 1924 he earned a Bachelor of Laws from Harvard Law School. Sullivan joined his father's law firm, Sullivan & White, and in 1928 was elected Solicitor of Hillsborough County, which began his political career. Eventually becoming the head of his own law firm of Sullivan & Sullivan, he twice ran unsuccessfully for governor, in 1934 and 1938. Interestingly, his political career in New Hampshire coincided with his involvement in the American Legion. Starting in 1928 and continuing through 1939 he attended every American Legion annual convention in New Hampshire. For the first half of this era the meetings took place at Weirs Beach, but in the latter 1930s were hosted by other communities from Berlin down to Manchester. During this time Sullivan also attended American Legion national conventions in Chicago (1933), St. Louis (1935), Cleveland (1936), and New York (1937). In 1939 he moved to Washington, D.C., for a succession of federal positions, most notably Assistant Secretary of the Treasury from 1940 to 1944, Assistant Secretary of the Navy (AIR) from 1945 to 1946, Under Secretary of the Navy from 1946 to 1947, and finally Secretary of the Navy from September 17, 1947 until May 24, 1949. He resigned on that day in protest following the Secretary of Defense cancelling construction of the aircraft carrier USS United States.

Returning to New Hampshire, Sullivan resumed his law practiced and also pushed for Truman to run for reelection before he announced his withdrawal on March 29, 1952. That summer Sullivan attended the American Legion's national convention in New York as a distinguished guest, which accounts for the final badge in the group.

Joseph W. Breen founded The Forty and Eight in 1920 at American Legion Post 297 in Philadelphia, PA. It was an elite membership organization for leaders of the American Legion, and became an independent fraternal organization in 1960. Then as now, members need to first be Amercan Legion members.

Credit Line:

Gift of the Sullivan Family

People:

Sullivan, John L. (1899-1982)

Subjects:

American Legion, Box cars, Military, Fraternal organizations, World War I, Veterans