Artist: Robert Wadsworth Grafton (1876–1936)
Alexander Legge
LEGGE, ALEXANDER (1866–1933), inducted circa 1936
Born in Wisconsin, Alexander Legge’s family moved to a ranch in Nebraska when he was a boy. As a young man, he worked as a cowboy in Wyoming. Legge accepted a position as an apprentice claim collector with the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company in 1891. Thoroughly impressing Harold McCormick, he was appointed head of worldwide claims collection in Chicago in 1899. When McCormick merged with International Harvester Company in 1902, Legge was promoted to assistant manager of sales and then general manager. In 1922, Harold McCormick became chairman of the board, and Legge was tapped to be president of International Harvester. He served in that capacity until his death in 1933.
President Woodrow Wilson selected Legge as vice chairman of the War Industries Board during World War I, and when the war ended, he developed the economic section of the Treaty of Versailles. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal for wartime service—an exceptional honor for a civilian. During President Hoover’s administration, Legge was chairman of the Federal Farm Board, assisting the agricultural sector during the Great Depression. Before his death, Alex Legge directed substantial personal funds to establish the Farm Foundation, a public charity “devoted to the general welfare of the farming population of the United States and improvement of the conditions of rural life.” After his death, three portraits were commissioned to honor Legge, for the agriculture colleges of University of Wisconsin and University of Nebraska and for the Saddle & Sirloin Club. In addition, a biography was written by Forrest Crissey in 1936.
Source: Saddle & Sirloin Guidebook 2026, p. 126