Solomon Stanwood Menken

Solomon Stanwood Menken
Born	1870 Memphis, Tennessee
Died	1954
Education	City College of New York Cornell University (1890) Columbia University
Children	Arthur Menken
Parent(s)	Nathan Menken

Solomon Stanwood Menken (1870 - 1954) was an attorney in the United States best known for having founded the National Security League.

Menken was born in Memphis, Tennessee in 1870 to Nathan Menken, who owned a dry goods store. The family moved to New York City when Menken was a boy. He attended the City College of New York but transferred to Cornell University, graduating in 1890. He later received a Bachelor of Laws from Columbia University.

Although his parents were Jewish, Menken converted to Christianity and started using his middle name, Stanwood. He married a wealthy New York City socialite; they had one son, Arthur Menken, who became a successful newsreel cameraman for Paramount Pictures and a war correspondent who would later film the Nanking Massacre and the Spanish Civil War).

Menken became a successful corporate lawyer with the firm of Philbin, Beckman and Menken, whose clients included J.P. Morgan.

Menken became active in progressive politics. He helped found New York City's Reform Club and supported the "single tax" movement. He ran for office in New York City in 1896 on a ticket with noted politician Henry George. A longtime Democrat, he helped found the Democratic League of New York in September 1909, and for many years raised money and helped support the party in elections.

He began supporting liberal Republicans and Progressives in 1912, and campaigned for Theodore Roosevelt and Robert M. La Follette, Sr..

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