the caucus, other detachments began to organize. Buffalo, New York was the second and Newark, New Jersey the third. Other detachments quickly followed in the east and midwest. By 1928, detachments reached to the west coast. The second national convention was held in Washington, DC, the third in Philadelphia, the fourth in Cleveland and the fifth in Erie, Pennsylvania. LeJeune remained as national commandant until 1929, when Maj. Gen. Wendell C. Neville succeeded him as Marine Corps Commandant. LeJeune then appointed Neville as the National Commandant of the Marine Corps League for the duration of his term until the next national convention in St. Louis, MO in 1930. At the St. Louis convention, W. Karl Lations of Worcester, Massachusetts was elected the first civilian commandant of the League. The League prospered and expanded under the leadership of Lations, who was national commandant until 1931, when the ninth national convention in Buffalo, New York elected Carlton A. Fisher of the Niagara-Frontier detachment to succeed Lations. The Great Depression handicapped the League and other veteran and fraternal groups. In 1932, a movement was started in Washington under the guise of economy to abolish the Marine Corps. This was frustrated when New York Detachment No. 1 began a newspaper campaign of protest, followed by contact with every senator and congressman in the United States Congress by letter and personal visits, which ended the movement. John F. Manning of Methuen, Massachusetts succeeded Fisher as national commandant at the convention in Denver, Colorado in 1934. Manning was succeeded by Maurice A. Illch of Albany, New York at the national convention in Boston, Massachusetts in 1936. During his administration, the "Corrigan Will" contest was settled, which enriched the national treasury by $10,000. On August 4, 1937, the League was chartered by Congress. Florence E. O'Leary of Cincinnati, Ohio succeeded Illch as national commandant at the national convention in Washington, DC in 1938. He was succeeded by Chris J. Cunningham of Albany, New York at the national convention in Detroit in 1940. During Cunningham's tenure, League membership more than doubled, the number of detachments increased to more than 160 and the first monthly national bulletin was launched. Cunningham was succeeded by Judge Alexander F. Ormsby of Jersey City, New Jersey at the national convention in Chicago. Cunningham was succeeded by Thomas E. Wood at the national convention held in the New Yorker Hotel in September 1943. Programs