He was born in Providence, Rhode Island. His father was a wealthy wools manufacturer. He attended the public schools in Providence. He graduated from Brown University in 1890 and from Harvard Law School in 1893.

He was admitted to the bar in 1893 and began practice in Columbus, Ohio. Shorltly after he moved to Cincinnati, Ohio and then to Louisville, Kentucky. He practiced law until 1907.

In 1898 he married Olive Speed, the daughter of James Breckenridge Speed, who was part of a wealthy and prominent Kentucky family.

Although he began as an attorney, he gradually became involved in his wife's family business, the mining of coal and the manufacture of cement. He served as president of the Louisville Gas Co. and of the Louisville Lighting Co. from 1907 to 1912. He was involved with the Board of Trade of Louisville, serving as president in 1917, 1922, and 1923. He was also director of the Louisville Branch of the Federal Reserve Bank from 1917 to 1924. During the First World War, he served as federal food administrator for Kentucky from 1917 to 1919. This led to a friendship with the directory of the national food administrator, Herbert Hoover. Afterwards he was a member of the Kentucky State Board of Charities and Corrections from 1919 to 1924.

He was elected as a Republican to the United States Senate in 1924 and served from March 4, 1925 to January 9, 1930, when he resigned, having been appointed Ambassador to Germany by President Herbert Hoover. He served from 1930 to 1933, when he resigned. Afterwards, he resumed his former business activities. He died of a heart attack while visiting Baltimore, and is buried in Cave Hill Cemetery, Louisville.