U.S. secretary of the Navy (1889–93) who played a major role in the rebuilding and modernization of the U.S. fleet.

Tracy began his career as a lawyer; he was admitted to the bar in 1851 and served as district attorney of Tioga County, N.Y., from 1853 to 1859. A founder of the local Republican Party, he served briefly in the state legislature (1862) and fought for the Union during the Civil War, rising to the rank of brigadier general of volunteers. After the war he was U.S. district attorney for eastern New York (1866–73) before returning to private practice. In a sensational 1875 trial, Tracy successfully defended the Rev. Henry Ward Beecher (Beecher, Henry Ward) against charges of adultery. He later went on to serve briefly as a justice of the New York Court of Appeals in 1881–82.

In 1889 Tracy was appointed secretary of the Navy by Pres. Benjamin Harrison. During his four years in that post, Tracy accelerated the naval expansion program begun by his predecessor, William C. Whitney, authorizing construction of new battleships and cruisers that were to figure prominently in the war with Spain and promoting reorganization and reform with the Department of the Navy.