Fred Herbert Brown (April 12, 1879 – February 3, 1955) was an American lawyer, baseball player, and politician from New Hampshire.

He lost his reelection bid in 1938, and served as Comptroller General of the United States from 1939 to 1940, when he resigned due to poor health.

He joined the Pi chapter of Delta Kappa Epsilon and played college baseball for the Dartmouth Big Green team as a catcher.

[2] In 1903, Brown coached the Dartmouth Big Green,[6] and played for Providence and the Jersey City Skeeters, also of the Eastern League.

[12] President Woodrow Wilson nominated Brown to be the United States Attorney for the District of New Hampshire in June 1914,[13] and reappointed him in July 1918.

[20] After Winant took office in 1925, he nominated Brown for a six-year term on the New Hampshire Public Service Commission.

[22] In January 1932, Democrats from Strafford County began to recruit Brown to enter the 1932 election for the United States Senate.

[26][27] In the Senate, Brown supported Roosevelt's New Deal,[28] served on the joint committee that investigated the Tennessee Valley Authority, voted to confirm Hugo Black to the Supreme Court of the United States[29] and chaired the Senate Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on Communications.

[32] Roosevelt appointed Brown to a 15-year term as Comptroller General of the United States in March 1939,[33] and his nomination was approved in April.

[34][35] As comptroller general, he supported the decision to use marble from Vermont in the construction of the Jefferson Memorial[36] and ruled that states could not collect taxes from the federal government.

[38] Brown suffered a stroke in December 1939,[39] and resigned as Comptroller General due to poor health in June 1940.