Beckham served as chairman of the Senate Committee on Expenditures in the Department of Labor from 1915 to 1917 and on the Senate Committee on Military Affairs . In the latter position he was influential in securing two large military training posts for Kentucky , Camp Zachary Taylor and Fort Knox . Though Camp Zachary Taylor was abandoned after World War I , Fort Knox became the home of the United States Bullion Depository . When the United States entered World War I , Beckham continued to back President Wilson and supported the League of Nations .