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| birth_name = Edward Mandell House
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1858|7|26}}
| birth_place = [[Houston]], Texas, U.S.
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1938|3|28|1858|7|26}}
| death_place = [[Manhattan]], New York City, U.S.
| death_cause =
| body_discovered =
| resting_place = [[Glenwood Cemetery (Houston, Texas)|Glenwood Cemetery]] in [[Houston]], Texas
| resting_place_coordinates = <!-- {{Coord|LAT|LONG|type:landmark|display=inline}} -->
| monuments =
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| opponents =
| boards =
| spouse = {{marriage|Loulie Hunter
| partner =
| children =
| parents = {{Plainlist|
*Mary Elizabeth (Shearn) House
*[[Thomas William House Sr.]]}}
| callsign =
| awards =
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}}
'''Edward Mandell House''' (July 26, 1858 – March 28, 1938) was an American diplomat, and an adviser to President [[Woodrow Wilson]]. He was known as '''Colonel House''', although his
==Early years==
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On his return to Texas, House ran his family's business. He eventually sold the cotton [[plantations in the American South|plantation]]s, and invested in banking. He was a founder of the [[Trinity and Brazos Valley Railway]]. House moved to New York City about 1902.
In 1912, House anonymously published a novel called ''[[Philip Dru: Administrator]]'', in which the title character leads the democratic Western U.S. in a civil war against the [[plutocratic]] East, becoming the dictator of America and turns it into “Socialism as dreamed of by Karl Marx”.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Edward Mandell House |url=https://archive.org/details/philipdruadmini00housgoog/page/n58/mode/1up |title=Philip Dru: Administrator: A Story of Tomorrow, 1920-1935 ... |date=1912 |publisher=B. W. Huebsch |others=Harvard University |language=English}}</ref> Dru as dictator imposes a series of reforms which resemble the [[Progressive Party (United States, 1912)|Bull Moose platform of 1912]] and then vanishes.<ref>Lasch, pp. 230–35.</ref>
House helped to make four men [[governor of Texas]]: [[Jim Hogg|James S. Hogg]] (1892), [[Charles Allen Culberson|Charles A. Culberson]] (1894), [[Joseph D. Sayers]] (1898), and [[S. W. T. Lanham]] (1902). After their elections, House acted as unofficial adviser to each. In 1893, Hogg appointed House to his military staff with the rank of [[Lieutenant colonel (United States)|lieutenant colonel]], a position which came with a title but no actual military responsibilities.<ref name=Volume_1>{{cite book |last=Richardson |first=Rupert Norval |date=1964 |title=Colonel Edward M. House |volume=1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=amYBcP-OYJ8C&q=%22lieutenant+colonel%22 |location=Abilene, TX |publisher=Hardin-Simmons University |page=223}}</ref> He was reappointed by Culberson, Sayers, and Lanham, and was soon known as "Colonel House", the title which he used for the rest of his career.<ref name=Volume_1/>
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A "cosmopolitan progressive" who examined political developments in Europe, House was an admirer of the British [[Liberal welfare reforms]] instigated between 1906 and 1914, noting to a friend in June 1911 that [[David Lloyd George]]
<blockquote>is working out the problems which are nearest my heart and that is the equalization of opportunity ... . The income tax, the employers' liability act, the old age pension measure, the budget of last year and this insurance bill puts England well to the fore. We have touched these problems in America but lightly as yet but the soil is fallow.<ref>{{Cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g1IgBQAAQBAJ&q=colonel+house+old-age+pensions&pg=PA69 | title=Colonel House: A Biography of Woodrow Wilson's Silent Partner| isbn=9780195045505| last1=Neu| first1=Charles E.| year=2015| publisher=Oxford University Press}}</ref></blockquote>
House’s friend [[David F. Houston]] shared his interests in England and the continent, concluding in August 1911 that “England and Germany are doing many interesting things in a desirable socialistic direction. We shall follow slowly because of the newness of conditions here and the lack of pressure.”
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House threw himself into world affairs, promoting Wilson's goal of brokering a peace to end World War I. He spent much of 1915 and 1916 in Europe, trying to negotiate peace through diplomacy. He was enthusiastic but lacked deep insight into European affairs and relied on the information received from British diplomats, especially the British foreign secretary [[Edward Grey, 1st Viscount Grey of Fallodon|Edward Grey]], to shape his outlook. Nicholas Ferns argues that Grey's ideas meshed with House's. Grey's diplomatic goal was to establish close Anglo-American relations; he deliberately built a close connection to further that aim. Thereby Grey re-enforced House's pro-Allied proclivities so that Wilson's chief adviser promoted the British position.<ref>Nicolas Ferns, "Loyal Advisor? Colonel Edward House's Confidential Trips to Europe, 1913–1917". ''Diplomacy & Statecraft'' 24.3 (2013): 365-382.</ref>
After a German U-boat sank the British passenger liner {{RMS|Lusitania||2}} on May 7, 1915, with 128 Americans among the 1198 dead, many Americans called for war. Prior to departure from New York, the Imperial German Embassy had announced that ships sailing into warzone waters in order to aim for Germany's enemies would be targeted as enemy supply. The ship was carrying war munitions, although this was not publicly revealed at the time.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/local_news/divers-find-ammunition-in-lusitania/article_b6fdd7ba-32e4-50d8-8cd1-009db211b1ba.html#:~:text=Anne%20Constable%20The%20British%20passenger,to%20have%20been%20on%20board.|title=Divers find ammunition in Lusitania |last=Constable |first=Anne |date=September 26, 2008 |website=Santa Fe New Mexican}} </ref> Wilson demanded that Germany respect American neutral rights, and especially not sink merchant ships or passenger liners without giving the passengers and crew the opportunity to get into lifeboats, as required by international law. Tension escalated with Germany, until Germany agreed to Wilson's terms. House felt that the war was an epic battle between democracy and autocracy; he argued the United States ought to help Britain and France win a limited Allied victory. However, Wilson still insisted on neutrality.
House played a major role in shaping wartime diplomacy. He supported as well [[Thomas Garrigue Masaryk]]’s Czechoslovak legions, especially in Russia
Diplomat and historian [[Philip D. Zelikow|Philip Zelikow]] argues that House's actions and advice to Wilson in the 1916-1917 period significantly extended World War I. At a time when both the Allies and Central Powers were anxious to begin peace talks, House often misread and misled Wilson, as well as his contacts in Britain and Germany, about each others' intentions and conditions for peace. This led Wilson to crucially delay offers to initiate a peace conference, and eventually fumble the diplomatic procedures necessary to make such an offer. While it is unclear if these mistakes were caused simply by House's lack of diplomatic experience or were instead intentional misdirects intended to protect House's own social standing, Zelikow argues that this failure of diplomacy was a primary reason for Wilson's eventual break with House following the end of the war.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Zelikow|first=Philip|title=The Road Less Traveled: The Secret Battle to End the Great War, 1916-1917|publisher=PublicAffairs|year=2021|isbn=9781541750944}}</ref>
House's perspective, as reflected in his personal papers, differs. House traveled in Europe to explore the possibility of peace as Wilson's unofficial agent. House was dismayed by German militarism, which he believed the main cause of the war, but also by the hardened self-interest of each of the warring nations which included territorial aspirations,
[[File:Edward Mandell House cph.3b17553.jpg|thumb|left|237px|Edward M. House in 1920]]
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The conference revealed serious policy disagreements and personality conflicts between Wilson and House. Wilson became less tolerant and broke with his closest advisers, one after another. Later, he dismissed House's son-in-law, Gordon Auchincloss, from the American peace commission when it became known the young man was making derogatory comments about him.<ref name=Berg>{{cite book|last=Berg|first=A. Scott|author-link=A. Scott Berg|title=Wilson|year=2013|publisher=G. P. Putnam's Sons|location=New York, NY|isbn=978-0-399-15921-3|pages=571|title-link=Wilson (book)}}</ref>
In February 1919, House took his place on the [[Treaty of Versailles|Council of Ten]], where he negotiated compromises unacceptable to Wilson. The following month, Wilson returned to Paris. He decided that House had taken too many liberties in negotiations, and relegated him to the sidelines. After they returned to the US later that year, the two men never saw or spoke to each other again.<ref name=Berg/><!--page=601}}--> Shortly after returning to Washington, Wilson suffered a debilitating stroke, the extent of which was concealed from the public and the press. Other than his doctors, direct access to the
==Later years==
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{{Blockquote|Colonel House's book, ''Philip Dru'', favors it, and all that book has said should be, comes about slowly, even woman suffrage. The President comes to ''Philip Dru'' in the end. And yet they say that House has no power....}}<!-- Ellipsis in the original -->
[[File:EMHouse monument Warsaw Poland.jpg|thumb|right|240px|[[Edward
House was buried at [[Glenwood Cemetery (Houston, Texas)|Glenwood Cemetery]] in Houston. After his death, politicians, diplomats and statesman from around the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom expressed their admiration for House and regrets about his death, including President [[Franklin Delano Roosevelt]], [[Cordell Hull]], [[Fiorello LaGuardia]], [[Al Smith]], [[Mackenzie King]], [[David Lloyd George]], [[Lord Tyrrell]], and [[Lord Robert Cecil]].<ref>Staff/[[Associated Press]] (March 29, 1938) [https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1938/03/29/98116643.pdf "British Remember Wisdom of House"] ''[[The New York Times]]''</ref><ref>Staff (March 29. 1938) [https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1938/03/29/98116641.pdf "Roosevelt Praises Service of House"] ''The New York Times''</ref><ref>Staff (March 29, 1938) [https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1938/03/29/98116817.pdf "Deaths: House, Edward M."] ''The New York Times''</ref>
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{{wikisource author|Edward M. House}}
* [http://archives.library.rice.edu/repositories/2/resources/220 Col. Edward M. House correspondences] (Woodson Research Center, Fondren Library, Rice University, Houston, TX, USA)
* {{Gutenberg author |id=
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Edward Mandell House |sopt=t}}
* {{Internet Archive author |name=Colonel House |sopt=t}}
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[[Category:Texas Democrats]]
[[Category:Woodrow Wilson administration personnel]]
[[Category:
[[Category:Burials at Glenwood Cemetery (Houston, Texas)]]
[[Category:American planters]]
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