Wikipedia

Edward M. House: Difference between revisions

Browse history interactively
← Previous editNext edit →
Content deleted Content added
VisualWikitext
No edit summary
m date formats per MOS:DATEFORMAT by script, per WP:Linking
Line 1:
{{short description|American diplomat}}
{{other people|Edward House}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=DecemberApril 20212022}}
{{Infobox person
| image = E. M. House LCCN2014700618 (cropped).jpg
Line 10:
| birth_place = Houston, Texas
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1938|3|28|1858|7|26}}
| death_place = [[Manhattan]], [[New York (state)|New York]]
| death_cause =
| body_discovered =
Line 47:
| signature_alt =
| signature_size =
| footnotes = <ref name=TSHA>{{cite web <!-- |author-link=Charles E. Neu --> |first=Charles E. |last=Neu |title=Edward Mandell House |date=June 15, 2010 |work=[[Handbook of Texas Online]] |url=http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fho66 |access-date=2014-07-July 12, 2014 |publisher=[[Texas State Historical Association]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |chapter=Edward Mandell House |title=Encyclopedia of World Biography |location=Detroit |year=1998 |publisher=[[Gale (publisher)|Gale]] |series=Biography in Context |id=GALE&#124;K1631003142 |access-date=2014-07-July 12, 2014 |chapter-url=http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/bic1/ReferenceDetailsPage/ReferenceDetailsWindow?failOverType=&query=&prodId=BIC1&windowstate=normal&contentModules=&display-query=&mode=view&displayGroupName=Reference&limiter=&currPage=&disableHighlighting=false&displayGroups=&sortBy=&search_within_results=&p=BIC1&action=e&catId=&activityType=&scanId=&documentId=GALE%7CK1631003142&source=Bookmark&u=fairfax_main&jsid=18bd441163b4480415bcb1d2af04aaa2}}</ref><ref name=DictAmBio>{{cite book |chapter=Edward Mandell House |title=Dictionary of American Biography |location=New York |publisher=[[Charles Scribner's Sons]] |year=1944 |series=Biography in Context |access-date=2014-07-July 13, 2014 |chapter-url=http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/bic1/ReferenceDetailsPage/ReferenceDetailsWindow?failOverType=&query=&prodId=BIC1&windowstate=normal&contentModules=&display-query=&mode=view&displayGroupName=Reference&limiter=&currPage=&disableHighlighting=false&displayGroups=&sortBy=&search_within_results=&p=BIC1&action=e&catId=&activityType=&scanId=&documentId=GALE%7CBT2310010933&source=Bookmark&u=fairfax_main&jsid=2fb2d33829ab765662e1307c5be171c3 |id=GALE&#124;BT2310010933|title-link=Dictionary of American Biography}}</ref>
}}
 
Line 54:
==Early years==
 
He was born July 26, 1858, in [[Houston]], Texas]], the last of seven children<!-- He was the son of Houston mayor [[Thomas William House Sr.]], a gunrunner during the [[US Civil War]] who amassed a fortune.{{citation needed|date=July 2014}} --> of Mary Elizabeth (Shearn) and [[Thomas William House Sr.]] His father was an emigrant from England by way of New Orleans, who became a prominent Houston businessman, with a large role in developing the city and served a term as its mayor. His father sent ships laden with cotton to evade the [[Union blockade]] in the Gulf of Mexico during the [[American Civil War]]. He traded Texas cotton through [[Matamoros, Mexico]], in exchange for equipment and ammunition.<ref name=TSHA /><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/house-thomas-william |title=House, Thomas William (1814–1880) |last=Beazley |first=Julia |website=Handbook of Texas |publisher=Texas State Historical Society |access-date=July 12, 2021 }}</ref>
 
As a young man, House and his companions harassed [[Freedman|recently-freed slaves]] verbally and with [[slingshot]]s. His diary entries "consistently reveal a deeply felt racism" and a belief in [[white supremacy]].<ref name="Minutaglio">{{cite book |last=Minutaglio |first=Bill |author-link=Bill Minutaglio |date=2021 |title=A Single Star and Bloody Knuckles: A History of Politics and Race in Texas |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/A_Single_Star_and_Bloody_Knuckles/lYcHEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA70 |location= |publisher=University of Texas Press |page=70 |isbn=9781477310366}}</ref>
 
House attended Houston Academy<!-- probably not the one founded 1970 in Alabama -->, a school in [[Bath, England|Bath]], England, a [[University-preparatory school|prep school]] in [[Virginia]], and [[Hopkins Grammar School]], [[New Haven, Connecticut]].<ref name=TSHA/>
He went on to study at [[Cornell University]] in [[Ithaca, New York]], in 1877 where he was a member of the [[Alpha Delta Phi]] fraternity. He left at the beginning of his third year to care for his sick father, who died in 1880.<ref name=TSHA/><ref name=DictAmBio/><ref>{{cite web |title=Alpha Delt&nbsp;-&nbsp;Alpha Delt Hall of Famevh us dgt da FB f |access-date=2014-07-July 13, 2014 |url=https://www.adphicornell.org/120-fame.asp}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Part One: The History of Alpha Delta Phi at Cornell |work=A Comprehensive History of Alpha Delt Phi |pages=1–2 |first=Marc B. |last=Zawel |access-date=2014-07-July 13, 2014 |url=https://www.adphicornell.org/120-adphicor/2008/2008-ADPhi-History.pdf}}</ref>
 
He married Loulie Hunter on August 4, 1881.<ref name=DictAmBio/>
Line 65:
==Texas business and politics==
 
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. 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>
Line 89:
After Wilson's first wife died in 1914, the President was even closer to House. However, Wilson's second wife, [[Edith Bolling Galt Wilson|Edith]], disliked House, and his position weakened. It is believed that her personal animosity was significantly responsible for Wilson's eventual decision to break with House.
 
[[File:ColonelHouse.PNG|thumb|right|225px|Col. House and President Wilson in 1915.<ref>{{cite news|title=Col. House Discusses Peace Outlook with Wilson|url=http://idnc.library.illinois.edu/cgi-bin/illinois?a=d&d=RIA19150628.1.8&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN-------|access-date=29 June 29, 2015|publisher=Illinois Digital Newspaper Collections|date=June 28, 1915}}</ref>]]
 
==Diplomacy==
Line 95:
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 7 May 7, 1915, with 128 Americans among the 1198 dead, many Americans called for war. 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=SepSeptember 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 [[Thomas Garrigue Masaryk]] Czechoslovak legions especially in Russia as well.<ref>Preclík, Vratislav. Masaryk a legie (Masaryk and legions), váz. kniha, 219 str., vydalo nakladatelství Paris Karviná, Žižkova 2379 (734 01 Karvina, Czech Republic) ve spolupráci s Masarykovým demokratickým hnutím (Masaryk Democratic Movement, Prague), 2019, {{ISBN|978-80-87173-47-3}}, pp. 87 - 89, 118 - 128,140 - 148,184 - 190</ref> Wilson had House assemble "[[The Inquiry]]", a team of academic experts to devise efficient postwar solutions to all the world's problems. In September 1918, Wilson gave House the responsibility for preparing a constitution for a [[League of Nations]]. In October 1918, when Germany petitioned for peace based on the [[Fourteen Points]], Wilson charged House with working out details of an [[armistice]] with the Allies.
Line 125:
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>
 
[[House Park]], a high school football stadium in [[Austin, Texas]], stands on House's former horse pasture. The small farming community of [[Emhouse, Texas|Emhouse]] in north-central [[Navarro County, Texas]], was renamed from Lyford in his honor, as he had served as the superintendent of the railroad company that operated in the community.<ref>{{cite web|last=Long|first=Christopher|title=Emhouse, TX|url=http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hle17|work=Handbook of Texas Online|publisher=Texas State Historical Association|access-date=2014-07-July 12, 2014}}</ref>
 
A statue of House, financed by [[Ignacy Jan Paderewski]] in 1932, is located at [[Skaryszewski Park]] in [[Warsaw]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://warsawinstitute.org/american-relief-polands-independence/ |title=American Relief and Poland's Independence |last=Siekierski |first=Nicholas |date=March 12, 2018 |website=Warsaw Institute Review |publisher=Warsaw Institute |location=Warsaw, Poland}}</ref> House is considered a hero in Poland for his advocacy of Polish independence after World War I, which was incorporated into the Fourteen Points and resulted in the reestablishment of the Polish nation.<ref>{{cite book |last=Latawski |first=Paul |date=1992 |title=The Reconstruction of Poland, 1914-23 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YaG-DAAAQBAJ&pg=PA96 |location=New York, NY |publisher=St. Martin's Press |pages=95–99 |isbn=978-1-349-22187-5}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |date=January 16, 2019 |title=Wilson put together a delegation of diplomats to negotiate the final peace from World War I |url=https://www.timesrecordnews.com/story/opinion/2019/01/16/century-after-treaty-versailles/2581573002/ |work=[[Times Record News]] |location=Wichita Falls, TX}}</ref>
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_M._House"