Francis Mairs Huntington Wilson (December 15, 1875-December 31, 1946) was a

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

diplomat A diplomat (from grc, δίπλωμα; romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state or an intergovernmental institution such as the United Nations or the European Union to conduct diplomacy with one or more other states or internati ...

and author who served as

United States Assistant Secretary of State Assistant Secretary of State (A/S) is a title used for many executive positions in the United States Department of State, ranking below the under secretaries. A set of six assistant secretaries reporting to the under secretary for political affairs ...

from 1909 to 1913.

Biography

Huntington Wilson was born in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, the son of Benjamin Mairs Wilson and Frances (Huntington) Wilson. Wilson was educated at

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

, receiving an

A.B. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

in 1897. After college, Wilson joined the United States Consular and Diplomatic Service, becoming a

Second Secretary Diplomatic rank is a system of professional and social rank used in the world of diplomacy and international relations. A diplomat's rank determines many ceremonial details, such as the order of precedence at official processions, table seatings ...

at the United States Legation in Tokyo. He was promoted to First Secretary in 1900 and then to ''

Chargé d’Affaires Chargé () is a commune in the Indre-et-Loire department in central France. Chargé is a small town near Amboise. The Rock 'in Chargé festival has revitalized the village sinc2006 Population The inhabitants are called ''Chargéens''. See a ...

'' in 1901. He married Lucy Wortham James in 1904. The couple would divorce in 1915. Wilson returned to the United States in 1906, becoming

Third Assistant Secretary of State Assistant Secretary of State (A/S) is a title used for many executive positions in the United States Department of State, ranking below the under secretaries. A set of six assistant secretaries reporting to the under secretary for political affairs ...

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, and the Chairman of the Board of Examiners of the Consular and Diplomatic Service. With the outbreak of the

Young Turk Revolution The Young Turk Revolution (July 1908) was a constitutionalist revolution in the Ottoman Empire. The Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), an organization of the Young Turks movement, forced Sultan Abdul Hamid II to restore the Ottoman Constit ...

in 1908,

President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United Stat ...

Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...

named Wilson

Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary An envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary, usually known as a minister, was a diplomatic head of mission who was ranked below ambassador. A diplomatic mission headed by an envoy was known as a legation rather than an embassy. Under the ...

to the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

. He was also sent on a mission to

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

. Returning to the U.S. again in 1909, Wilson became the

during the Taft administration, which at the time was the second-ranking position in the

State Department The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government responsible for the country's fore ...

, after Secretary of State

Philander C. Knox Philander Chase Knox (May 6, 1853October 12, 1921) was an American lawyer, bank director and politician. A member of the Republican Party, Knox served in the Cabinet of three different presidents and represented Pennsylvania in the United States ...

. Knox, in addition to being ignorant of foreign affairs, was very lax about his official duties, and Wilson was, in his own words, "frequently left in charge of the Department for months at a time." In this capacity, Wilson was responsible for drawing up and implementing a reorganization of the

United States Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other n ...

. Wilson attempted to retire due to factors inside the State Department but was persuaded to remain for another two years. Wilson retired from government service in 1913 and settled in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

. There, he wrote for the '' Public Ledger'' and the '' Evening Bulletin''. He also began writing books at this time, with his published titles including ''Stultitia'' (1914), ''The Peril of Hifalutin'' (1918), ''Money and the Price Level'' (1932), and ''Memoirs of an Ex-Diplomat'' (1945). He became an hereditary member of the Rhode Island

Society of the Cincinnati The Society of the Cincinnati is a fraternal, hereditary society founded in 1783 to commemorate the American Revolutionary War that saw the creation of the United States. Membership is largely restricted to descendants of military officers wh ...

in 1908. He worked briefly for the National City Bank in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, before becoming president of a

Waterbury, Connecticut Waterbury is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut on the Naugatuck River, southwest of Hartford and northeast of New York City. Waterbury is the second-largest city in New Haven County, Connecticut. According to the 2020 US Census, in 20 ...

company that made signaling devices. He then returned to Philadelphia, serving as Director of the

Philadelphia Commercial Museum The Philadelphia Commercial Museum (also known as the International Bureau of Commerce; later, Museum of the Philadelphia Civic Center) was established in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1895. Its permanent home was a neo-classical building situ ...

from 1928 to 1932. Wilson married his third wife,

Hope Butler Elsie Hopestill "Hope" Butler Wilson (August 18, 1893 – January 26, 1984) was an American ambulance driver and canteen operator in France and Serbia during World War I. She organized a unit of women volunteer ambulance drivers with Marguerite St ...

of New York City, in 1925. Wilson died in

New Haven, Connecticut New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,02 ...

, on December 31, 1946.

Works by Huntington Wilson

''Stultitia: A Nightmare and an Awakening - In Four Discussions''
(1914)
''The Peril of Hifalutin''
(1918) *''Money and the Price Level'' (1932) *''Memoirs of an Ex-Diplomat'' (1945)

References

* "F.M.H. Wilson Dies; Former Diplomat", ''New York Times'', Jan. 1, 1947 {{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, Hungtington 1875 births 1947 deaths United States Assistant Secretaries of State Yale University alumni Ambassadors of the United States to Argentina 20th-century American diplomats