William Phillips (May 30, 1878 – February 23, 1968) was a career United States diplomat who served twice as an

Under Secretary of State Under Secretary of State (U/S) is a title used by senior officials of the United States Department of State who rank above the Assistant Secretaries and below the Deputy Secretary. From 1919 to 1972, the Under Secretary was the second-ranking off ...

. He was also the United States Ambassador to Canada.

Early life

Phillips was born on May 30, 1878 in

Beverly, Massachusetts Beverly is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, and a suburb of Boston. The population was 42,670 at the time of the 2020 United States Census. A resort, residential, and manufacturing community on the Massachusetts North Shore, Beverly incl ...

. His parents were John Charles Phillips, Jr. (1838–1885), who married Anna Tucker in London, England on October 23, 1874. His older brother was John Charles Phillips (1876–1938), a prominent zoologist, ornithologist and environmentalist. He had two sisters, Anna Tucker Phillips, who was married to Raynal Bolling (1877–1918) (the first American officer killed in WWI), and Martha Phillips, who was married to Andrew James Peters (1872–1938) (a U.S. Congressman and former

Mayor of Boston The mayor of Boston is the head of the municipal government in Boston, Massachusetts. Boston has a mayor–council government. Boston's mayoral elections are nonpartisan (as are all municipal elections in Boston), and elect a mayor to a four- ...

). Phillips was a member of the

Boston Brahmin The Boston Brahmins or Boston elite are members of Boston's traditional upper class. They are often associated with Harvard University; Anglicanism; and traditional Anglo-American customs and clothing. Descendants of the earliest English coloni ...

Phillips family and his ancestors included John Phillips, the first

and his great-grandfather,

Wendell Phillips Wendell Phillips (November 29, 1811 – February 2, 1884) was an American abolitionist, advocate for Native Americans, orator, and attorney. According to George Lewis Ruffin, a Black attorney, Phillips was seen by many Blacks as "the one whit ...

, the abolitionist and his grand-uncle, and Samuel Phillips, Jr., and John Phillips, founders of the

Phillips Academy ("Not for Self") la, Finis Origine Pendet ("The End Depends Upon the Beginning") Youth From Every Quarter Knowledge and Goodness , address = 180 Main Street , city = Andover , state = M ...

and

Phillips Exeter Academy (not for oneself) la, Finis Origine Pendet (The End Depends Upon the Beginning) gr, Χάριτι Θεοῦ (By the Grace of God) , location = 20 Main Street , city = Exeter, New Hampshire , zipcode ...

. He was a descendant of the Rev. George Phillips of Watertown, the progenitor of the New England Phillips family in America. He graduated from

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher ...

in 1900 and graduated from

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each class ...

in 1903.

Career

His first political job was working as a private secretary in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

to Joseph Hodges Choate, the United States Ambassador to the Court of St. James. Choate was a friend of Phillips' family and also from Massachusetts. Phillips subsequently went to work for the United States Minister to China in

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

. After his return from China, he became a member of President Theodore Roosevelt's Tennis Cabinet and thanks to his previous diplomatic experience and new friendship with TR was assigned to set up the State Department's Division of Far Eastern Affairs and was made its first chief. In 1909, he returned to work in London for Ambassador

Whitelaw Reid Whitelaw Reid (October 27, 1837 – December 15, 1912) was an American politician and newspaper editor, as well as the author of ''Ohio in the War'', a popular work of history. After assisting Horace Greeley as editor of the ''New-York Tribu ...

. In 1914, he was appointed as Assistant Secretary of State under

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese f ...

Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was an American politician and academic who served as the 28th president of the United States from 1913 to 1921. A member of the Democratic Party, Wilson served as the president of P ...

and remained in that position until 1920, when he was made the

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 th ...

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

and

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small land ...

(in residence in the Netherlands). From 1922 to 1924, he served as

. In 1924, he was appointed as Ambassador to Belgium, where he remained until 1927, when he became the first Minister to Canada, until 1929. He served as Under Secretary of State again from 1933 to 1936. Ambassadors

In 1936, he was appointed as the Ambassador to Italy, which was then led by

Benito Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (; 29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who founded and led the National Fascist Party. He was Prime Minister of Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 until his deposition in ...

, in the immediate aftermath of that country's

invasion An invasion is a military offensive in which large numbers of combatants of one geopolitical entity aggressively enter territory owned by another such entity, generally with the objective of either: conquering; liberating or re-establishing co ...

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the Er ...

. He resigned on October 6, 1941. The following year, he was made chief of the United States

Office of Strategic Services The Office of Strategic Services (OSS) was the intelligence agency of the United States during World War II. The OSS was formed as an agency of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) to coordinate espionage activities behind enemy lines for all bran ...

in London. In October 1942, Phillips was appointed as a personal representative of

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...

, serving in

India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...

. Phillips to India
Time Magazine, 1942-12-21. (The United States would not have an official mission there until the country's independence in 1947.) Phillips was said to be extremely unpopular with the British for his pro-independence views. In 1943, he was made a Special Advisor on European political matters to General Dwight D. Eisenhower, with the rank of ambassador. Phillips retired officially in 1944 but returned briefly to diplomatic life in 1945, when he was made a special assistant to Secretary of State Edward R. Stettinius, Jr. In 1946, he served on the

Anglo-American Committee on Palestine The Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry was a joint British and American committee assembled in Washington, D.C. on 4 January 1946. The committee was tasked to examine political, economic and social conditions in Mandatory Palestine and the wel ...

and opposed the British plan for partitioning the country. In 1947, he was unsuccessful in mediating a border dispute between

Siam Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...

and French Indo-China. In 1953, his memoir, ''Ventures in Diplomacy'', was published by the

Beacon Press Beacon Press is an American left-wing non-profit book publisher. Founded in 1854 by the American Unitarian Association, it is currently a department of the Unitarian Universalist Association. It is known for publishing authors such as James ...

Personal life

In 1910, Phillips married Caroline Astor Drayton (1880–1965), the daughter of Charlotte Augusta Astor (1858–1920), the eldest Sister of Titanic victim John Jacob Astor IV, and

J. Coleman Drayton James Coleman Drayton (June 4, 1852 – November 11, 1934) was an American lawyer and socialite. He is known for his marriage and eventual divorce from Charlotte Augusta Astor, which became the subject of international controversy in the 1890s. ...

(1852–1934) and a granddaughter of

William Backhouse Astor Jr. William Backhouse Astor Jr. (July 12, 1829 – April 25, 1892) was an American businessman, racehorse owner/breeder, and yachtsman who was a member of the prominent Astor family. His elder brother, financier and philanthropist John Jacob Astor II ...

(1829–1892) and Caroline Webster Schermerhorn (1830–1908). Through her father, she was a great-granddaughter of U.S. Representative William Drayton (1776–1846). Together, they were the parents of: * Beatrice Schermerhorn Phillips (1914–2003), who married Rear Adm. Elliott Bowman Strauss (1903-2003), in 1951. * William Phillips, Jr. (1916–1991), who married Barbara Holbrook (1915–1997), in 1941. * Drayton Phillips (1917–1985), who married Evelyn Gardiner in 1940. * Christopher Hallowell Phillips (1920–2008), served as United States Ambassador to Brunei from 1989 to 1991. * Anne Caroline Phillips (1922–2016), who married John Winslow Bryant (1914–1999), in 1942. Phillips died on February 23, 1968, at the age of 89.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Phillips, William 1878 births 1968 deaths Phillips family (New England) United States Under Secretaries of State Harvard College alumni Harvard Law School alumni Massachusetts lawyers People from Beverly, Massachusetts United States Assistant Secretaries of State Ambassadors of the United States to Belgium Ambassadors of the United States to Canada Ambassadors of the United States to Italy Ambassadors of the United States to Luxembourg Ambassadors of the United States to the Netherlands Woodrow Wilson administration personnel Harding administration personnel Coolidge administration personnel Hoover administration personnel Franklin D. Roosevelt administration personnel 20th-century American diplomats