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Xerox University Microfilms 300 North Zeeb Road Ann Arbor, Michigan 48106 75-3086 HARTIG, Thomas Henry, 1946- ROBERT LANSING; AN INTERPRETIVE BIOGRAPHY. The Ohio State University, Ph.D., 1974 History, modem University Microfilms, A XEROX Company, Ann Arbor, Michigan © 1974 THOMAS HENRY HARTIG ALL RIGHTS RESERVED THIS DISSERTATION HAS BEEN MICROFILMED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED. ROBERT LANSING; AN INTERPRETIVE BIOGRAPHY DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Thomas Henry Hartig, B.A. The Ohio State University 1974 Reading Committee: Approved By Professor Marvin R. Zahniser Professor Arthur E. Adams Professor Alfred E, Eckes . Adviser y Department of ^istory ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The major source of information concerning Robert Lansing's personal beliefs and career rests in the subject's private papers at the Library of Congress and Princeton University Library. The Private Memoranda Books of the first collection are a well known source, but much sub­ stantive material may be acquired by patient reading of the bound correspondence. The Princeton collection is a small but important source especially in terms of Lansing's cor­ respondence for the period after 1918. While at the Division of Manuscripts, Library of Congress, I received invaluable assistance from Ruth S. Nicholson, Charles F. Cooney, and especially Marilyn K. Parr. My research at Princeton was encouraged by Alexander P. Clark, Curator of Manuscripts, and by Mrs. Lynn A. B. Fremuth. I conducted pertinent investigations at the National Archives, the Sterling Memorial Library of Yale University, and the Newberry Library of Chicago, Where these institutions proved unable to help me in my quest, I soon learned to rely upon Clara Goldslager. Director of Interlibrary Loan at the William 0. Thompson Memorial Library, and upon the Center for Research Libraries at Chicago. Individually they proved able to secure the most obscure volume of forgotten lore. Special acknowledgment must be extended to J. Richard Phillips and Robert F. Gross, the Archivist and Registrar of Amherst College, for their assistance in researching Lansing's education; to Miss Myrtle E. Teffeau, Librarian, General Learning Corporation, for information on the textbook Govern­ ment by Robert Lansing and Gary M. Jones; and to Mrs, Jane Ott for undertaking the final typing of the dissertation. Criticisms and suggestions at various stages of this project were made by Professors Arthur E, Adams and Alfred E, Eckes. To these men a special debt is owed as well as to Professor Michael J, J, Smith of Alma College for his criticism of the section on Wilsonian East Asian Policy; to Professor Richard W, Turk of Allegheny College for his insights into German activities in the Caribbean Sea; and to Professor Burton F, Beers of North Carolina State University at Raleigh for copies of his interviews with members of Lansing's family and for advice on the initial direction the dissertation might take. The advice, criticisms, and motivation which I received from these individuals cannot, however, compare with that ex­ tended to me by my adviser. Professor Marvin R, Zahniser, and by my wife, Jeannie. To the form.er I owe the greatest debt, to the latter I dedicate this history. Personal Data; Born; February 23, 1946, Detroit, Michigan Married gjluç^t.iOh : Dearborn High School, Dearborn, Michigan, 1964 B.A, Alma College, Alma, Michigan, 196 8 Ph.D. The Ohio State University, 1974 Experience : Teaching Associate, Department of History, The Ohio State University, 1969-1974 Foreign Languages : French Spanish German Fields Of Study : United States Foreign Policy Professor Marvin R. Zahniser (Adviser) United States Social and Economic History Professor Mary E, Young Nineteenth Century Europe Professor Carole R. Rogel Latin America Under the Republics Professor Donald B. Cooper "Robert Lansing and East Asian-American Relations : A Study In Motivation." Michigan Academician. 1974. (Forthcoming) Credentials on File : Placement Office Colleges of the Arts and Sciences The Ohio State University Columbus, Ohio 43210 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. .......................................... ii VITA .......................................................... iv INTRODUCTION................... , 1 Chapter I. LANSING OF WATERTOm .................... 10 Ancestry and Background; Public Service; Mayoral Race of 1902; The Watertown Dilemma II. APPRENTICESHIP AND APPOINTMENT. ............ 56 Practical Apprenticeship, 1892- 1914; Political Appointment to the Department of State, 1912- 1914 III. SOVEREIGNTY; VENTURES INTO POLITICAL THEORY. 95 Ideas on Sovereignty to 1910; Notes on Sovereigntv: Summary and Analysis IV. ANTI-IMPERIAL EXPANSIONIST; LANSING'S CON­ CEPTION OF AMERICAN FOREIGN POLICY............... 112 Introduction; "Our New Foreign Policy," 1902; Analysis of For­ eign Policy Beliefs ; Anti-Impe­ rial Expansionist V. LANSING OF STATE................................... 138 Counselorship; Lansing's Luck; Appointment as Secretary of State; The Department of State and Sec­ retary Lansing VI. THE GERMAN CONSPIRACY; INHUMANE WARFARE AND INTRIGUES ......................................... 167 Introduction; Lansing's Reaction to Inhumane Warfare; German Secret Activities VII. THE GERMAN CONSPIRACY; THE SUBMARINE CRISIS OF 1 9 1 5 ..................................... 188 Introduction; The United States and the German War Zone Proclamation; Interpretation: The Doctrine of Belligerent Necessity; The Submarine Crisis, March-May, 1915 VOLTÇ-FACE: THE INEVITABLE DECISION AND ITS RAMIFICATIONS ................................. The Inevitable Decision; East Asian-American Relations LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN . Secret Investigations of German Activities; The Danish West Indies; Mexican-American Relations; The Caribbean POST-WAR DECADE ................. .. Introduction; The Wilson-Lansing Relationship; Post-War International Relations and the Paris Peace Con­ ference; Lansing's Senate Testimony and the Bullitt Affair; Wilson's Illness and Lansing's Resignation CONCLUSION 326 APPENDIXES . 333 Appendix A: Geneological Tables Appendix B: Lansing's Health Appendix C: Principal Questions of Lansing' combency 344 SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY. 434 INTRODUCTION Nature never intended Mr. Lansing to be a leader of men, to fight for a great cause, or to engage in physical or intellectual combat. His life has been too soft for that, and his is naturally indolent. He is, to use a word so often misapplied, a gentleman, and his motto is Noblesse oblige. — Anonymous [Clinton W. Gilbert], The Mirrors of Washington (1921) Mr. Lansing's mediocrity happily does not matter, since for all practical purposes the President is his own very admirable Secretary of State. — The Outlook (1918) The country has never quite appreciated Lansing. No other Secretary of State had so difficult a task. The country owes Lansing much and some day I hope appreciation may be shown for his service dur­ ing the perilious days of the Great War. — Colonel Edward Mandell House (1928) My critics do not place themselves in the position that I was at the time. ; I wish I could make my countrymen see my position. — Robert Lansing (1921) No reputable historian would deny that Robert Lansing deserves consideration in any narrative or analysis of the United States' foreign relations during the Great War. As one of the nation's recognized authorities on the subject of international law he was designated in March of 1914 to re­ place retiring John Bassett Moore as Counselor for the De­ partment of State in order