John B. Stetson Jr.

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John B. Stetson Jr.
United States Minister to Poland
In office
August 29, 1925 – August 29, 1929
PresidentCalvin Coolidge
Herbert Hoover
Preceded byAlfred J. Pearson
Succeeded byJohn Willys (as Ambassador)
Personal details
Born(1884-10-14)October 14, 1884
Elkins Park
, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Spouse
Ruby F. Carlisle
​
(m. 1906)​
Children4
Parent
EducationHarvard University (AB)
ProfessionBusinessman
Military service
Allegiance United States
Branch/service United States Army
 United States Marine Corps
Years of service1917–20; 1942–45
RankColonel
UnitPersian Gulf Command
Battles/warsWorld War I
World War II

John Batterson Stetson Jr. (October 14, 1884 – November 15, 1952) was an American diplomat and businessman. The son of

United States Minister to Poland
from 1925 to 1929.

Early life and education

The son of famed hatmaker

John Batterson Stetson,[1] John Stetson Jr. was born on October 14, 1884, in Philadelphia.[2] He studied at William Penn Charter School, and later at Harvard University,[3] graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in 1907, one year behind his original graduating class, due to illness.[2]

Career

As his father's scion, Stetson Jr. took up a position as a director of the John B. Stetson Company; he also served on the board of trustees for his (and his father's) eponymous university, Stetson University.[4] His own ventures, however, were not so profitable: though he bought himself a seat on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in 1930,[5] his company was banned from trading three years later,[6] soon went bankrupt and into receivership; he ultimately bought it out in 1936,[7] and later disposed of his NYSE seat.[3]

Before

Second World War, first joining the United States Marine Corps as a major in 1942,[8] before being transferred back to the army in 1943; towards the end of the war, he served as a colonel in the Persian Gulf Command.[2]

As a trustee of the university that had been named for his father, Stetson had a great interest in the history of Florida, using his money and influence to attract historians and purchase collections;[9] he also organized the Florida State Historical Society and later became an officer of the Florida Historical Society.[4]

Like his near-contemporaries

Des destinées de l'ame, bound in human skin, at Harvard's Houghton Library.[14] After his death, it was given to Harvard by his widow in 1954; and, as of 2014, it remains the only book in the Houghton collection that is so bound.[15]

Minister to Poland

In 1924, Stetson was first considered to become the

United States Minister to Finland during the Coolidge administration;[16] going so far as to return home, in late May, to discuss the matter with Secretary of State Frank B. Kellogg.[17]

Ultimately, however, Stetson acceded to his predecessor,

United States Minister to Poland from August 29, 1925,[19] to August 29, 1929, exactly four years. In the aftermath of World War I, he adjudged Marshal Józef Piłsudski's government as good for America, in economic terms; and American business was more than happy to respond to the Polish need for capital and investment.[20] Still, one of his first official acts was to ask foreign minister August Zaleski to reduce the censorship of the press in the country.[21] In 1927, he toured the country, by plane and automobile;[22] and also donated his own funds to aid those suffering from flooding in Poland.[23] After leaving the diplomatic corps, Stetson criticized isolationism, especially in the matter of foreign loans.[24]

In 1981, alongside Hugh S. Gibson and Anthony Joseph Drexel Biddle Jr., Stetson was considered perhaps one of the few diplomats to have "understood and sympathized with Poland's strategic dilemma" during that time.[25]

Personal life

Stetson married Ruby F. Carlisle in June 1907.

National Guardsman who also predeceased his father, in 1944.[27]

Stetson also contributed, inadvertently, to an exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History in 1921: a chunk of limestone, 40 pounds (18 kg), still in the shape of a Stetson hat; the result of an impulsive throw twenty years before into Fossil Creek.[28]

Stetson died in his sleep in November 1952, at his home in Elkins Park, Pennsylvania.[3]

References

  1. ISSN 0040-781X
    . Retrieved October 31, 2020.
  2. ^ a b c d e Shipton, Clifford K. (April 1953). "John Batterson Stetson, Jr" (PDF). Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society. 63 (1): 18–20.
  3. ^
    ISSN 0362-4331
    . Retrieved November 1, 2020.
  4. ^
    JSTOR 30138899
    .
  5. ISSN 0362-4331
    . Retrieved November 1, 2020.
  6. ISSN 0362-4331
    . Retrieved November 1, 2020.
  7. ISSN 0362-4331
    . Retrieved November 1, 2020.
  8. ^
    ISSN 0362-4331
    . Retrieved November 1, 2020.
  9. JSTOR 30139911
    .
  10. S2CID 128326650
    – via JSTOR.
  11. ISSN 0362-4331
    . Retrieved November 1, 2020.
  12. ISSN 0362-4331
    . Retrieved November 1, 2020.
  13. ^ Cole, Heather (June 4, 2014). "The science of anthropodermic binding". Houghton Library Blog. Archived from the original on November 1, 2020. Retrieved November 1, 2020.
  14. JSTOR 24517831
    – via JSTOR.
  15. ^ Cole, Heather (May 24, 2013). "Bound in human skin". Houghton Library Blog. Archived from the original on November 1, 2020. Retrieved November 1, 2020.
  16. ISSN 0362-4331
    . Retrieved November 1, 2020.
  17. ISSN 0362-4331
    . Retrieved November 1, 2020.
  18. ISSN 0362-4331
    . Retrieved November 1, 2020.
  19. ISSN 0362-4331
    . Retrieved November 1, 2020.
  20. JSTOR 3638939
    .
  21. ISSN 0362-4331
    . Retrieved November 1, 2020.
  22. ISSN 0362-4331
    . Retrieved November 1, 2020.
  23. ISSN 0362-4331
    . Retrieved November 1, 2020.
  24. ISSN 0362-4331
    . Retrieved November 1, 2020.
  25. JSTOR 20148075
    .
  26. ^ "Vital Statistics: Engagements". The Delta Upsilon Quarterly. Vol. XXV, no. 3. Delta Upsilon Fraternity. May 15, 1907. p. 273. Retrieved November 1, 2020.
  27. ISSN 0362-4331
    . Retrieved November 1, 2020.
  28. ISSN 0362-4331
    . Retrieved November 1, 2020.

External links
Diplomatic posts
Preceded by
United States Minister to Poland

1925–1929 		Succeeded byas Ambassador
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