Robert Lansing

Robert Lansing
42nd United States Secretary of State
In office June 24, 1915 – February 13, 1920 Acting: June 9 – 24, 1915
President	Woodrow Wilson
Preceded by	William Jennings Bryan
Succeeded by	Bainbridge Colby
3rd Counselor of the United States Department of State
In office April 1, 1914 – June 23, 1915
President	Woodrow Wilson
Preceded by	John Bassett Moore
Succeeded by	Frank Polk
Personal details
Born	(1864-10-17)October 17, 1864 Democratic
Spouse	Eleanor Foster (1890–1928)
Education	Amherst College (BA)

Robert Lansing (

Robert Lansing was born in Watertown, New York, the son of John Lansing (1832–1907) and Maria Lay (Dodge) Lansing. He graduated from Amherst College in 1886, studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1889.^[2]

From then to 1907, he was a member of the law firm of Lansing & Lansing at Watertown. An authority on international law, he served as associate counsel for the United States, during the

World War I

Lansing advocated "benevolent neutrality" at the start of World War I but shifted away from the ideal after increasing interference and violation of the rights of neutrals by Britain.^[4]

Following the sinking of the

According to John Milton Cooper, appointing Lansing and then "treating him like a clerk" would be one of Wilson's worst mistakes as president. While Wilson set foreign policy directions almost entirely on his own, Lansing resented this treatment, and attempted to undermine the president in various ways.[6] As Lansing said in his memoirs, following the Lusitania tragedy he had the "conviction that we would ultimately become the ally of Britain". According to Lester H. Woolsey, Lansing expressed his views by manipulating the work of the State Department to minimize conflict with Britain and maximize public awareness of Germany's faults.

Woolsey states:

Although the President cherished the hope that the United States would not be drawn into the war, and while this was the belief of many officials, Mr. Lansing early in July, 1915, came to the conclusion that the German ambition for world domination was the real menace of the war, particularly to democratic institutions. In order to block this German ambition, he believed that the progress of the war would eventually disclose to the American people the purposes of the German Government; that German activities in the United States and in Latin America should be carefully investigated and frustrated; that the American republics to the south should be weaned from the German influences; that friendly relations with Mexico should be maintained even to the extent of recognizing the Carranza faction; that the Danish West Indies should be acquired in order to remove the possibility of Germany's obtaining a foothold in the Caribbean by conquest of Denmark or otherwise; that the United States should enter the war if it should appear that Germany would become the victor; and that American public opinion must be awakened in preparation for this contingency. This outline of Mr. Lansing's views explains why the Lusitania dispute was not brought to the point of a break. It also explains why, though Americans were incensed at the British interference with commerce, the controversy was kept within the arena of debate.^[7]

In 1916, Lansing hired a handful of men who became the State Department's first special agents in the new Bureau of Secret Intelligence. The agents were initially used to observe the activities of the Central Powers in America and later to watch over interned German diplomats. The small group of agents hired by Lansing would eventually become the U.S. Diplomatic Security Service (DSS).

Later life

In 1919, Lansing became the nominal head of the US Commission to the

After leaving office, Lansing resumed practicing law. He died in New York City on October 30, 1928, and was buried at Brookside Cemetery in Watertown, New York.

Personal life and family

Through his father Lansing was descended from

New York State Senator Robert Lansing (1799–1878) was his grandfather; Chancellor John Lansing Jr. and State Treasurer Abraham G. Lansing were his great-granduncles.

Authorship

Lansing was associate editor of the American Journal of International Law, and with Gary M. Jones was the author of Government: Its Origin, Growth, and Form in the United States (1902). He also wrote: The

During World War II the Liberty ship SS Robert Lansing was built in Panama City, Florida, and named in his honor.^[14]

See also

• Foreign policy of the Woodrow Wilson administration

References

•  
  New International Encyclopedia
  (1st ed.). New York: Dodd, Mead.

Further reading

• Craft, Stephen G. "John Bassett Moore, Robert Lansing, and the Shandong Question." Pacific Historical Review 66.2 (1997): 231-249. Online
• Glaser, David. "1919: William Jenkins, Robert Lansing, and the Mexican Interlude." Southwestern Historical Quarterly 74.3 (1971): 337-356. Online
• Glaser, David. Robert Lansing: A Study in Statecraft (2015).
• Hannigan, Robert E. "The New World Power." (U of Pennsylvania Press, 2013. excerpt
• Hannigan, Robert E. The Great War and American Foreign Policy, 1914-24 (2016) excerpt
• Kahle, Louis G. "Robert Lansing and the Recognition of Venustiano Carranza." Hispanic American Historical Review 38.3 (1958): 353-372. Online
• Lazo, Dimitri D. "A Question of Loyalty: Robert Lansing and the Treaty of Versailles." Diplomatic History 9.1 (1985): 35-53. [ Online]
• Seymour, Charles. "War Memoirs of Robert Lansing, Secretary of State." American Historical Review 41#3 (1936), pp. 561–563. online
• Smith, Daniel M. Robert Lansing and American Neutrality, 1914-1917 (U of California Press, 1958).
• Smith, Daniel M. "Robert Lansing and the Formulation of American Neutrality Policies, 1914-1915." Mississippi Valley Historical Review 43.1 (1956): 59-81. Online^{[dead link]}
• Smith, Daniel M. "Robert Lansing." in An Uncertain Tradition: American Secretaries of State in the Twentieth Century (1961) pp: 61+.
• Williams, Joyce G. "The Resignation of Secretary of State Robert Lansing." Diplomatic History 3.3 (1979): 337-344.
• Woolsey, Lester H. "Robert Lansing's Record as Secretary of State." Current History 29.3 (1928): 384-396. online

Primary sources

• Grenville, John Ashley Soames. "The United States decision for war, 1917: Excerpts from the manuscript diary of Robert Lansing." Culture, Theory and Critique 4.1 (1960): 59-81.
• Lansing, Robert. War Memoirs of Robert Lansing (1935) online
• Lansing, Robert. The Peace Negotiations (1921) online

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Robert Lansing.

Wikisource has original works by or about:
Robert Lansing

• Robert Lansing Papers at the Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library, Princeton University
• Works by Robert Lansing at Project Gutenberg
• Works by or about Robert Lansing at Internet Archive
• U.S. Diplomatic Security - Office of Foreign Missions (OFM)
• "Lansing, Robert" . Encyclopædia Britannica (12th ed.). 1922.

Political offices
Preceded by William Jennings Bryan	U.S. Secretary of State Served under: Woodrow Wilson 1915 – 1920	Succeeded by Bainbridge Colby