Robert Lansing

Robert Lansing

BIOGRAPHY

Robert Lansing

Secretary of State,

Term of Appointment: 06/24/1915 to 02/13/1920

Travels


 * Born in Watertown, New York on October 17, 1864;


 * Graduated from Amherst College in 1886;


 * Admitted to the bar in 1889 and practiced in Watertown;


 * Married Eleanor Foster in 1890;


 * Associate counsel for the United States in the Bering Sea Arbitration, 1892-1893;


 * Counsel for the Mexican and Chinese Legations in Washington, 1894-1895 and 1900-1901;


 * Counsel for the United States before the Bering Sea Claims Commission, 18961897; before the Alaskan Boundary Tribunal in 1903; in the North Atlantic Coast Fisheries Arbitration 1908-1910; and in the American and British Claims Arbitration in 1912;


 * Agent of the United States in the last-mentioned arbitration, 1913-1914;


 * Instrumental in founding the American Society of International Law in 1906 and in establishing the American Journal of International Law in 1907;


 * Counselor of the Department of State 1914-1915;


 * Secretary of State ad interim June 9-23, 1915;


 * Secretary of State in President Wilson's Cabinet and served from June 24, 1915 until February 13, 1920;


 * As Secretary of State, protested against British blockade and contraband practices;


 * Signed the Treaty of 1916 for the purchase of the Danish West Indies and the Lansing-Ishii Agreement of 1917 with Japan;


 * Practiced international law in Washington, DC;


 * Died in Washington, DC on October 30, 1928.