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.