Evening star., 1925-01-11
Connecticut Solon
And Wife Welcomed
By Capital Society
Senator and Mrs. Bingham,
New Arrivals, Classed
Among the More Noted
Explorers.

tt is typical of the extremes of joy
and sorrows evident in the life of
the National Capital that the new
Senator from Connecticut has been
welcomed just as the dreary process
of auctioning the household treasures
of the deceased Senator from the
same State had ended Chara cters
more divergent than the late Frank
Bosworth Brandegee and his sue
cessor can scarcely be ina gined. One
came from old New England stock,
and his career was environed by the
staid traditions of his people, and he
centered his life and its interests
amidst the scenes in which he and his
family had been born. Senator Bing-
ham writes himself as an explorer"
and he often describes himself as an
adventurer, and in the meaning of
having many romantic and thrilling
incidents he well fills the term. Not
for many years has the grave sena-
torial body boasted such a blithe and
picturesque figure as the recent
lieutenant governor of Connecticut.
Like Mr.. Brandegee, Senator Bing-
ham calls New London his home but
IL is an adopted home and was the re-
suit of his marriage in 1900 to Miss
Alfredo Mitchell, who comes of a fam
lily long rooted in the soil of that
AS much as the fact that he had been
n professor at Yale since 1915. His
family is robust Massachusetts, stock,
and his mother, who was Minerva
ClariSsa Brewster, was descendant
of the mighty elder of Mayflower
fame. His father, Rev. Hiram Bing-
ham was among those who went to
what in those days was known as
the Sandwich Islands in the early
70s. when King Kalakaua was so ia
miliar figure in this country. 1t was
in Honolulu, in late November, 1875,
that Connecticuts new Senator was
born. and there he lived until of an
age to go to college, when. following
the family tradition, he matriculated
i'll Yale. But he studied for two years
in the University of California. and
also in Harvard, and then, feeling
himself prepared for what he had
chosen as a profession, he accepted
the chair of history and politics in
Princeton. His career began just as
Woodrow Wilson's in that seat of
learning was about to terminate. But
teaching was for too prosaic a calling
70 claim his undivided attention
and the next few years find Prof. and
Mrs. Bingham penetrating the equa-
torial lands and exploring the famous
military route followed by Bolivar
when he planned his campaigns to
throw off the Spanish yoke. Eecom-
ing absorbed in Spanish-American
history and geograp ply, Mr.. Bingham
spent several years in Buenes Aires
and Rio, and then accepted the chair
of Latin American history and di-
plomacy esta bIished by Albert Shaw
at Yale.
Senator Bingham has during all
these years come to Washington on
various missions, and he and Mrs.
Bingham will begin their official
amenities with the pleasant sense of
knowing their guests quite well. The
Senator was delegate from this
country TO the first Pan-American
Congress, held In Santiago de Chile
in 1908. Elihu Root was Secretary Of
State, and it was during the prelimi-
naries leading to this epochal event
that the Connecticut scholar first
met NJ. Jusserand, and the two be-
came more than ordinarily friendly.
He had accepted a place at the ban
Quet board to honor the eminent
French diplomatist before his cleo
tion to fill the vacancy caused by
the death of Senator Brandegee was
assured
In Peru few Americans are held
in higher esteem than Hiram Bing-
ham. and when he and Mrs. Bingham
visit Lima all manner of social honor
is showered on them. The Senator
was the director of the successful
expedition sent from Yale in 190S-9
to explore the ruins of the Inca en-
pire, and which established the
identity of the last Inca capital.
Vitcos.
Mrs. Bingham comes to Washing
ton with an unique experience of So
cial life in many parts of the world
and with the reputation for tact and
poise for which the well born New
England woman is noted. Her dis
tinguished husband, with character
istic enterprise and valor, was at the
outbreak of the World War among the
first flyers to prepare to train others,
and for two years Capt. Bingham, as he
was then, lived in Miami and was an
aviation pilot, later becoming major
in command of the flying section of
the Officers Reserve Corps. Mrs.
Bingham established herself in a
pleasant villa near Miami while her
adventurous husband was on duty
there, but early in 1917 he was sent
TO Tours as chief of personnel Of the
Air Division, A. Z. F. The Connecu-
cut Senator has all sorts OF decora-
ttons and honors from the French,
British and Belgian governments.
Among the most cherished of these
is the Order of the Golden Star, be-
slowed by President Millerand In
1919 in appreciation of Gen. Bing-
hams notable service as commander
at Issoudun, the largest flying school
conducted by the allies.