Evening star., 1940-02-10
Ex-Ambossodor Dodd's Funeral
Will Be Held Tomorrow
Privute Rites to Be
Followed by Burial
In Family Plot

Private funeral services are to be
held tomorrow for former United
States Ambassador to Germany Will
liam E. Dodd, 10, at his home at
Round Hill, Va, where he died yes
terday of pneumonia. He will be
buried in the family plot on the
estate.
A sufferer from q nervous disorder
for a number Of years, DR.. Dodd
contracted pneumonia Wednesday
and was placed under an oxygen
tent few hours later. He soon
lapsed into a coma and died at
3:10 pm.
Dr. Dodd was an historian of in
ternational reputation, with an init
mate knowledge of German language
and culture, when President Frank
lin D. Roosevelt, at the outset of his
administration in March, 1888, ap-
pointed him Ambassador to Berlin
Cordially received by President
Paul Won Hindenburg as one having
warm appreciation of the cultural
bonds between the two countries" :"
Dr. Dodd left his post in January,
1898, bitter foe of Nazi-isn, with
no word of farewell from Berlin on
cialdom. He quit the country more
unceremoniously than any other
American envoy.
He had, meanwhile, lost face in
Washington by intervening in the
1887 congressional fight against
President Roosevelt's plan for reor-
ganization of the United States
Supreme Court. Writing from Ber-
lin in April to several Senators, he
warned them of dictatorship plot
in the United States, backed by an
American Millionaire" refused to re-
veal the sources of his information
or to name the millionaire and
brought down on himself denuncia-
ton as IAN irresponsible scandal
monger' by the late Senator William
E. Borah.
Protested to Hull.
The following September, while
DR.. Dodd was on vacation in Ameri-
ca. he protested to the State Depart
ment over the acceptance by his
charge d'affairs, Prentiss Gilbert, of
an invitation to attend the Nazi
Party Congress at Nurnberg. Cordell
Hull, Secretary of State, overruled
DR., Dodd's objections. The latter,
shortly after resuming his post in
November, sent in his resignation.
Relieved of his diplomatic status,
DR.. Dodd bitterly assailed the gov
ernment to which he had been ac-
credited. He wrote and spoke in
audiences in Canada and the eastern
unbridled terms, appearing before
half of the United States. The ef-
fort, coupled with attempts to finish
multi-volumed history on the old
South, caused partial physical
breakdown after publication of one
volume.
On top of this he had the misfor-
tune. while driving an automobile on
December S, 1888 to hit and severely
injure a Negro child on a highway
near Hanover Court House. Va In
dicted the next month on charges of
''hit and run driving" he pleaded
guilty on March 2, 1889, and was
fined $3.50 and costs, the Judge ex-
planning that only the poor health of
the 69-year-old defendant saved
hirp from a Jail sentence. A medical
witness testified that Dodd was suf-
fering from hardening of the ar
teries aid showed signs of nervous
exhaustion. It also was brought out
that the former ambassador had
paid medical and hospital bills total
ing $1,10c to the child's parents.
Placid Life as Educator.
Previous to his diplomatic expe-
rience, Mr. Dodd's life had been
placid. Born at Clayton. N. c., Octo-
Der 81, 1869, scion of a family which
had been in the State since l745, he
attended Oak Ridge Institute and
was graduated from Virginia Poly
technic Institute with a B. S. degree
in 1895 and M. S. in 1897. In those
two years he was an instructor in
history.
He then spent three years at the
University of Leipzig, acquiring a
mastery of German and winning his
Phi D. degree in 1900 with a thesis
titled "Jefferson's Rueckkehr Eur
Politik." 1t proved to be the first of
a series of historical works dealing
with the Old South. Jeffersonian De-
mocracy and historical backgrounds
of the United States generally. Es-
pecially authoritative among his
books are Life of Jefferson Davis
(19OO Statesmen of the Old
South" 091D and Woodrow Wilson
and His Work" 1920. With Ray
Stannard Baker he edited THE Pub
lie Papers of Woodrow Wilson
O924-26).
Meanwhile he taught. Upon his
return from Germany in 1901 he be-
came professor of history at Ran
dolph- Macon College, remaining
there eight years. From 1909 to 1888
he was professor of American his
tory at the University of Chicago
being chairman of the history de-
partment that last six years of that
term.
Honorary LID. degrees we're con-
ferred upon him by Emory Univer-
5ity in 1920, the University of Ala
bama in 1923, the University OF
North Carolina in 1927 and the Uni
versity of Cincinnati in 1928.
DR.. Dodd was married at Auburn
N c.. December "a, 1901, to Martha
Johns of Wake County, N. G. To
them were born william Edward
Dodd. jr., and Martha Dodd.
A Jeffersonian Democrat.
DR.. Dodd's interest in affairs of the
day, as opposed to his earlier pre-
occupation with the purely his
torical, stemmed from his friendship
with Woodrow Wilson. Always
Jeffersonian Democrat, opposed to
every form and vestige Of special
privilege" and outspoken in support
of academic freedom. which he saw
&c the chief reason for existence O1