Minister to Portugal
What position did Herbert Pell take in late 1930s?
Herbert Pell Herbert Claiborne Pell Jr . ( February 16 , 1884 – July 17 , 1961 ) was a United States Representative from New York , U.S . Minister to Portugal , U.S . Minister to Hungary , and a creator and member of the United Nations War Crimes Commission . A native of New York City and a member of the prominent and wealthy Lorillard and Claiborne families , Pell was educated at Connecticuts Pomfret School and attended Harvard University , Columbia University , and New York University . Originally active in politics as a Progressive , he later became a Democrat . In 1918 , Pell was elected to Congress , and he served from 1919 to 1921 . He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1920 . Pell continued to remain active in politics , and was chairman of the New York State Democratic Committee from 1921 to 1926 and a delegate to the 1924 Democratic National Convention . He served as vice chairman of the Democratic National Campaign Committee for the 1936 elections . In 1937 , Pell was appointed as Minister to Portugal , where he served from May 27 , 1937 until February 11 , 1941 , when he was appointed Minister to Hungary . In December 1941 , Pell received Hungarys declaration of war against the United States , closed the embassy and returned to the United States . He formally resigned in November 1942 . From 1942 to 1945 , Pell was the United States representative on the United Nations War Crimes Commission . Pell was recognized as an internationalist on foreign policy and a progressive despite coming from the wealthy and conservative class , which tended to be isolationist . He was the leading American seeking to build awareness of the plight of European Jews in the 1930s and 1940s and prevent the Holocaust , and was able to aid in holding the perpetrators responsible as the principal U.S . sponsor of and U.S . representative of the War Crimes Commission . Pell died in Munich , West Germany on July 17 , 1961 . His remains were cremated and scattered in the Atlantic Ocean at Beavertail in Jamestown , Rhode Island . Early life . Pell was born in New York City on February 16 , 1884 . He was the eldest son of two children born to Katherine Lorillard ( née Kernochan ) Pell ( 1858–1917 ) and Herbert Claiborne Pell ( 1853–1926 ) . His younger brother was Clarence Cecil Pell ( 1885–1964 ) . He was a great-grandson of U.S . Representative John Francis Hamtramck Claiborne , and great-great-grandnephew of William Charles Cole Claiborne and Nathaniel Herbert Claiborne . Through his mother and maternal grandparents , James Powell Kernochan and Catherine ( née Lorillard ) Kernochan , the daughter of Pierre Lorillard III , he inherited a share of the Lorillard Tobacco fortune . He was also a direct descendant of Wampage I , a Siwanoy chieftain , as reflected in a Congressional Record entry relating to his son Claiborne Pell . Pell was educated at the Pomfret School , in Connecticut . He attended Harvard University , Columbia University , and New York University , but did not complete a degree . Career . Pells political career began as a member of the Progressive committee of Orange County , New York ( 1912 to 1914 ) . He was elected as a Democrat to the Sixty-sixth Congress ( March 4 , 1919 – March 3 , 1921 ) and was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1920 to the Sixty-seventh Congress . He was chairman of the Democratic State committee from 1921 to 1926 and a delegate to the 1924 Democratic National Convention . Pell was an occasional lecturer at Columbia University , Harvard University , and other colleges and universities . He also served on the advisory committee of Yenching University , later merged with Peking University . In 1936 was vice chairman of the Democratic National Campaign Committee . Pell was appointed as Minister to Portugal , where he served from May 27 , 1937 until February 11 , 1941 , when he was appointed Minister to Hungary . He was serving in Budapest on December 13 , 1941 when he received the Hungarian declaration of war against the United States . He closed the legation in Budapest , returned to the U.S . on January 16 , 1942 and submitted his resignation on November 30 , 1942 . He was United States representative on the United Nations War Crimes Commission from August 1943 to January 1945 . Personal life . In November 1915 , he married Matilda Bigelow ( 1895-1972 ) , daughter of Nelson Pendleton Bigelow . Before their divorce in March 1927 , they were the parents of : - Claiborne de Borda Pell ( 1918–2009 ) , a U.S . Senator from Rhode Island who served for 36 years from 1961 until 1997 . In June 1927 , Matilda married Hugo W . Koehler ( 1886-1941 ) , a commander in the United States Navy who served as a naval and State Department special agent in Russia during its civil war in 1920 . Two weeks later in Paris , Pell married Olive Bigelow Pell ( 1886-1980 ) , the portraitist . Olive Bigelow was the daughter of Poultney Bigelow ( 1855-1954 ) and granddaughter of John Bigelow ( 1817–1911 ) , the U.S . Ambassador to France under Presidents Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson . Pell died on July 17 , 1961 in Munich , West Germany at the age of 77 , while touring Europe with his grandson , Herbert Pell III . His funeral was held at Trinity Church in Newport , Rhode Island where there is a memorial plaque in his honor . His ashes were committed to the ocean off Beavertail in Jamestown , Rhode Island . Descendants . Pell was the great-grandfather of Herbert Claiborne Pell IV ( b . 1981 ) , a candidate for Governor of Rhode Island , who married two-time Olympic medalist Michelle Kwan ( b . 1980 ) . Honors and commemorations . The Herbert Pell Cup in yachting is named for Pell . References . - Notes - Sources - Herbert Claiborne Pell , Preparing for the Next War , American Mercury , v . 23 , no.92 ( August 1931 ) 455-463 . - Baker , Leonard . Brahmin in Revolt ; A Biography of Herbert C . Pell . Garden City , N.Y. : Doubleday , 1972 . - Blayney , Michael S . Diplomat and Humanist : The Diplomatic Career of Herbert Claiborne Pell . Ph.D . dissertation , Washington State University , 1973 . - Cox , Graham B . Seeking Justice for the Holocaust : Herbert C . Pell , Franklin D . Roosevelt , and the Limits of International Law . University of Oklahoma Press , 2019 .