Robert Lansing
Robert Lansing (; October 17, 1864 – October 30, 1928) was an American lawyer and diplomat who served as Counselor to the State Department at the outbreak of World War I, and then as United States Secretary of State under President Woodrow Wilson from 1915 to 1920. A conservative pro-business Democrat, he was pro-British and a strong defender of American rights at international law. He was a leading enemy of German autocracy and Russian Bolshevism. Before U.S. involvement in the war, Lansing vigorously advocated freedom of the seas and the rights of neutral nations. He later advocated U.S.  participation in World War I, negotiated the Lansing–Ishii Agreement with Japan in 1917 and was a member of the American Commission to Negotiate Peace at Paris in 1919. However, Wilson made Colonel House his chief foreign policy advisor because Lansing privately opposed much of the Versailles treaty and was skeptical of the Wilsonian principle of self-determination. Career. Robert Lansing was born in Watertown, New York, the son of John Lansing (1832–1907) and Maria Lay (Dodge) Lansing. He graduated from Amherst College in 1886, studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1889. From then until 1907 he  was a member of the law firm of Lansing & Lansing at Watertown. An authority on international law, he served as associate counsel for the United States, during the Bering Sea Arbitration from 1892–1893, as counsel for the United States Bering Sea Claims Commission in 1896–1897, as the government's lawyer before the Alaskan Boundary Tribunal in 1903, as counsel for the North Atlantic Fisheries in the Arbitration at The Hague in 1909–1910, and as agent of the United States in the American and British Arbitration in 1912–1914. In 1914 Lansing was appointed counselor to the State Department by President Woodrow  Wilson. Lansing, who had argued cases before Judge Nicholas D. Yost in Watertown, was responsible for encouraging the judge's son, future Ambassador Charles W. Yost, to join the Foreign Service. World War I. Lansing advocated "benevolent neutrality" at the start of World War I, but shifted away from the ideal after increasing interference and violation of the rights of neutrals by Great Britain. According to Lester H. Woolsey, a top aide in the State Department and later Lansing's law partner, Lansing had very strong views against Germany. He kept these to himself because Wilson disagreed. Lansing expressed his  views by manipulating the work of the State Department to minimize conflict with Britain and maximize public awareness of Germany's faults. Woolsey states:Although the President cherished the hope that the United States would not be drawn into the war, and while this was the belief of many officials, Mr. Lansing early in July, 1915, came to the conclusion that the German ambition for world domination was the real menace of the war, particularly to democratic institutions. In order to block this German ambition, he believed that the progress of the war would eventually disclose to the American people  the purposes of the German Government; that German activities in the United States and in Latin America should be carefully investigated and frustrated; that the American republics to the south should be weaned from the German influences; that friendly relations with Mexico should be maintained even to the extent of recognizing the Carranza faction; that the Danish West Indies should be acquired in order to remove the possibility of Germany's obtaining a foothold in the Caribbean by conquest of Denmark or otherwise; that the United States should enter the war if it should appear that Germany would become the  victor; and that American public opinion must be awakened in preparation for this contingency. This outline of Mr. Lansing's views explains why the Lusitania dispute was not brought to the point of a break. It also explains why, though Americans were incensed at the British interference with commerce, the controversy was kept within the arena of debate. Following the sinking of the RMS "Lusitania" on 7 May 1915 by the German submarine , Lansing backed Woodrow Wilson in issuing three notes of protest to the German government. William Jennings Bryan resigned as Secretary of State following Wilson's second note , which Bryan considered too belligerent. Lansing replaced Bryan, and said in his memoirs that following the "Lusitania" tragedy he always had the "conviction that we would ultimately become the ally of Britain". Wilson selected Lansing as secretary because he was proficient in routine work and deficient in ideas and initiative. Unlike Bryan he lacked a political base. The result was that Wilson could be—and indeed actually was—entirely free to make all major foreign policy decisions. John Milton Cooper adds that it was one of Wilson's worst mistakes as president. Wilson told Colonel House that as president he  would practically be his own Secretary of State, and "Lansing would not be troublesome by uprooting or injecting his own views." In 1916 Lansing hired a handful of men who became the State Department's first special agents in the new Bureau of Secret Intelligence. These agents were initially used to observe the activities of the Central Powers in America, and later to watch over interned German diplomats. The small group of agents hired by Lansing would eventually become the U.S. Diplomatic Security Service (DSS). Post-World War I. In 1919, Lansing became the nominal head of the US Commission  to the Paris Peace Conference. Because he did not regard the League of Nations as essential to the peace treaty, Lansing began to fall out of favor with Wilson, for whom participation in the League of Nations was a primary goal. During Wilson's stroke and illness, Lansing called the cabinet together for consultations on several occasions. In addition, he was the first cabinet member to suggest that Vice President Thomas R. Marshall assume the powers of the presidency. Displeased by Lansing's independence, Edith Wilson requested Lansing's resignation. Lansing stepped down from his post on February 12, 1920 . After leaving office, Lansing resumed practicing law. He died in New York City on October 30, 1928, and was buried at Brookside Cemetery in Watertown, New York. Personal life and family. In 1890, Lansing married Eleanor Foster, the daughter of Secretary of State John W. Foster. Eleanor's older sister Edith was the mother of John Foster Dulles, who also became Secretary of State, Allen Welsh Dulles who served as Director of Central Intelligence, and Eleanor Lansing Dulles, an economist and high level policy analyst and advisor for the State Department. New York State Senator Robert Lansing (1799–1878) was his  grandfather; Chancellor John Lansing Jr. and State Treasurer Abraham G. Lansing were his great-granduncles. Authorship. Lansing was associate editor of the "American Journal of International Law", and with Gary M. Jones was the author of "Government: Its Origin, Growth, and Form in the United States" (1902). He also wrote: "The Big Four and Others at the Peace Conference", Boston (1921) and "The Peace Negotiations: A Personal Narrative", Boston/New York (1921). Legacy and honors. During World War II the Liberty ship was built in Panama City, Florida, and named in his honor.