Andrew Dickson White | |
|---|---|
 White in 1885 | |
| 1st President of Cornell University | |
| In office 1866–1885 | |
| Preceded by | Office established |
| Succeeded by | Charles Kendall Adams |
| 16th United States Ambassador to Germany | |
| In office June 19, 1879 (1879-06-19) – August 15, 1881 (1881-08-15) | |
| Preceded by | Bayard Taylor |
| Succeeded by | Aaron Augustus Sargent |
| 1st President of the American Historical Association | |
| In office 1884–1885 | |
| Preceded by | Office established |
| Succeeded by | George Bancroft |
| 41st United States Ambassador to Russia | |
| In office July 22, 1892 (1892-07-22) – October 1, 1894 (1894-10-01) | |
| Preceded by | Charles Emory Smith |
| Succeeded by | Clifton R. Breckinridge |
| 24th United States Ambassador to Germany | |
| In office June 12, 1897 (1897-06-12) – November 27, 1902 (1902-11-27) | |
| Preceded by | Edwin F. Uhl |
| Succeeded by | Charlemagne Tower Jr. |
| Member of theNew York Senate from the 22nd district | |
| In office 1864–1867 | |
| Preceded by | Allen Munroe |
| Succeeded by | George N. Kennedy |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1832-11-07)November 7, 1832 Homer, New York, U.S. |
| Died | November 4, 1918(1918-11-04) (aged 85) |
| Resting place | Sage Chapel,Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, U.S. 42°26′50″N76°29′05″W / 42.447307°N 76.484592°W /42.447307; -76.484592 |
| Party | Republican |
| Height | 5 ft 5 in (165 cm)[1] |
| Spouses | |
| Residence | Andrew Dickson White House |
| Education | Yale College (BA,MA) |
| Signature |  |
Andrew Dickson White (November 7, 1832 – November 4, 1918) was an American historian and educator who co-foundedCornell University, one of eightIvy League universities in theUnited States, and served as itsfirst president for nearly two decades. He was known for expanding the scope of college curricula.[2] A politician, he had served asNew York state senator and was later appointed as U.S. ambassador toGermany andRussia.
He was one of the founders of theconflict thesis, which states that science and religion have historically been in conflict, and tried to prove it over the course of approximately 800 pages in hisHistory of the Warfare of Science with Theology in Christendom.
White was born on November 7, 1832, inHomer, New York, to Clara (née Dickson) and Horace White.[3] Clara was the daughter ofAndrew Dickson, aNew York State Representative in1832 and his wife. Horace was the son of Asa White, a farmer fromMassachusetts, and his wife. Their once-successful farm was ruined by a fire when Horace was 13.[3]
Despite little formal education and struggles with poverty after his family lost their farm, Horace White became a businessman and wealthy merchant. In 1839, he opened what becameSyracuse Savings Bank inSyracuse.[4] Horace and Clara White had two children: Andrew Dickson and his brother. Andrew was baptized in 1835 at the Calvary Episcopal Church on thetown green in Homer.[5]
One of Andrew's cousins,Edwin White, became an artist of theLuminism style andHudson River School.[6] His nephew wasHorace White, governor of New York.
Beginning in the fall of 1849, White enrolled as an undergraduate at Geneva College, known today asHobart and William Smith Colleges, at the insistence of his father.[7] He was inducted as a member ofSigma Phi Society in 1850 and he served as editor of the fraternity's publication,The Flame. White remained active in the fraternity for the rest of his life, founding the Cornell chapter and serving as the national president from 1913 to 1915.[8] In his autobiography, he recalled that he had felt that his time at Geneva was "wasted" by being at the smallEpiscopalian school instead of at "one of the larger New England universities".[7] White dropped out in 1850.
After a period of estrangement, White persuaded his father to let him transfer toYale College. At Yale, White was a classmate ofDaniel Coit Gilman, who later served as the first president ofJohns Hopkins University inBaltimore. The two were members of theSkull and Bones[9] secret society and would remain close friends. They traveled together in Europe after graduation and served together on theVenezuela Boundary Commission (1895–1896). His roommate wasThomas Frederick Davies Sr., who later became the third bishop of theEpiscopal Diocese of Michigan, 1889–1905.[4] Other members of White's graduating year includedEdmund Clarence Stedman, the poet and essayist;Wayne MacVeagh,Attorney General of the United States andU.S. Ambassador to Italy; andHiram Bingham II, the missionary, collectively comprising the so-called "famous class of '53."[10] According to White, he was deeply influenced in his academic career and life by ProfessorNoah Porter (later, Yale's president), who personally instructed him in rhetoric and remained a close personal friend until Porter's death.[11]
He also served as an editor ofThe Lit., known today as theYale Literary Magazine. He belonged toLinonia, a literary and debating society.[4] As a junior, White won the Yale literary prize for the best essay, writing on the topic "The Greater Distinctions in Statesmanship;" this was a surprise as traditionally a senior was chosen for the winning essay.[4][12] Also as a junior, White joined the junior societyPsi Upsilon. In his senior year, White won the Clark Prize for Englishdisputation and the De Forest prize for public oratory, speaking on the topic "The Diplomatic History of Modern Times". Valued at $100, the De Forest prize was then the largest prize of its kind at any educational institution, American or otherwise.[13] In addition to academic pursuits, White was on the Yalecrew team, and competed in the firstHarvard–Yale Regatta in 1852.[14]
After graduation, White traveled and studied in Europe with his classmate Daniel Coit Gilman. Between 1853 and 1854, he studied at theSorbonne, theCollège de France, and theUniversity of Berlin. He also served as the translator forThomas H. Seymour, theU.S. Ambassador to Russia, following Gilman's term as translator, although he had not studiedFrench (the language of diplomacy and the Russian royal court) prior to his studies in Europe. After he returned the United States, White enrolled at Yale to earn aMA and be inducted intoPhi Beta Kappa in 1856.[15]
In October 1858, White accepted a position as a professor of History and English literature at theUniversity of Michigan, where he remained on faculty until 1863.[16] White made his lasting mark on the grounds of the university by enrolling students to plantelms along the walkways onThe Diag.[17] Between 1862 and 1863, he traveled to Europe to lobby France and Britain to assist the United States in theAmerican Civil War or at least not to aid theConfederate States.[16]
In 1863, White returned to reside inSyracuse for business reasons. In November, he was elected to theNew York State Senate on theUnion Party ticket.[18] In the Senate, White met the fellowupstate SenatorEzra Cornell, a self-taughtQuaker farmer fromIthaca who had made a modest fortune in thetelegraph industry.[19] Around then, the senators were called on to decide how best to use the higher education funding provided by theMorrill Land-Grant Colleges Act, which allocated timberland in theMidwest, which states could sell as they saw fit. Through effective management by Cornell, New York, generated about $2.5 million (equivalent to $64 million in today dollars[20]) from its allotted scrip, a greater yield per acre than any state except perhapsCalifornia.[21] The senators initially wanted to divvy the funds among the numerous small state colleges of their districts. White fervently argued that the money would be more effectively used if it endowed only one university. Ezra Cornell agreed and told White, "I have about half a million dollars more than my family will need: what is the best thing I can do with it for the State?" White immediately replied, "The best thing you can do with it is to establish or strengthen some institution of higher learning."[19] The two thus combined their efforts to form a new university.
White pressed for the university to be located on the hill in Syracuse, the current location ofSyracuse University, because of the city's transportation hub. That could help attract faculty, students, and other persons of note. However, as a young carpenter working in Syracuse, Cornell had been robbed of his wages,[22] and insisted for the university to be in his hometown ofIthaca. He proposed to donate land on his large farm on East Hill, overlooking the town andCayuga Lake. White convinced Cornell to give his name to the university "in accordance with [the] time-honored American usage" of naming universities after their largest initial benefactors.[19] On February 7, 1865, White introduced a bill "to establish the Cornell University" and, on April 27, 1865, after months of debate, GovernorReuben E. Fenton signed into law the bill endowing Cornell University as the state'sland-grant institution.In 1865, White also authored "...The Negro's Right to Citizenship - a very detailed legal, ethical and logical argument for citizenship for the Negro." A staunch abolitionist, White was also the author of "abolition of Slavery the Right of Government under the War Powers Act" as well as several other legal arguments in favor of the Negro."[23]
White became the school's first president and served as a professor in theDepartment of History. He commissioned Cornell's firstarchitecture student,William Henry Miller, to buildhis president's mansion on campus.
White was elected a member of theAmerican Philosophical Society in 1869[24] andAmerican Antiquarian Society in 1884.[25]
In 1891,Leland and Jane Stanford asked White to serve as the first president ofStanford University, which they had founded inPalo Alto, California. Although he refused, he recommended his former studentDavid Starr Jordan.
At the time of Cornell's founding, White announced that it would be "an asylum forScience—where truth shall be sought for truth's sake, not stretched or cut exactly to fit Revealed Religion."[26] Until then, most of America's private universities had been founded as religious institutions and generally were focused on theliberal arts and religious training.
In 1869, White gave a lecture on "The Battle-Fields of Science" in which he argued that history showed the negative outcomes resulting from any attempt on the part ofreligion to interfere with the progress ofscience. Over the next 30 years, he refined his analysis, expanding his case studies to include nearly every field of science over the entire history of Christianity but also narrowing his target from "religion" through "ecclesiasticism" to "dogmatic theology."
The final result was the two-volumeA History of the Warfare of Science with Theology in Christendom (1896) in which he asserted theconflict thesis of science being againstdogmatic theology. Initially less popular thanJohn William Draper'sHistory of the Conflict between Religion and Science (1874), White's book became an influential text in the 19th century on therelationship between religion and science. White's conflict thesis has been widely rejected among contemporary historians of science.[27][28][29] The warfare depiction remains a popular view among critics of religion.[30]
While at Cornell, in 1871, he took leave to serve as a Commissioner toSanto Domingo, along withBenjamin Wade andSamuel Howe, at the request of PresidentUlysses Grant to determine the feasibility of an American annexation of theDominican Republic. Their report (available here) supported the annexation, but Grant was unable to gain sufficient political support to take further action.
Later, White was appointed as the American ambassador to Germany (1879–1881). After returning to the United States, he was elected as the first president of theAmerican Historical Association (1884–1886). UpstateNew York Republicans nominated him forgovernor in 1876 and for Congress in 1886, but he did not win either primary.
Following his resignation in 1885 as Cornell's president, White served as the minister to Russia (1892–1894), president of the American delegation toThe Hague Peace Conference (1899), and again as ambassador to Germany (1897–1902).[31]
In 1904, White published hisAutobiography, which he had written while he was relaxing in Italy after his retirement from the Department of State with the change in administrations. Cornell's third president,Jacob Gould Schurman, was appointed as ambassador to Germany from 1925 to 1929.
At the onset ofWorld War I, White supported the German cause within Europe because he had strong professional and emotional ties to Germany. By the summer of 1915, he retreated from this position and refrained from offering any support either publicly or privately.[32] In the fall of 1916, PresidentWoodrow Wilson appointed White to a peace commission to prepare a treaty with China.[33] As of December 1916, White had reduced some of his obligations, resigning from theSmithsonian Board of Regents and the trustees of theCarnegie Institution.[33]
Over the course of his career, Whiteamassed a sizable book collection. His library included an extensive section onarchitecture, which then represented the largest architecture library in the United States. He donated all 4,000 books to theCornell University Library for the purpose of teaching architecture as well as the remainder of his 30,000-book collection.[34]
In 1879, White enlistedGeorge Lincoln Burr, a former undergraduate assistant for one of his seminars, to manage the rare books collection. Though Burr would later hold other positions at the university, such as Professor of History, he remained White's collaborator and head of this collection until 1922 by traveling over Europe, locating and amassing books that White wanted. In particular, he built the collections on theReformation,witchcraft, and theFrench Revolution.[35] Today, White's collection is housed primarily in the Cornell Archives and in the Andrew Dickson White Reading Room (formally known as the "President White Library of History and Political Science") at Uris Library on the Ithaca Campus. The A.D. White Reading Room was designed byWilliam Henry Miller, who had also designed White's mansion on campus.
While serving inRussia, White made the acquaintance of authorLeo Tolstoy. Tolstoy's fascination withMormonism sparked a similar interest in White, who had previously regarded the Latter-Day Saints (LDS) as a dangerouscult. Upon his return to the United States, White took advantage of Cornell's proximity to the religion's birthplace inPalmyra to amass a collection of LDS memorabilia (including many original copies of theBook of Mormon); it is unmatched by any other institution outside the church itself and its flagshipBrigham Young University.
White married twice. His first marriage, on September 27, 1857, was to Mary Amanda Outwater (February 10, 1836 – June 8, 1887), daughter of Peter Outwater and Lucia M. Phillips of Syracuse. Mary's maternal grandmother Amanda Danforth, daughter of Asa Danforth Jr. and wife of Elijah Phillips Jr., was the first white child born in what would becomeOnondaga County, New York. Her great-grandfathers included General Asa Danforth, an early pioneer of upstate New York and leader of theState Militia, as well as Elijah Philips Sr., who had responded to the alarm toLexington, Massachusetts, in 1775 and later served as the High Sheriff of Onondaga County.[19]
Andrew and Mary had three children together: Frederick Davies White, who committedsuicide in his forties in 1901[36] after a prolonged series of illnesses; Clara (White) Newbury, who died before her father; and Ruth (White) Ferry. After his wife died in 1887,[37] White went on a lecture tour and traveled in Europe with his close friend,Daniel Willard Fiske, librarian at Cornell.[19]
After three years as a widower, in 1890, White marriedHelen Magill, the daughter of Edward Magill,Swarthmore College's second president. She was the first woman in the United States to earn a Ph.D.[38] Like her husband, Helen was a social scientist and educator; the two met at a conference where she was presenting a paper. Together, Helen and Andrew had three children.
On October 26, 1918, White suffered a slight paralytic stroke following a severe illness of several days.[19] On the morning of Monday, November 4, White died at home in Ithaca.[39] Three days later, on November 7, on what would have been White's 86th birthday, White was interred atSage Chapel on the Cornell campus. The chapel was filled to capacity by faculty, trustees, and other well-wishers.[40]
White's body resides in a sarcophagus in the Memorial Room with those of other persons deemed influential in the founding and early years of the university, including co-founderEzra Cornell and benefactorJennie McGraw-Fiske. His marblesarcophagus was designed in the popularArt Nouveau style. It features crests of countries and institutions that played important roles in White's life. For example, the adjacent picture shows the crests of the two countries where White was an ambassador; thecoat of arms of Imperial Germany is on left andSaint George, a variation on thecoat of arms of Moscow, representing Russia, is on the right.
The sarcophagus was completed in 1926 by sculptorLee Oskar Lawrie (1877–1963), who also created sculptures adorning Myron Taylor Hall at Cornell. Lawrie is perhaps best known for hisAtlas statue atRockefeller Center in New York City.[41]
In his will, White left $500,000 ($10.5 million in2024) to Cornell University, in addition to the considerable sums donated to the institution earlier in his life.
In his 1904 autobiography,The Autobiography of Andrew Dickson White, White wrote:
During my life, which is now extending beyond the allotted span of threescore and ten, I have been engaged after the manner of my countrymen, in many sorts of work, have become interested in many conditions of men have joined in many efforts which I hope have been of use; but, most of all, I have been interested in the founding and maintaining of Cornell University, and by the part, I have taken in that, more than by any other work of my life I hope to be judged.
— Andrew Dickson White,The Autobiography of Andrew Dickson White (1904)
Until at least the mid-20th century, Cornell undergraduates with the surname 'White' were traditionally given the nickname 'Andy' in reference to White. Notably,E. B. White, author of the world-famous children's bookCharlotte's Web, continued to go by the nickname 'Andy' for the rest of his life after his undergraduate years at Cornell.[42]
Historian Benjamin G, Rader argues that in creating Cornell:
White championed nondenominationalism, coeducation, anelective curriculum, and academic freedom. These positions won him a lasting reputation as a pioneer in the history of higher education.[43]
According to professorGeoffrey Blodgett, White confronted a series of complex challenges in his long career:
Above all, the creation from scratch of a large, high-quality, coeducational, nonsectarian public university in the cockpit of post-Civil War, educational politics was an organizational chore of awesome subtlety for man of White's genteel background and soaring ideals."[44]
White was awarded numerous honorary degrees, including:
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Dr. Andrew D. White, first President of Cornell University, former Ambassador to Germany, and Minister to Russia, died at 8:30 o'clock this morning after a short illness following a stroke of paralysis.
{{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
"Sketch of Andrew Dickson White" inPopular Science Monthly Volume 48, February 1896
Cornell University links
Other links
| New York State Senate | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | New York State Senate 22nd District 1864–1867 | Succeeded by |
| Academic offices | ||
| Preceded by (none) | President of Cornell University 1866–1885 | Succeeded by |
| Diplomatic posts | ||
| Preceded by | United States Ambassador to Germany 1879–1881 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | United States Ambassador to Russia 1892–1894 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | United States Ambassador to Germany 1897–1902 | Succeeded by |
| Minister Plenipotentiary |  | |
|---|---|---|
| Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary | ||
| Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary | ||
 Russian Empire(1780–1917) | |
|---|---|
 Soviet Union(1933–1991) | |
| Russian Federation (1991–present) | |
