Lewis Douglas
47thUnited States Ambassador to the United Kingdom
In office March 25, 1947 – November 16, 1950
President	Harry S. Truman
Preceded by	W. Averell Harriman
Succeeded by	Walter Gifford
4th Director of theBureau of the Budget
In office March 7, 1933 – August 31, 1934
President	Franklin D. Roosevelt
Preceded by	Clawson Roop
Succeeded by	Daniel W. Bell
Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromArizona'sat-large district
In office March 4, 1927 – March 4, 1933
Preceded by	Carl Hayden
Succeeded by	Isabella Greenway
Personal details
Born	Lewis Williams Douglas (1894-07-02)July 2, 1894 Bisbee,Arizona, U.S.
Died	March 7, 1974(1974-03-07) (aged 79) Tucson,Arizona, U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Peggy Zinsser (1921–1974)
Children	3 (includingSharman)
Parent(s)	James Douglas Jr. Josalee Williams
Education	Amherst College (BA) Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Military service
Allegiance	United States
Branch/service	United States Army
Years of service	1917–1919
Rank	First Lieutenant
Unit	91st Infantry Division
Battles/wars	World War I
Awards	War Cross (Belgium)

Lewis Williams Douglas (July 2, 1894 – March 7, 1974) was anAmerican politician, diplomat, businessman and academic.

Douglas was the son ofJames Douglas, Jr., a mining executive employed by thePhelps Dodge Company, and his wife Josephine "Josalee" Williams Douglas. Growing up inBisbee andNacozari de García, at the age of 11 he was sent east at the insistence of his grandfather,James Douglas to attend school. He spent two years atHackley School before transferring toMontclair Academy, where he won awards for both academic success and character development, graduating in the class of 1912.^[1]

On the advice ofArthur Curtiss James, Douglas attendedAmherst College, where he joinedAlpha Delta Phi and was involved in both athletics and student government. Though he did not take his coursework seriously at first, his performance improved after taking a course in logic from the college president,Alexander Meiklejohn, and graduatedcum laude in 1916 with a degree ineconomics.^{[2]: 14–21}

After his graduation, Douglas enrolled atMassachusetts Institute of Technology, where he took courses in preparation for a career as amining engineer. When the United States joined theFirst World War, Douglas volunteered for service, receiving a commission as aSecond Lieutenant in July 1917. Initially assigned to thefield artillery, he later served as an assistant to GeneralHenry A. Greene, the commander of the91st Infantry Division and was promoted toFirst Lieutenant in the spring of 1918. Deployed to France in the summer of 1918, he served as an assistant G-3 in the operations branch of division headquarters, where he directed communications. He experienced action atSaint-Mihiel and in theMeuse-Argonne Offensive and received the BelgianCroix de Guerre for heroism.^{[2]: 22–23}

Upon his discharge in February 1919, Douglas returned toJerome, Arizona, where he renewed his acquaintance with Margaret "Peggy" Zinsser, with whom he soon fell in love. The following year he taught at Amherst (where he worked as a teaching assistant toErnest Barker andR. H. Tawney) and Hackley School. After marrying Peggy on June 18, 1921, the young couple moved to Jerome, where Lewis took a job at his father'sUnited Verde Extension mine.^{[2]: 24–32}

In the summer of 1922, Douglas agreed to run as a candidate for one of the Jerome area's seats in theArizona State House of Representatives. Though lacking political experience, his wealth, family name, and record of war service were decisive factors in his favor, as he won both a contested primary and the subsequent general election. Douglas served a single two-year term in the state legislature. A conservativeDemocrat, Douglas advocated fiscal responsibility and opposed labor legislation. He also objected to the recently signedColorado River Compact, and proposed an amendment empowering the state to tax electricity produced within its borders.^{[2]: 33–39}

Though some newspapers anticipated that he would seek election to the state senate in 1924, Douglas declined to run for any public office, pursuing a number of business ventures instead. WhenCarl Hayden, Arizona's loneCongressman, announced that he would challenge the state's incumbent junior senator,Ralph H. Cameron, in 1926, Douglas decided to enter the race to succeed Hayden. Once again benefiting from his family's wealth, name recognition and war record, and enjoying the support of the state's Democratic press, he easily bested five rivals for the Democratic nomination before defeating his Republican challenger in the general election by nearly 20,000 votes.^{[2]: 40–48}

Douglas served as Arizona's Congressman from the70th through the73rd Congress. He sat on the Committee on Irrigation and Reclamation and the Committee on Public Lands, and got along well with most of his colleagues. Though a Democrat, he often voted with Republicans and gained a reputation as a man of principle. During theGreat Depression he adhered to the economic orthodoxy of his time, arguing that low tariffs and a balanced federal budget were essential requirements for an economic recovery. Douglas was also an opponent of thebonus bill sought by unemployed veterans, and he was attacked harshly as a result of his position on it.^{[2]: 49–70}

Though he would have preferred a more conservative candidate, Douglas nonetheless loyally supportedFranklin D. Roosevelt as the Democratic Party's nominee in the1932 presidential election. In December, Douglas was invited to meet with Roosevelt inAlbany, New York, where he soon became an influential member of the president-elect's group of advisers. Though there was considerable speculation that Douglas would be offered the secretaryship ofState,Treasury, orWar, Roosevelt asked him instead to serve as Director of the Bureau of the Budget after Roosevelt's initial choice,J. Swagar Sherley, declined the post due to poor health. After Roosevelt reassured Douglas of his commitment to a balanced budget, the congressman accepted.^{[2]: 73–84}

Douglas's time as budget director proved frustrating. While he supported theEmergency Banking Act, theEconomy Act, and relief organizations such as theCivilian Conservation Corps as necessary in the economic crisis, he objected to legislation such as theAgricultural Adjustment Act, theTennessee Valley Authority Act, and theSecurities Act of 1933 as excessive governmental intervention in the economy. Fearinginflation, he opposed unsuccessfully Roosevelt's decision to take the United States off of thegold standard, and afterward allegedly stated that it marked "the end of western civilization". But the greatest point of disagreement came over the increasing amount ofdeficit spending taking place. When Douglas learned in June 1934 that Roosevelt planned to request an appropriation of $600 million on top of $2.5 billion appropriation that had already been spent, the news proved to be too much for the budget director, who informed the president of his decision to resign on August 30, 1934.^{[2]: 84–116}

Faced with a number of offers from universities and the private sector, Douglas accepted the vice-presidency of theAmerican Cyanamid Company and moved toNew York City. He also remained involved in politics, and Republican presidential nomineeAlf Landon wanted to name Douglas as his vice presidential candidate during the1936 presidential election but was dissuaded from doing so by party leaders. Nonetheless, Douglas announced publicly that he was voting for Landon, primarily as a protest against the New Deal.^{[2]: 119–29}

In August 1937, Douglas was approached bySir Edward Beatty about becoming principal ofMcGill University in Montreal, Canada. Bored with his job at American Cyanamid, Douglas accepted and was installed on January 7, 1938. Douglas would subsequently refer to his time at McGill as the happiest in his life. As principal, he struggled to address the deficit in the university budget and to counteract what he perceived as the socialist leanings within the social science faculty of the university. By reducing expenditures and soliciting private donations he succeeded in restoring McGill to financial health, and launched a public lecture series designed to promote conservative viewpoints. Yet while Douglas did modify tenure policies so as to make it easier to remove radical faculty members, he resisted efforts to restrict the free-speech of faculty, especially as debates over Canada's role in international affairs heated up in 1939.^{[2]: 131–44}

Never intending to remain long at McGill, Douglas left the post at the end of 1939 and returned to the United States. There he accepted the presidency ofMutual of New York Life Insurance Company, a financially remunerative position that allowed Douglas to continue his involvement in public issues. An internationalist, Douglas was an early member of theCommittee to Defend America by Aiding the Allies, and lobbied Roosevelt to provide more aid to Great Britain. Nonetheless, Douglas campaigned forWendell Willkie in the1940 presidential election, largely because of Roosevelt's violation of the "two-term" tradition.^{[2]: 145–59}

With America's entry into the Second World War, Douglas sought to return to public service. After a short period as deputy toAverell Harriman, the AmericanLend-Lease representative in Britain, Douglas was named deputy administrator of theWar Shipping Administration (WSA). Douglas's appointment came in response to the growing criticism of the WSA's chief administrator, AdmiralEmory S. Land, who nonetheless kept his post due to his friendship with the president. As deputy administrator, Douglas emerged as the effective head of the agency, addressing the difficult task of managing the country's shipping needs while fighting a global war. He served as deputy administrator until medical issues and growing tensions with Land led to his resignation in March 1944, after which he traveled to Europe to serve as a special adviser to GeneralLucius D. Clay on the reconstruction of German finance after the war.^{[2]: 163–237}

Beginning in 1935, Douglas would serve as a member of the Rockefeller Foundation where he maintained a position on the executive committee from 1936 to 1939. Douglas was elected to theAmerican Philosophical Society in 1942.^[3] From 1942 to 1947, Douglas served as a trustee before being appointed as the United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom in 1947.^[4]

In February 1947, Douglas was appointed as theambassador to the United Kingdom, after the untimely death of the previous appointee,O. Max Gardner. As ambassador, Douglas enjoyed an enhanced status, as the newSecretary of State,George Marshall, delegated considerable authority to his subordinates. Because of this, he played an important role in the passage and implementation of theMarshall Plan as it related to the United Kingdom, and was closely involved in coordinating the American and British response to theBerlin Blockade in 1948. In April 1949 he suffered an accident whilefly fishing that permanently damaged his left eye and restricted his involvement in official matters while he underwent a slow and incomplete recovery. Because of the damage done to his eye, Douglas wore aneyepatch over it for the rest of his life.^{[2]: 241–328} (Lewis was the inspiration for the iconic one-eyed "Hathaway man" in a noted American advertising campaign of the mid-20th century, although the actual model was BaronGeorge Wrangell.)^[5]

After resigning from the ambassadorship in 1950, Douglas returned to the United States and settled inTucson, Arizona. He was the chairman and director of theSouthern Arizona Bank and Trust Company from 1949 until 1966 and served on a number of boards and commissions, including theGeneral Motors Corporation, theCouncil on Foreign Relations, the Government Study of Foreign Economic Problems, and the President's Task Force on American Indians. Though declining further suggestions to run for public office, he remained actively involved in state and national politics. While typically endorsing Republicans, he remained a Democrat and supportedLyndon B. Johnson overBarry Goldwater in the1964 presidential election out of concerns for Goldwater's suitability for the presidency. Douglas died inTucson, Arizona, on March 7, 1974, from complications following surgery to remove an intestinal obstruction. His remains were later cremated and his ashes scattered over the hills of Jerome.^{[2]: 359–404} In 2002, he was inducted into theHall of Great Westerners of theNational Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum.^[6][7]

• Young, Herbert V. (1964).Ghosts of Cleopatra Hill: Men and Legends of Old Jerome. Jerome [AZ] Historical Society.
• United States Congress."Lewis Williams Douglas (id: D000455)".Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved on 2008-02-10
• British Educational Website

• Newspaper clippings about Lewis Williams Douglas in the20th Century Press Archives of theZBW

• 1894 births
• 1974 deaths
• 20th-century American businesspeople
• 20th-century American diplomats
• Ambassadors of the United States to the United Kingdom
• American expatriates in France
• American politicians with disabilities
• Amherst College alumni
• Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Arizona
• Directors of the Office of Management and Budget
• Eyepatch wearers
• Franklin D. Roosevelt administration personnel
• People from Bisbee, Arizona
• Military personnel from Arizona
• Democratic Party members of the Arizona House of Representatives
• Montclair Kimberley Academy alumni
• People from Jerome, Arizona
• Principals of McGill University
• Ranchers from Arizona
• Honorary Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire
• Members of the American Philosophical Society
• United States Army personnel of World War I
• 20th-century United States representatives
• 20th-century members of the Arizona State Legislature

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