John Winant | |
|---|---|
 Winant in 1935 | |
| 45thUnited States Ambassador to the United Kingdom | |
| In office March 1, 1941 – April 10, 1946 | |
| President | Franklin D. Roosevelt Harry S. Truman |
| Preceded by | Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. |
| Succeeded by | Averell Harriman |
| Director-General of the International Labour Organization | |
| In office 1939–1941 | |
| Preceded by | Harold Butler |
| Succeeded by | Edward J. Phelan |
| Chair of theSocial Security Board | |
| In office November 16, 1936 – February 19, 1937 | |
| President | Franklin D. Roosevelt |
| Preceded by | Arthur J. Altmeyer(Acting) |
| Succeeded by | Arthur J. Altmeyer |
| In office August 23, 1935 – September 30, 1936 | |
| President | Franklin D. Roosevelt |
| Preceded by | Position established |
| Succeeded by | Arthur J. Altmeyer(Acting) |
| 60thGovernor of New Hampshire | |
| In office January 1, 1931 – January 3, 1935 | |
| Preceded by | Charles W. Tobey |
| Succeeded by | Styles Bridges |
| In office January 1, 1925 – January 6, 1927 | |
| Preceded by | Fred H. Brown |
| Succeeded by | Huntley N. Spaulding |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1889-02-23)February 23, 1889 New York City,New York, U.S. |
| Died | November 3, 1947(1947-11-03) (aged 58) Concord,New Hampshire, U.S. |
| Party | Republican |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 3 |
| Education | Princeton University |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  United States |
| Branch/service |  United States Army Air Service |
| Years of service | 1917–1919 |
| Rank | Captain |
| Commands | 8th Aero Squadron |
| Battles/wars | |
John Gilbert WinantOM (February 23, 1889 – November 3, 1947) was an Americandiplomat andpolitician with theRepublican party after a brief career as a teacher inConcord, New Hampshire.[1] John Winant held positions inNew Hampshire, national, and international politics. He was the 60thgovernor of New Hampshire from 1925 to 1927 and 1931 to 1935. Winant also served asU.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom during most ofWorld War II. Depressed by career disappointments, a failed marriage and heavy debt, he killed himself in 1947.[2]
Winant was born on the East Side, New York City, the son of Frederick and Jeanette Winant. His father was a partner in a prosperous real estate company. Winant attendedSt. Paul's School in Concord and progressed toPrinceton University, but he was a poor student, and left without graduating. He was appointed an instructor in history at St. Paul's in 1913, remaining there until 1917. He was elected to theNew Hampshire House of Representatives in 1916. In 1917, he joined theUnited States Army Air Service, trained as a pilot, and commanded the8th Aero Squadron (Observation) in France, with the rank of captain.[2]
Winant returned to his position at St. Paul's in 1919 after his military service, and was elected to theNew Hampshire Senate in 1920. He lost money in oil stocks in 1929, which he had profited from through the 1920s.
He twice served as Governor of New Hampshire: from 1925 to 1927, and from 1931 to 1935. He served his later term during theGreat Depression and responded in several ways. He oversaw an emergency credit act which allowed the state to guarantee debts of municipalities so that local governments could continue. He pushed through a minimum wage act for women and children. During the Depression, Winant fought to keep improving the state's highways while reorganizing the state banking commission and pursuing more accurate accounting of state agencies' funds. Working closely with the federal government, Winant was the first governor whose state filled its enrollment quota in theCivilian Conservation Corps.[2][3]
Subsequently, PresidentFranklin D. Roosevelt appointed Winant as first head of theSocial Security Board in 1935, a position he held until 1937.[2] At the time, it was rumored that Roosevelt appointed Winant to prevent him from running for President in 1936, but Winant never admitted to Presidential aspirations.
The next year, he was elected to head theInternational Labour Organization in Geneva, Switzerland, from January 1939. As Director-General, he was preceded byHarold Butler and succeeded byEdward J. Phelan.
In 1941, Roosevelt appointed Winant ambassador to theCourt of St. James's, and Winant remained in that post until he resigned in March 1946.[2] Winant dramatically changed the U.S. stance towards Britain compared to his predecessor,Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. Upon landing atBristol airport in March 1941, Winant announced "I'm very glad to be here. There is no place I'd rather be at this time than in England."[4]: 4–5 The remark heartened a country that had come through theBattle of Britain and was in the midst ofThe Blitz, and it was featured dramatically on the front pages of most British newspapers the next day.[4]: 5
The new ambassador quickly developed close contacts with KingGeorge VI and Prime MinisterWinston Churchill, even though the U.S. was only providing military aid and the Axis was not yet at war with the U.S.[4][5] Winant had an affair with Churchill's second daughterSarah Churchill during that time.[5]
Winant was with Churchill when Churchill learned of theattack on Pearl Harbor.[4]: 143–144
PresidentHarry S. Truman appointed Winant as the U.S. representative toUNESCO in 1946. But Winant soon retired to Concord shortly after to write his memoirs.[2] However, he found himself unable to adjust to a quieter pace of life. "Everywhere Winant turned he saw the drama in which he had participated so significantly drawing to a close."[6] Estranged from his socially ambitious wife and deeply in debt, he became profoundly depressed.[6]
Winant married Constance Rivington Russell (1899–1983) in 1919.[2][7] They had a daughter, Constance Russell Winant (1921–1978), and two sons, John Gilbert Winant Jr. (1922–1993) and Rivington Russell Winant (1925–2011).[8] The younger Constance married Carlos Valando, a Peruvian scientist, in 1941.[9]John Winant Jr. served as a bomber pilot in World War II and was taken prisoner by the Germans.[2] Sent toColditz, he was removed in April 1945 as one of theProminente to be used as a bargaining chip byHimmler and the SS as the end of the war approached; he was eventually released.[10] Rivington Winant also served in World War II and later became treasurer at the United Nations.[2][11]
Towards the end of Sarah Churchill's marriage to Vic Oliver, she began an affair with John Winant; it is believed the failure of the relationship contributed to the depression that led to Winant's suicide in 1947.[2]
Winant shot himself in the head at his Concord home on November 3, 1947, the day his bookLetter from Grosvenor Square was published.[2][12][13] The bookCitizens of London reports that after Roosevelt's death, with Winant distanced from his Republican Party base, "[h]e hoped that he was going to become secretary-general of the new UN... On top of that [disappointed hope], his affair withSarah Churchill ended badly. 'He was an exhausted, sick man after the war'," author Olson continued in the interview on NPR.[14]
Winston Churchill sent four dozen yellow roses to Winant's funeral, and the British king and queen sent their condolences by telegram.[15]
Winant was buried at Blossom Hill Cemetery in Concord; his wish to be buried in St. Paul's School's consecrated cemetery was refused by the Episcopalian rector on the grounds that suicide was a sin. However, in the more secular culture of 1968, his casket was reinterred at St Paul's.[16] His epitaph was his 1946 quote:
Doing the day's work day by day, doing a little, adding a little, broadening our bases wanting not only for ourselves but for others also, a fairer chance for all people everywhere. Forever moving forward, always remembering that it is the things of the spirit that in the end prevail. That caring counts and that where there is no vision the people perish. That hope and faith count and that without charity, there can be nothing good. That having dared to live dangerously, and in believing in the inherent goodness of man, we can stride forward into the unknown with growing confidence.[17]
In 1947, Winant was only the second (and last) American citizen, after GeneralDwight Eisenhower, to be made an honorary member of the BritishOrder of Merit. In 1943, he was awarded theFreedom of the City of Aberdeen.
In what amounted to a eulogy,The New York Times wrote of Winant two days after his death:
Here was a man who truly loved mankind and tried all his life to make the lot of his fellow-men better and happier... Governor Winant was a liberal Republican. When President Roosevelt summoned him to a larger field as head of the Social Security Board, his political opponents called him "a Republican New Dealer."[18]
In 1948, the Winant Clayton Volunteers formed in honor of Winant and theReverend Philip "Tubby" Clayton, organizer of theToc H Christian charity in the First World War. Initially, American volunteers came to London to help British families rebuild churches and community centers damaged during World War II. In 1959 the exchange was reciprocated with Winant volunteers traveling from America to England while the Claytons go from England to work in the United States.
In 1982, The Carsey Institute at the University of New Hampshire established The John G. Winant Fellowship for students interested in working in non-profit or governmental organizations.[19]
In 2009, Rivington Winant, with his wife Joan, donated 85 acres of land in Concord for the creation of Winant Park in honor of his late father and mother. The property sits on what was formerly the Winants' estate and offers the public biking, hiking and cross-country ski trails.[20] Rivington Winant said his goal was to create "something that would be useful to the people of Concord, and something my father would like."[21]
Two positions have been endowed in Winant's honor at the University of Oxford: theJohn G. Winant Lectureship in U.S. Foreign Policy and the John Gilbert Winant Visiting Professorship of American Government, which is held at Oxford'sRothermere American Institute.[22]
On June 30, 2017, a statue of Winant was unveiled outside the New Hampshire State Library in Concord. The campaign to build the statue with private funds was led by Van McLeod, longtime Commissioner of New Hampshire's Department of Cultural Resources, and the former Speaker of the New Hampshire House,Steve Shurtleff.[23]
| Party political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Republican nominee forGovernor of New Hampshire 1924 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Republican nominee forGovernor of New Hampshire 1930,1932 | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Governor of New Hampshire 1925–1927 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Governor of New Hampshire 1931–1935 | Succeeded by |
| New office | Chair of theSocial Security Board 1935–1936 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Chair of theSocial Security Board 1936–1937 | Succeeded by |
| Positions in intergovernmental organisations | ||
| Preceded by | Director-General of theInternational Labour Organization 1939–1941 | Succeeded by |
| Diplomatic posts | ||
| Preceded by | United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom 1941–1946 | Succeeded by |
| Non-profit organization positions | ||
| Preceded by | President of theNational Municipal League 1940–1946 | Succeeded by |
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