Walter Hines Page | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Page in 1917 | |
| United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom | |
| In office May 30, 1913 – October 3, 1918 | |
| President | Woodrow Wilson |
| Preceded by | Whitelaw Reid |
| Succeeded by | John W. Davis |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1855-08-15)August 15, 1855 Cary, North Carolina, U.S. |
| Died | December 21, 1918(1918-12-21) (aged 63) |
| Party | Democratic |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 4, includingArthur |
| Parent | Frank Page |
| Relatives | Robert N. Page (brother),Frank Page (brother),Logan Waller Page (cousin) |
| Education | Duke University Randolph-Macon College (BA) Johns Hopkins University |
Walter Hines Page (August 15, 1855 – December 21, 1918) was an American journalist, publisher, and diplomat. He was theUnited Statesambassador to Great Britain duringWorld War I. After World War I broke out in 1914 Page was so enthusiastically in favor of Britain during the period of American neutrality (before April 1917) that Wilson and other top officials increasingly discounted his views.[1] Page was instrumental in negotiating the sale of American war materials, including munitions, food and supplies, to the British, helping to ensure that it had the resources it needed to continue the fight against Germany.
Page made important contributions to the fields of journalism and literature. He founded theState Chronicle, a newspaper inRaleigh, North Carolina, and worked with other leaders to gain legislative approval for what is now known asNorth Carolina State University, which was established as aland-grant college in 1885. He worked on several newspapers, including theNew York World andEvening Post, served as the editor of theAtlantic Monthly for a year between 1895 and 1896, and he also played a major role in establishingDoubleday, Page & Company, a prominent publishing house that produced the works of numerous well-known authors such asRudyard Kipling. In addition Page was a literary critic who actively promoted the works of Southern writers, and he played a crucial part in shaping the development of Southern literature.
Page was born inCary, North Carolina to fatherAllison Francis "Frank" Page and his wife, Catherine Frances Raboteau. His father built thePage-Walker Hotel about 1868.[2] Walter started undergraduate studies at Trinity College (nowDuke University), completed his bachelor's atRandolph-Macon College, and started a master's atJohns Hopkins University.[3] His studies complete, he taught for a time inLouisville, Kentucky.[4]
On November 15, 1880, Page married Willa Alice Wilson. They had three sons and a daughter, including Ralph Walter Page,Arthur Wilson Page, Frank Copeland Page, and Katherine Alice Page Loring.[citation needed] His cousin wasLogan Waller Page.[5]
Page began his journalism career as a writer and then editor at theSt. JosephGazette in Missouri. (The St. JosephGazette published in that town from 1845 until June 30, 1988, when its morning position was taken over by its sister paper, the St. JosephNews-Press.) After a short time at theGazette, in 1881 Page resigned to travel through theSouth, having arranged to contribute letters on southern sociological conditions to theNew York World, theSpringfield Republican of Massachusetts, and theBoston Post. He intended these letters to educate both the North and the South in a fuller understanding of their mutual dependence. In 1882, he joined the editorial staff of the New YorkWorld; among his major work was a series of articles onMormonism, the result of personal investigation inUtah.[4]
Later in 1882, Page went toRaleigh, North Carolina, where he founded theState Chronicle.[4] Two years later, he was a founding member of the Watauga Club, along with Arthur Winslow and William Joseph Peele. Together, they petitioned theNorth Carolina General Assembly early in 1885 to create an institution forindustrial education for "wood-work, mining, metallurgy, practical agriculture" and similar fields; establishing what is nowNorth Carolina State University, aland-grant college, which could receive federal funds.
Page returned to New York in 1883 and for four years was on the staff of theEvening Post. From 1887 to 1895, he was manager and, after 1890, editor ofThe Forum, a monthly magazine. From 1895 to 1900, he was literary adviser toHoughton, Mifflin and Company, and for most of the same period editor of theAtlantic Monthly (1896–99).[4]
From 1900 to 1913, Page was partner and vice president ofDoubleday, Page & Co.; when he joinedFrank Nelson Doubleday as a partner, the company's name was changed to include his. He also was editor ofWorld's Work magazine. Doubleday, Page & Co. became one of the great book publishing companies of the 20th century. The company sometimes published under the name "Country Life Press" inGarden City, New York, where Page resided in the years prior to World War I. Among the great writers it published in its early years wasRudyard Kipling.[6] In 1986, it was acquired byBertelsmann AG.
Page believed that a free and open education was fundamental to democracy. In 1902, he publishedThe Rebuilding of Old Commonwealths, which emphasized that. He felt that nothing (class, economic means, race, or religion) should be a barrier to education.
In March 1913, Page was appointed United States ambassador toGreat Britain by PresidentWoodrow Wilson.[4] In August 1915, Page's daughter, Katharine, wed Boston-based architectCharles Greely Loring in a ceremony atSt James's Palace in London.[7]
Page was one of the key figures involved in bringing the United States intoWorld War I on the Allied side. A proudSoutherner,[8] he admired his British roots and believed that the British were fighting a war for democracy. As ambassador, he defended British policies to Wilson and helped to shape a pro-Allied slant in the President and in the United States as a whole.
Page was criticized for his unabashedly pro-British stance by those who thought his priority should be defending American interests in the face of British rough handling of American shipping. He and his staff had to deal with the British claim of the right to stop and search American ships, including the examination of mail pouches; thecommercial blockade (1915); and the "blacklist,"[9] the names of American firms with whom the British forbade all financial and commercial dealings by their citizens (1916).[4]
In the fall of 1918, Page became seriously ill, forcing him to resign his post as Ambassador to theCourt of St James's. He returned to his home inPinehurst, North Carolina, where he died shortly thereafter.[10] He is buried inOld Bethesda Cemetery inAberdeen, North Carolina.[11]
In the years after his death, Page was viewed as somewhat of a villain in the eyes of many revisionist American historians.[citation needed] Examining the decision-making processes which had led the United States to enter into the First World War, many American revisionists in the 1920s depicted Page as a traitor to his country - a modern day Benedict Arnold who used his position of trust in American service to secretly aid the machinations of the British government.[citation needed]
During an era in which a significant portion of the American public had come to regard the United States' entry into the European conflict as a grave mistake, Page's pro-British inclinations, and his supposedly high degree of influence over President Wilson's thinking, exposed the ambassador to charges that he had manipulated the president into intervening on behalf of the British in 1917. Subsequent historical research has shown that Page had far less influence over Wilson's thinking than was previously suggested and he is no longer believed to have played a central role in the president's decision to go to war.[12]
| Diplomatic posts | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom 1913–1918 | Succeeded by |
