Breckinridge Long
Samuel Miller Breckinridge Long (born May 16, 1881 in St. Louis , Missouri , † September 26, 1958 in Laurel , Maryland ) was an American diplomat who was the United States Ambassador to Italy between 1933 and 1936 . During his tenure as head of the Department of Immigrant Visas in the US State Department in World War II from 1940 to 1944, he prevented the entry of countless Jews and refugees from Eastern Europe into the USA by not issuing visas . As a direct result of his stance, thousands of people lost their lives in the Holocaust .
Life
Attorney and Third Assistant Secretary of State
Long, son of William Strudwick Long and his wife Margaret Miller Breckinridge, first completed an undergraduate degree at Princeton University , which he completed in 1904 with a Bachelor of Science . After studying law at the Law School of Washington University in St. Louis from 1905 to 1906 , he was admitted to the Missouri Bar Association in 1906 and then practiced as a lawyer . In 1909 he earned a Master of Arts (MA) from Princeton University and was from 1914 to 1915 a member of the Commission for the Revision of the Judicial Procedure Codes of Missouri.
On January 29, 1917 Long was first in the US State Department called and was there to succeed William Phillips third of assistive Foreign Minister (Third Assistant Secretary of State) . He held this post until June 8, 1920, after which Van Santvoord Merle-Smith was his successor on June 24, 1920. He then resumed his practice as a lawyer and received as such a legal practice with the Washington, DC Bar Association (District of Columbia Bar) .
Ambassador to Italy, Assistant Secretary of State and Immigration Policy
Long supported the candidacy of Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt in the presidential election on November 8, 1932 . After Roosevelt took office as US President , he was appointed by the latter on April 24, 1933 to succeed John W. Garrett as Ambassador to Italy . As such, he handed over his credentials on May 31, 1933 and remained in this post until April 23, 1936, whereupon William Phillips became his successor on November 4, 1936. On his return he was a trustee of Princeton University between 1937 and 1941 and also served as special assistant to Secretary of State Cordell Hull for the war emergency from 1939 to 1940 .
On January 23, 1940, Long became Assistant Secretary of State, inter alia, head of the Immigrant Visa Division in the State Department. During his tenure, by failing to issue visas, he prevented the entry of countless Jews and refugees from Eastern Europe into the USA. As a direct result of his stance, thousands of people lost their lives in the Holocaust . It was only when President Roosevelt established the War Refugee Board that his influence on immigration policy was reduced. He served as Assistant Secretary of State until his resignation on December 15, 1944.
He was also a trustee of the Corcoran Gallery of Art and was a member of the American Academy of Political and Social Science , the American Bar Association , the American Historical Association , the Missouri Historical Society , the Phi Delta Phi Student Union , the Society of the Cincinnati as well as The Metropolitan Club .
His marriage to Christine Alexander Graham on June 1, 1912 resulted in a daughter. After his death he was buried in the Washington National Cathedral in Washington, DC.
publication
- Genesis of the Constitution of the United States of America , 1926
Web links
- Entry on the homepage of the Office of the Historian of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
- Breckinridge Long in nndb (English)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Long, Breckinridge |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Long, Samuel Miller Breckinridge (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American diplomat and lawyer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | May 16, 1881 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | St. Louis , Missouri |
| DATE OF DEATH | September 26, 1958 |
| Place of death | Laurel , Maryland |