Joseph Choate
Joseph Hodges Choate (born January 24, 1832 in Salem , Massachusetts , United States , † May 14, 1917 in New York City , New York ) was an American lawyer and diplomat .
life and career
Choate was born one of five siblings into a family of academics. His brother George was a well-known psychologist , his brother William was a federal judge , and his father's cousin Rufus Choate worked as a lawyer .
After graduating from Harvard College in 1852 and from Harvard Law School in 1854, he worked first in Massachusetts and from 1856 in New York, where he joined the law firm of Scudder & Carter. He quickly achieved success and was a junior partner at his own law firm Evarts, Southmayd & Choate by 1860, whose senior partner was William M. Evarts . Successor Evarts, Choate & Beaman has been a premier law firm in the city and throughout the United States for many years, operating nationally rather than locally.
On October 16, 1861, he married Caroline Dutcher Sterling, with whom he was married until his death. Their daughter Mabel Choate emerged from the marriage.
Choate negotiated many now famous cases of the US legal history, including the Testament disputes over the assets of Samuel J. Tilden and Alexander Turney Stewart who Prohibition suit in Kansas , the Chinese Exclusion Act and the Income Tax Suit known case Pollock v. Farmers' Loan & Trust Co. In 1871 he became a member of the New York Committee of the 70 , which played a crucial role in uncovering the embezzlement system of William Tweed and prosecuting those involved. Choate has also served as President of the American Bar Association , the New York State Bar Association, and the New York City Bar Association . In the renegotiation of the Fitz-John Porter case , he was able to have the original judgment reversed in the first trial. Choate was particularly known for his cross-examination .
Politically, he was connected to the Republicans and from 1856 gave regular speeches at presidential election campaigns. However, he never took on a political office himself, although he ran against Thomas C. Platt in the Senate elections in 1897 . In 1894 he was a member of the New York State Constituent Assembly .
On March 19, 1899, he was appointed Ambassador of the United States to the United Kingdom by then US President William McKinley as the successor to John Hay . He fulfilled this function until May 23, 1905. In the United Kingdom he achieved great popularity and contributed greatly to strengthening relations between the two states.
In 1900 Choate was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and in 1906 to the American Philosophical Society . To him in 1901 an honorary doctorate as Doctor of Laws (LL.D.) of Yale University awarded. In 1907 he was one of the official representatives of the United States at the second Hague Peace Conference .
At the outbreak of the First World War , he passionately supported the goals of the Triple Entente and sharply criticized Woodrow Wilson's hesitation , but withdrew this criticism shortly before his death. In 1917 he was chairman of the New York mayors' committee to entertain the British and French delegations. The physical exertion affecting him in this context led to a heart attack , to which he succumbed in May 1917.
His Stanford White designed summer residence Naumkeag in Stockbridge (Massachusetts) is now operated as a museum by the Trustees of Reservations and is open to the public.
Own publications (selection)
- Joseph Hodges Choate: Abraham Lincoln, and other addresses in England . The Century Co., New York 1910, OCLC 2669964 .
- Joseph Hodges Choate: American Addresses . The Century Co., New York 1911, ISBN 978-0-8369-1400-9 .
literature
- Choate, Joseph Hodges . In: Encyclopædia Britannica . 11th edition. tape 6 : Châtelet - Constantine . London 1910, p. 258 (English, full text [ Wikisource ]).
- Joseph Hodges Choate: The Choate story book . with a biographical sketch of Hon. Joseph H. Choate. Cameron, Blake, New York 1903, OCLC 60732730 .
- Edward Sandford Martin: The life of Joseph Hodges Choate . as gathered chiefly from his letters. C. Scribner's Sons, New York 1920, OCLC 36539246 .
Web links
- Literature by and about Joseph Choate in the WorldCat bibliographic database
- Entry on the homepage of the Office of the Historian of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Individual evidence
- ↑ Joseph H. Choate, 80, Married 50 Years. (PDF) In: The New York Times . October 16, 1911, accessed April 2, 2014 .
- ↑ Chiefs of Mission for United Kingdom on the site of the Office of the Historian of the US State Department
- ↑ Member History: Joseph H. Choate. American Philosophical Society, accessed June 18, 2018 .
- ↑ United States . In: The Times . No. 36594 , October 24, 1901, p. 3 .
- ↑ Joseph Hodges Choate dies suddenly. (PDF) In: The New York Times . May 15, 1917, accessed April 2, 2014 .
| predecessor | Office | successor |
|---|---|---|
| John Hay |
United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom 1899-1905 |
Whitelaw Reid |
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Choate, Joseph |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Choate, Joseph Hodges (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American lawyer and diplomat |
| DATE OF BIRTH | January 24, 1832 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Salem , Massachusetts, United States |
| DATE OF DEATH | May 14, 1917 |
| Place of death | New York City , New York |