Waldorf Astor, 2nd Viscount Astor

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Waldorf Astor

Waldorf Astor, 2nd Viscount Astor (born May 19, 1879 in New York City , New York , † September 30, 1952 in Taplow , Buckinghamshire ) was a British politician and newspaper publisher born in the United States .

youth

Waldorf Astor was born in New York City as a son of William Astor, 1st Viscount Astor and Mary Dahlgren Paul (1858-1894). His brother was John Jacob Astor , who later became the Baron Astor of Hever . He spent much of his life in Europe before his family settled in the UK. There he attended Eton College and New College , Oxford , where he did not excel academically, but was an excellent athlete in fencing and polo.

On an Atlantic crossing on his way home to Great Britain in 1905, he met Nancy Witcher Langhorne , a divorced American fellow traveler, whom he married in May 1906. As a wedding present, Astor's father gave him and his bride the 55.23- carat (11.046 g) Sancy diamond and the family home in Cliveden , which Nancy modernized and redecorated by installing electrical equipment. They had a good marriage that resulted in four sons and one daughter. Through his wife he gained an interest in social reform and Christian Science , to which he converted in 1924.

Career

Nancy motivated her husband to pursue a political career. Although he in his first candidacy for the House of Commons in the general election of 1910 was defeated, he won in December 1910, a choice for the Unionists in Plymouth . He kept this seat until the constituency was dissolved in 1918, after which he ran in Plymouth Sutton . Despite his party affiliation, he demonstrated independence by supporting the so-called People's Budget and the National Insurance Act of 1911 .

In 1911, JL Garvin , the editor of the Observer, approached him about buying the paper from its owner, Lord Northcliffe . The two had a falling out over Imperial Preference , and Northcliffe had given Garvin an opportunity to find a buyer for the paper. Astor convinced his father to buy the newspaper, which he did on the condition that Garvin also publish the Pall Mall Gazette , which was already owned by the Astor family. Although his father provided the capital for the purchase, Waldorf was responsible for the newspaper and developed a harmonious collaboration with Garvin. He became the formal owner of both magazines in 1915 and shortly thereafter sold the Pall Mall Gazette, but kept the Observer .

Like many representatives from his social class, Astor was recruited at the beginning of the First World War . Since he was diagnosed with a heart defect, he took on a non-combatant role fighting against inefficiency and waste in the munitions industry. When his friend, David Lloyd George , became Prime Minister of Britain in 1916 and established a new coalition government , Astor became his private parliamentary secretary. In 1918 he served as Parliamentary Secretary for the Ministry of Food and from 1919 to 1921 he was Parliamentary Secretary for the Ministry of Health. During this time he also played a crucial role in David Lloyd George's “garden suburb”.

In 1916 his father, William Waldorf Astor, was named a Viscount Astor as a peer . After his death in 1919 Waldorf Astor inherited the title and became 2nd Viscount Astor , although he actually wanted to reject the title. When he became a member of the House of Lords , he had to give up his seat in the House of Commons and therefore take on a different role in government. The seat then fell in a by-election to his wife Nancy, who was the second woman elected to the House of Commons. She was the first to take her seat after the first elected candidate, Constance Markievicz , rejected her election in accordance with party politics at the time. Nancy held the seat until the British general election in 1945 .

Later years

As his political career was dwarfed by that of his wife, Astor focused on charitable activities. He became the governor of the Peabody Trust and Guy's Hospital . He was also interested in the Royal Institute of International Affairs and was its chairman from 1935 to 1949. He was an outstanding benefactor for the city of Plymouth and was its mayor from 1939 to 1944. He took over his father's thoroughbred racing team and expanded it to win a number of races including the St. Leger Stakes in 1927.

During the German rearmament in the 1930s, the Astors advocated an alliance with Germany, which some contemporaries interpreted as indulgence towards Hitler. Many of her acquaintances expressed their sympathy for Germany after the Second World War , feared communism and supported the position of the British government. Lord Astor voiced anti-Semitic thoughts and told Thomas Jones, who worked for Maurice Hankey , in the 1930s that Germany was being criticized because newspapers were influenced by the companies that ran the most advertisements, i.e. H. often by those under Jewish leadership. Lady Astor, on the other hand, criticized the Nazis mainly for disregarding women's rights . Lord Astor's anti-Semitism was non-violent, and he protested Adolf Hitler for his attitude towards the Jews . In 1940 he urged Neville Chamberlain to resign and supported Winston Churchill as his successor. He spoke out in favor of a war against Germany, although he had difficulties with Josef Stalin as an ally .

The Astor family donated the Cliveden estate in Buckinghamshire to the National Trust .

Lord Astor died in Cliveden in 1952.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ RJQ Adams : Astor, Waldorf, second Viscount Astor , in The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography , HCG Matthew and Brian Harrison (Editor), Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2004, Volume 2, page eight hundred and first
  2. ↑ Christopher Sykes: Nancy, The Life of Lady Astor (New York: Harper & Row, 1972), pp. 79-82, 87, 146.
  3. ↑ a b Adams, op cit.
  4. ^ Alfred M. Gollin, The Observer and JL Garvin, 1908-1914 , London: Oxford University Press, 1960, pages 300-303.
  5. ↑ a b Viscount Astor, 73, Dead at Cliveden. American-Born Peer Was One of Set in 1930's That Failed to Recognize Nazi Threat. Astor One of Virginia's Langhorne Sisters. Father Had Been US Diplomat . In: New York Times , October 1, 1952. Retrieved March 21, 2010. "In 1919, on his father's death, he became the second Viscount and Baron Astor" 
  6. ↑ Sykes, op cit, pgs. 187-209
  7. ↑ A Reevaluation of Cockburn's Cliveden Set
  8. ^ Death Claims British Peer . In: Eugene Register-Guard , September 30, 1952. Retrieved March 21, 2010. 

Web links

predecessor Office successor
William Waldorf Astor Viscount Astor
1919-1952 		William Waldorf Astor
personal data
SURNAME Astor, Waldorf, 2nd Viscount Astor
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Astor, Waldorf
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British peer and politician
DATE OF BIRTH May 19, 1879
PLACE OF BIRTH New York City
DATE OF DEATH September 30, 1952
Place of death Taplow , Buckinghamshire , UK