Edwin Newton Atherton (October 12, 1896 – August 31, 1944) served as a foreign service officer, Bureau of Investigation agent, private investigator, and later, appointed head of the college athletics organization, the Pacific Coast Conference in 1940.

Biography

Born in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, the son of Edwin J Atherton and Mary Agnes McCarten. Atherton studied law at

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private research university in the Georgetown (Washington, D.C.), Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789 as Georg ...

(1914) for only four months. After leaving Georgetown, he was a clerk in a bank and then entered the consular service (January 1916) where during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

he served in

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian census, the Province of ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

, followed by

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...

, and

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

. After the war, Atherton served in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, then resigned from consular duties, March 13, 1925, and served the Department of Justice from 1925 to 1927. He served in New York, Boston, Detroit, Los Angeles and headed the Department of Justice office in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

. His service in the BOI (later

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, t ...

) was notable for his having worked on the 1924 capture of a neo-revolutionary army of Mexican nationals under the leadership of General

Enrique Estrada Enrique Estrada Reynoso (1890–1942) was a Mexican General, politician, and Secretariat of National Defense (Mexico), Secretary of National Defense. Born in Moyahua, Zacatecas in 1890. His parents were José Camilo Estrada Haro and Micaela Reyno ...

at Engineer Springs on the California border. He resigned from the BOI in 1927 and started a private investigating firm in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

with another former special agent, Joseph Dunn, called Atherton and Dunn. Atherton's firm was hired to investigate police graft and corruption and wrote the so-called "Atherton Report" on police corruption in the San Francisco Police Department in the late 1930s. He was paid $40,000 to thoroughly investigate the Pacific Coast Conference in 1938. After two years and the submission of his extensive two-million-word report, he was immediately appointed to be High Commissioner of the Pacific Coast Conference in January 1940 to carry out his recommended reforms.

Personal

He was previously married in 1924 to Elma Catheryne Atherton (née Jackson), who divorced him on grounds of cruelty in October 1941. His son Edwin Jr. was 12 years old at the time. After a month-long hospitalization for a gall bladder illness in August 1944, Atherton died at age 47 at

Santa Monica Hospital UCLA Santa Monica Medical Center is a hospital located within the city of Santa Monica, California. The hospital was founded in 1926, and is a member of the UCLA Health. The hospital is also known internationally for operating its Rape Treatment ...

Santa Monica, California Santa Monica (; Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 U.S. Census population was 93,076. Santa Monica is a popular resort town, owing t ...

. Atherton was survived by his widow, Anzonetta Atherton, whom he had married in October 1942 in Las Vegas. Anzonetta Collison (née Moore), a playwright from

Mason City, Iowa Mason City is a city and the county seat of Cerro Gordo County, Iowa, United States. The population was 27,338 in the 2020 census, a decline from 29,172 in the 2000 census. The Mason City Micropolitan Statistical Area includes all of Cerro G ...

was the widow of

Wilson Collison Wilson Collison (November 5, 1893 – May 25, 1941) was a writer and playwright. Early years Wilson Collison was the son of John B. Collison, a clerk in the City Engineer's Office, and Mary E. Gardner. Wilson Collison abandoned plans to bec ...

References

1896 births 1944 deaths Pacific Coast Conference commissioners Federal Bureau of Investigation agents History of San Francisco People from Washington, D.C. Law enforcement in the United States Legal history of the United States American anti-corruption activists People from Santa Monica, California {{US-law-enforcement-bio-stub