Willard Dickerman Straight (January 31, 1880 – December 1, 1918) was an American investment banker, publisher, reporter, diplomat and by marriage, a member of the very wealthy

Whitney family The Whitney family is an American family notable for their business enterprises, social prominence, wealth and philanthropy, founded by John Whitney (1592–1673), who came from London, England to Watertown, Massachusetts in 1635. The historic fa ...

. He was a promoter of Chinese arts and investments, and a major supporter of liberal causes.

Early life

Straight was born on January 31, 1880, in Oswego, New York, the son of two Yankee missionaries to China and Japan,

Henry H. Straight Henry Harrison Straight (July 20, 1846 – November 17, 1886) was an American geologist, professor, second president of Peru State College, and the father of investment banker and diplomat Willard Dickerman Straight. Early life Henry Harrison S ...

(1846-1886) and née Emma Dickerman (1850–1890). Emma was described as an artist who "loved poetry, pictures — beauty in all its forms — but above all else, people." His parents were faculty members at Oswego Normal School. Straight was orphaned at age ten, by the death of his father in 1886 and his mother in 1890. Willard and his sister were taken in by Dr. Elvire Ranier, one of the earliest woman physicians in the country. He attended

Bordentown Military Institute The Bordentown Military Institute was a private high school in Bordentown, New Jersey, United States, from 1881 to 1973. History The institute was created in 1881, when Reverend William Bowen (minister), William Bowen purchased the Spring Villa Fem ...

in New Jersey, and in 1897 he enrolled at

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to tea ...

in upstate New York and graduated in 1901 with a degree in architecture. At Cornell, he joined

Delta Tau Delta Delta Tau Delta () is a United States-based international Greek letter college fraternity. Delta Tau Delta was founded at Bethany College, Bethany, Virginia, (now West Virginia) in 1858. The fraternity currently has around 130 collegiate chapter ...

, edited and contributed to several publications, and helped to organize

Dragon Day Dragon Day is an annual event that occurs the Friday before spring break at Cornell University. The center of the event is the procession of a dragon, created by first-year architecture students at the Cornell University College of Architecture, ...

, an annual architecture students' event. He was also elected to the

Sphinx Head Society The Sphinx Head Society is the oldest senior honor society at Cornell University. Sphinx Head recognizes Cornell senior men and women who have demonstrated respectable strength of character on top of a dedication to leadership and service at Corn ...

, membership in which was reserved for the most respected men of the senior class.

Career

Willard Dickerman Straight in 1917 (cropped)

After graduation from Cornell, Straight was hired by the Imperial

Chinese Maritime Customs Service The Chinese Maritime Customs Service was a Chinese governmental tax collection agency and information service from its founding in 1854 until it split in 1949 into services operating in the Republic of China on Taiwan, and in the People's Repub ...

, an agency of the Chinese government. He served as secretary to

Sir Robert Hart Sir Robert Hart, 1st Baronet, (20 February 1835 – 20 September 1911) was a British diplomat and official in the Qing Chinese government, serving as the second Inspector-General of China's Imperial Maritime Custom Service (IMCS) from 1863 to ...

, the Service's head, in

Nanjing Nanjing (; , Mandarin pronunciation: ), alternately romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu province of the People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city, a megacity, and the second largest city in the East China region. T ...

. While in the Far East, he worked as a

Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency was esta ...

correspondent during the

Russo-Japanese War The Russo-Japanese War ( ja, 日露戦争, Nichiro sensō, Japanese-Russian War; russian: Ру́сско-япóнская войнá, Rússko-yapónskaya voyná) was fought between the Empire of Japan and the Russian Empire during 1904 and 1 ...

, bringing him to Korea in 1904. In June 1905, he became vice consul under

Edwin V. Morgan Edwin Vernon Morgan (February 22, 1865 – April 16, 1934) was an American diplomat.consul general in the Kingdom of Korea. In 1906, after briefly working in

Havana Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.

, Cuba, he returned to China as American

Consul-General A consul is an official representative of the government of one state in the territory of another, normally acting to assist and protect the citizens of the consul's own country, as well as to facilitate trade and friendship between the people ...

at Mukden, Manchuria. While there, he and Ms. Mary Harriman were reportedly romantically involved, but their marriage was prevented by

E. H. Harriman Edward Henry Harriman (February 20, 1848 – September 9, 1909) was an American financier and railroad executive. Early life Harriman was born on February 20, 1848, in Hempstead, New York, the son of Orlando Harriman Sr., an Episcopal clergyman ...

, her wealthy father. He then went on to work for J. P. Morgan & Co. In 1914, Willard Straight, his wife, and

Herbert Croly Herbert David Croly (January 23, 1869 – May 17, 1930) was an intellectual leader of the progressive movement as an editor, political philosopher and a co-founder of the magazine ''The New Republic'' in early twentieth-century America. His pol ...

began publication of ''

The New Republic ''The New Republic'' is an American magazine of commentary on politics, contemporary culture, and the arts. Founded in 1914 by several leaders of the progressive movement, it attempted to find a balance between "a liberalism centered in hu ...

'', a weekly political magazine that quickly became the voice of American liberalism. In 1917, they helped found '' Asia Magazine'', a prominent academic journal on China. In 1915, Straight left J.P. Morgan and went to work as a vice-president for

American International Corporation American International Corporation was an American investment trust founded in 1915 by Frank Vanderlip; Willard Straight was the key operational leader. Its board and stockholders included a wide range of leading American financiers and industrial ...

. In that same year, Straight became involved with the Preparedness Movement and attended the July 1915 Citizens' Military Training Camp in Plattsburgh, New York. When the United States entered World War I two years later, Straight joined the United States Army. He served stateside and later in France with the

Adjutant General's Corps The Adjutant General's Corps is a corps in the British Army responsible for many of its general administrative services, named for the Adjutant-General to the Forces (now the Commander Home Command). As of 2002, the AGC had a staff of 7,000 peo ...

and First Army. For his service, he was awarded the

Distinguished Service Medal Distinguished Service Medal (DSM) is a high award of a nation. Examples include: *Distinguished Service Medal (Australia) (established 1991), awarded to personnel of the Australian Defence Force for distinguished leadership in action * Distinguishe ...

and served as a major. According to Eric Rauchway, Straight favored an American version of imperialism that was a liberal effort to take political control in Asia away from Britain, Russia, Japan, and other colonial powers and to put it in the hands of those more enlightened. Believing deeply in liberal doctrines about human nature, Straight believed American imperialism was the one best hope for the oppressed peoples of the world.

Personal life

Straight was romantically involved with Ethel Roosevelt Derby, Ethel Roosevelt, daughter of U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt, according to the Gossip columnist, society pages of the times, but they broke up. He served as a trustee of Cornell University and a member of the Century Association and Knickerbocker Club. In 1911, after five years of courtship, Straight married Dorothy Payne Whitney (1887–1968), a member of the prominent

, in Geneva, Switzerland. Her father was William Collins Whitney, the Secretary of the Navy during the first Grover Cleveland, Cleveland administration, and her mother was Flora Payne, the daughter of Senator Henry B. Payne of Ohio. The Straights moved first to Beijing, then, having adjudged China too unsafe after the Xinhai Revolution, Chinese Revolution, back to the United States in 1912. Together, Willard and Dorothy had: *Whitney Willard Straight (1912–1979) *Beatrice Whitney Straight (1914–2001) *Michael Whitney Straight (1916–2004) On December 1, 1918, Straight died of pneumonia, a complication of the Spanish influenza, in Paris, where he was arranging the arrival of the American mission to the Paris Peace Conference, 1919, Paris Peace Conference. His body was buried in the Suresnes American Cemetery and Memorial, American cemetery at Suresnes, outside of Paris.

Legacy

Following the death of Straight's good friend Henry Schoellkopf in 1912, Straight donated $100,000 () to construct the Schoellkopf Memorial Hall in his honor. After his death, his wife made a substantial donation to Cornell to build the school's first student activity center, student union building, Willard Straight Hall, which was named in his honor.Cornell Big Red.com
Schoellkopf facts/history accessed 10-09-2007

References

External links

* * * Straight's papers are at Cornell University Library in Ithaca, NY. The papers are available in digital form from Cornell University
"Willard D. Straight Papers" (Cornell)Willard D. Straight in Korea
digital collection
Willard D. Straight in China (1901 - 1910)
digital collection {{DEFAULTSORT:Straight, Willard 20th-century American architects American diplomats United States Army personnel of World War I Bordentown Military Institute alumni Cornell University alumni Whitney family 1880 births 1918 deaths Deaths from the Spanish flu pandemic in France War correspondents of the Russo-Japanese War Recipients of the Distinguished Service Medal (US Army) United States Army officers Reuters people United States Army reservists The New Republic people People from Oswego, New York Deaths from pneumonia in France American military personnel killed in World War I Military personnel from New York (state) Burials in Île-de-France