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

Whitney family The Whitney family is a prominent American family descended from non-Norman English immigrant John Whitney (1592–1673), who left London in 1635 and settled in Watertown, Massachusetts. The historic family mansion in Watertown, known as The Elm ...

. 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 Oswego () is a City (New York), city in and the county seat of Oswego County, New York, United States. The population was 16,921 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Oswego is situated at the mouth of the Oswego River (New York), Osw ...

, the son of two Yankee missionaries to China and Japan, Henry H. Straight (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 in New Jersey, and in 1897 he enrolled at

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

Ithaca, New York Ithaca () is a city in and the county seat of Tompkins County, New York, United States. Situated on the southern shore of Cayuga Lake in the Finger Lakes region of New York (state), New York, Ithaca is the largest community in the Ithaca metrop ...

, 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 chapt ...

, edited and contributed to several publications, and helped to organize Dragon Day, 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 dedication to leadership and service at Cornel ...

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

Career

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 Republ ...

, an agency of the Chinese government. He served as secretary to Sir Robert Hart, the Service's head, in

Nanjing Nanjing or Nanking is the capital of Jiangsu, a province in East China. The city, which is located in the southwestern corner of the province, has 11 districts, an administrative area of , and a population of 9,423,400. Situated in the Yang ...

. While in the Far East, he worked as a

Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide writing in 16 languages. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency ...

correspondent during the

Russo-Japanese War The Russo-Japanese War (8 February 1904 – 5 September 1905) was fought between the Russian Empire and the Empire of Japan over rival imperial ambitions in Manchuria and the Korean Empire. The major land battles of the war were fought on the ...

, bringing him to Korea in 1904. In June 1905, he became vice consul under Edwin V. Morgan, the American consul general in the Kingdom of Korea. In 1906, after briefly working in

Havana Havana (; ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.Consul-General A consul is an official representative of a government who resides in a foreign country to assist and protect citizens of the consul's country, and to promote and facilitate commercial and diplomatic relations between the two countries. A consu ...

at Mukden, Manchuria. While there, he and Ms. Mary Harriman were reportedly romantically involved, but their marriage was prevented by E. H. Harriman, her wealthy father. He then went on to work for J. P. Morgan & Co. Straight married heiress

Dorothy Payne Whitney Dorothy Payne Elmhirst ( Whitney, previously Straight; January 23, 1887 – December 14, 1968) was an United States, American-born social activist, philanthropist, publisher and a member of the prominent Whitney family. Life and work Whitney wa ...

in 1911. In 1914, Willard and Dorothy, together with

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 polit ...

, began publication of ''

The New Republic ''The New Republic'' (often abbreviated as ''TNR'') is an American magazine focused on domestic politics, news, culture, and the arts from a left-wing perspective. It publishes ten print magazines a year and a daily online platform. ''The New Y ...

'', 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. In that same year, Straight became involved with the

Preparedness Movement The Preparedness Movement was a campaign led by former Chief of Staff of the United States Army, Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army, Leonard Wood, and former President Theodore Roosevelt to strengthen the United States Armed Forces, U.S. military af ...

and attended the July 1915

Citizens' Military Training Camp Citizens' Military Training Camps (CMTC) were United States government authorized military training programs held annually each summer during the years 1921 to 1940. CMTC camps differed from National Guard and Organized Reserve training in that t ...

Plattsburgh, New York Plattsburgh is a city in and the county seat of Clinton County, New York, United States, situated on the north-western shore of Lake Champlain. The population was 19,841 at the United States Census, 2020, 2020 census. The population of the sur ...

. 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 peop ...

and First Army. For his service, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal and served as a

major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

. 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, daughter of U.S. President

Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. (October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), also known as Teddy or T.R., was the 26th president of the United States, serving from 1901 to 1909. Roosevelt previously was involved in New York (state), New York politics, incl ...

, according to the society pages of the times, but they broke up. He served as a trustee of Cornell University and a member of the

Century Association The Century Association is a private social, arts, and dining club in New York City, founded in 1847. Its clubhouse is located at 7 West 43rd Street near Fifth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan. It is primarily a club for men and women with distinctio ...

and

Knickerbocker Club The Knickerbocker Club (known informally as The Knick) is a gentlemen's club in New York City that was founded in 1871. It is considered to be the most exclusive club in the United States and one of the most Aristocracy (class), aristocratic gent ...

. In 1911, after five years of courtship, Straight married

(1887–1968), a member of the prominent

, in Geneva, Switzerland. Her father was William Collins Whitney, the

Secretary of the Navy The Secretary of the Navy (SECNAV) is a statutory officer () and the head (chief executive officer) of the Department of the Navy, a military department within the United States Department of Defense. On March 25, 2025, John Phelan was confirm ...

during the first

Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...

administration, and her mother was Flora Payne, the daughter of Senator Henry B. Payne of Ohio. The Straights moved first to

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

, then, having adjudged China too unsafe after the 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 Michael Whitney Straight (September 1, 1916 – January 4, 2004) was an American magazine publisher, novelist, patron of the arts, a member of the prominent Whitney family, and a confessed spy for the KGB. Early life Straight was born in New Yo ...

(1916–2004) On December 1, 1918, Straight died of pneumonia, a complication of the

Spanish influenza The 1918–1920 flu pandemic, also known as the Great Influenza epidemic or by the common misnomer Spanish flu, was an exceptionally deadly global influenza pandemic caused by the H1N1 subtype of the influenza A virus. The earliest docum ...

, in Paris, where he was arranging the arrival of the American mission to the Paris Peace Conference. His body was buried in the American cemetery at

Suresnes Suresnes () is a commune in the western inner suburbs of Paris, France. Located in Hauts-de-Seine, from the centre of Paris, it had a population of 49,482 as of 2020. Suresnes borders the Bois de Boulogne in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, ...

, 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 union building,

Willard Straight Hall Willard Straight Hall is the student union building on the central campus of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. It is located on Campus Road, adjacent to the Ho Plaza and Cornell Health. History 19th century Willard Straight Hall's constru ...

, 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 Ithaca () is a city in and the county seat of Tompkins County, New York, United States. Situated on the southern shore of Cayuga Lake in the Finger Lakes region of New York, Ithaca is the largest community in the Ithaca metropolitan statistic ...

. 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