William Cameron Forbes (May 21, 1870 – December 24, 1959) was an American investment banker and

diplomat A diplomat (from ; romanization, romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state (polity), state, International organization, intergovernmental, or Non-governmental organization, nongovernmental institution to conduct diplomacy with one ...

. He served as

governor-general of the Philippines The governor-general of the Philippines (; ; ) was the title of the Executive (government), government executive during the colonial period of the Philippines, first by History of the Philippines (1521–1898), the Spanish in Mexico City and l ...

from 1909 to 1913 and ambassador of the United States to

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

from 1930 to 1932.

Early life and career

William Cameron Forbes, nicknamed "Cam", was the son of William Hathaway Forbes, son of

John Murray Forbes John Murray Forbes (February 23, 1813 – October 12, 1898) was an American railroad magnate, merchant, History of opium in China#Growth of the opium trade, opium merchant, philanthropist and Abolitionism in the United States, abolitionist. ...

and president of the

Bell Telephone Company The Bell Telephone Company was the initial corporate entity from which the Bell System originated to build a continental conglomerate and monopoly in telecommunication services in the United States and Canada. The company was organized in Bost ...

, and Edith Emerson, a daughter of

Ralph Waldo Emerson Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25, 1803April 27, 1882), who went by his middle name Waldo, was an American essayist, lecturer, philosopher, minister, abolitionism, abolitionist, and poet who led the Transcendentalism, Transcendentalist movement of th ...

. The Forbes were a Boston Brahmin family which made its original fortune in the Old China Trade. Despite his descent from the greatest American Transcendentalist, Forbes would later distance his business and diplomatic career from his grandfather's work, saying that he "had his line in material affairs." He was educated at the

Milton Academy Milton Academy (informally referred to as Milton) is a coeducational, co-educational, Independent school, independent, and College-preparatory school, college-preparatory boarding and day school in Milton, Massachusetts, educating students in g ...

and Boston's Hopkinson School and graduated from

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher lear ...

in 1892. Afterwards, he embarked on a business career, in 1899 becoming a life partner in J. M. Forbes and Company, an investment firm founded by his grandfather."W. Cameron Forbes for Envoy to Japan; Bostonian Selected by President Hoover to Succeed W.R. Castle Jr.; Forbes was in Philippines; Served There as Vice Governor and Governor General Under Roosevelt and Taft,"
''New York Times.'' June 3, 1930. He would return to Harvard in order to coach the

Harvard Crimson The Harvard Crimson is the nickname of the college sports teams of Harvard College. The school's teams compete in NCAA Division I. As of 2013, there were 42 Division I intercollegiate Varsity team, varsity sports teams for women and men at Harva ...

1897 Events January * January 2 – The International Alpha Omicron Pi sorority is founded, in New York City. * January 4 – A British force is ambushed by Chief Ologbosere, son-in-law of the ruler. This leads to a punitive expedit ...

and 1898, in the latter year, the team was undefeated. Forbes was a passionate

polo Polo is a stick and ball game that is played on horseback as a traditional field sport. It is one of the world's oldest known team sports, having been adopted in the Western world from the game of Chovgan (), which originated in ancient ...

player, even authoring a guide to the sport, ''As to Polo,'' during his tenure in the Philippines in 1911. Along with his tenure at J.M. Forbes and Co., Forbes served as director of several companies, including the

American Telephone and Telegraph Company AT&T Corporation, an abbreviation for its former name, the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, was an American telecommunications company that provided voice, video, data, and Internet telecommunications and professional services to busi ...

, the First National Bank of Boston, Stone & Webster, and United Fruit Company.

Philippines

During the administration of President

William Howard Taft William Howard Taft (September 15, 1857March 8, 1930) served as the 27th president of the United States from 1909 to 1913 and the tenth chief justice of the United States from 1921 to 1930. He is the only person to have held both offices. ...

, Forbes was

Governor-General of the Philippines The governor-general of the Philippines (; ; ) was the title of the Executive (government), government executive during the colonial period of the Philippines, first by History of the Philippines (1521–1898), the Spanish in Mexico City and l ...

from 1909 to 1913. Previously, during the administration of 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 ...

, he had been Commissioner of Commerce and Police in the American colonial

Insular Government The Philippine Insular GovernmentThis form of the name appeared in the titles of US Supreme Court cases, but was otherwise rarely used. See Costas v. Government of the Philippine Islands, 221 U.S. 623, 1911. The Administrative Code of the Phil ...

of the Philippines from 1904 through 1908; and he was Vice Governor from 1908 through 1909. Forbes was an enthusiastic supporter of the summer capital at

Baguio Baguio ( , , ), officially the City of Baguio (; ; ), is a Cities of the Philippines#Legal classification, highly urbanized city in the Cordillera Administrative Region, Philippines. It is known as the "Summer Capital of the Philippines", ...

designed by Daniel Burnham, and had a country club and golf course added to the plans. The summer capital drew resentment from local Filipinos, as it put the government at a distance from the people and was paid for with money earmarked for postwar recovery. Forbes had a low opinion of Filipinos, regarding them as naturally subordinate and unready for self-government. He interacted with them as little as possible. In a 1909 diary entry he recounted an incident when he was playing golf with an Igorot caddy. Forbes wrote "I said to myself, 'Now how many am I?' and the boy replied, 'Playing five.' I was as much astonished as though a tree had spoken." Of the original 161 country club members only six were Filipino. One of them was future Philippines president

Manuel Quezon Manuel Luis Quezon y Molina (, , , ; 19 August 1878 – 1 August 1944), also known by his initials MLQ, was a Filipino lawyer, statesman, soldier, and politician who was president of the Commonwealth of the Philippines from 1935 until his d ...

. Forbes likened him to a "wonderfully trained hunting dog gone wild." Quezon in turn remarked that Forbes loved Filipinos "in the same way the former slave owners loved their Negro slaves." In 1908 diary entry, Forbes described how he and the other lawmakers completed their business at Baguio in "about an hour or less" and devoted the remainder of the day to leisure. Forbes, who was a

enthusiast, founded the Manila Polo Club in 1919 in

Pasay Pasay, officially the City of Pasay (; ), is a Cities of the Philippines#Legal classification, highly urbanized city in the Metro Manila, National Capital Region of the Philippines. According to the 2020 Philippine census, 2020 census, it has a ...

, Rizal. It was the first polo field in the Philippines. Forbes had envisioned the club as a venue for polo and leisure for "gentlemen of a certain class" assigned to work in the Philippines like himself. He served as delegate of the club until the outbreak of World War II. The clubhouse was inaugurated on November 27, 1909. In 1921, President

Warren G. Harding Warren Gamaliel Harding (November 2, 1865 – August 2, 1923) was the 29th president of the United States, serving from 1921 until his death in 1923. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he was one of the most ...

sent Forbes and

Leonard Wood Leonard Wood (October 9, 1860 – August 7, 1927) was a United States Army major general, physician, and public official. He served as the Chief of Staff of the United States Army, List of colonial governors of Cuba, Military Governor of Cuba, ...

as heads of the Wood-Forbes Commission to investigate conditions in the Philippines. The Commission concluded that Filipinos were not yet ready for independence from the United States, a finding that was widely criticized in the Philippines. The gated community of Forbes Park in

Makati Makati ( ; ), officially the City of Makati (), is a highly urbanized city in the National Capital Region of the Philippines, known for being one of the leading financial centers in the country. As of 2013, the city has the highest concent ...

, was named after him; and this community is the residence of some of the wealthiest people in the country. Lacson Avenue (formerly Gov. Forbes Street) in Sampaloc, Manila is still called "Forbes" by some up to the present day.

Haiti

Forbes was appointed by President

Herbert Hoover Herbert Clark Hoover (August 10, 1874 – October 20, 1964) was the 31st president of the United States, serving from 1929 to 1933. A wealthy mining engineer before his presidency, Hoover led the wartime Commission for Relief in Belgium and ...

in 1930 to lead a commission charged with investigating the reasons for ongoing minor rebellions in

Haiti Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti, is a country on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and south of the Bahamas. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island, which it shares with the Dominican ...

. Forbes gave Hoover a plan to stabilize Haiti and remove the US Marines. An agreement in August 1931 started the withdrawal and a similar plan led to Hoover's withdrawal of troops from Nicaragua. Franklin Roosevelt later completed the process, calling it the " Good Neighbor policy."

Japan

Forbes was nominated by President Hoover and confirmed as

United States Ambassador to Japan The is the Ambassadors of the United States, ambassador from the United States of America to Japan. History Beginning in 1854 with the Convention of Kanagawa, use of gunboat diplomacy by Commodore (United States), Commodore Matthew C. Perry, ...

. He served from 1930 to 1932. He was reluctant to enter the post, and during his tenure frequently clashed with Henry Stimson as

militarism Militarism is the belief or the desire of a government or a people that a state should maintain a strong military capability and to use it aggressively to expand national interests and/or values. It may also imply the glorification of the mili ...

became a dominant ideology in Japan. In early personal correspondence, Forbes identified himself as a "fish out of water" at the Embassy in Tokyo. In his first year as ambassador, he spent much time travelling through Asia and pursuing leisure activities. However, the Mukden Incident forced him to return to his diplomatic responsibilities. Forbes frequently deprecated protestations sent by Secretary Stimson and other elements critical of Japan's actions, seeking to ensure stability in the US-Japan relationship. In the face of militarist ascendance following the 1932 general election, he was still reluctant to lodge complaints not backed by real force. Nonetheless, he "castigated" Japan's withdrawal from the

League of Nations The League of Nations (LN or LoN; , SdN) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920), Paris Peace ...

during the

Manchurian Crisis The Empire of Japan's Kwantung Army invaded the Manchuria region of the Republic of China on 18 September 1931, immediately following the Mukden incident, a false flag event staged by Japanese military personnel as a pretext to invade. At the ...

, due to his belief that Japan's unilateral action might have generated less uproar if it had acknowledged certain League guidelines. Personal financial pressures resulting from the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

and failing health resulted in his resignation in March 1932. Shortly after his resignation, he told a close friend that his "principal stunt" as ambassador had been "trying to keep the United States from being ''too insistent'' upon checking Japan". Although Forbes' short, quiescent tenure in Japan has been identified by some as absent-minded, others have characterized it as characteristic of not-yet-formalized realist principles. He also presided over the construction of a new embassy complex in Tokyo, designed by Harold Van Buren Magonigle. In 1935, Forbes headed an American Economic Mission to Japan and China to promote good business relations. In 1935, Forbes met with the Japanese Minister of Commerce and Industry, Machida Chūji, to renegotiate agreements that would improve commercial relations between the two nations.

Friendship with George Santayana

W. Cameron Forbes was a life-long friend of George Santayana, who was a young professor at Harvard during Forbes's last three undergraduate years there. Forbes was one of the models for the protagonist Oliver Arden in Santayana's novel '' The Last Puritan''.

Later years

Forbes received LL.D.s from Harvard in 1912, Trinity College in 1924, and

Bates College Bates College () is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Lewiston, Maine. Anchored by the Historic Quad, the campus of Bates totals with a small urban campus which includes 33 Victorian ...

in 1932. He was on the Board of Trustees of Carnegie Institution of Washington and a Life Member of the Corporation at the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...

. He was on the original standing committee of the Foundation for the Study of Cycles from 1941. He was a member of clubs including Boston's Saturday Club, Union Club, and Harvard Club and New York's

Yacht Club A yacht club is a boat club specifically related to yachting. Description Yacht clubs are mostly located by the sea, although there some that have been established at a lake or riverside locations. Yacht or sailing clubs have either a mar ...

and Harvard Club. He died unmarried at the Hotel Vendome in Boston in 1959. His seasonal home Birdwood, a mansion built in the 1930s for him in southern

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

, is listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

Head coaching record

Sources

Forbes' papers are in the Houghton Library at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

. Copies of his annotated journal are at the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

and the Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston. The report of the Forbes Commission's Haitian analysis is at the Library of Congress. Philippine administrator: * Peter W. Stanley, ''A Nation in the Making: The Philippines and the United States, 1899–1921'' (1974) * Rev. Camillus Gott, "William Cameron Forbes and the Philippines, 1904–1946" (Ph.D. diss., Indiana University, 1974) * Theodore Friend, ''Between Two Empires: The Ordeal of the Philippines, 1929–1946'' (1965). Ambassador to Japan: * Gary Ross, "W. Cameron Forbes: The Diplomacy of a Darwinist," in R. D. Burns and E. M. Bennett, eds., ''Diplomats in Crisis'' (1974). * Robert H. Ferrell, ''American Diplomacy in the Great Depression: Hoover-Stimson Foreign Policy, 1929–1933'' (1957) * Armin Rappaport, '' Henry L. Stimson and Japan, 1931–1933'' (1963) * James B. Crowley, ''Japan's Quest for Autonomy'' (1966).

Selected works

Forbes wrote the following books and articles: * 1911 -- "As to Polo", Dedham Polo and Country Club. * 1921 -
''The Romance of Business''
* 1928 -- ''The Philippine Islands''
vol. 1vol. 2
* 1935 -- ''Fuddlehead by Fuddlehead'' (autobiography) the Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston. * 1936 -- "A Survey of Developments in the Philippine Movement for Independence," ''Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society, 1932–1936''. * 1939 -- "American Policies in the Far East," ''Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences'' (January 1939).

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Forbes, William Cameron 1870 births 1959 deaths Ambassadors of the United States to Japan Governors-general of the Philippine Islands Harvard Crimson football coaches Bates College alumni Harvard University alumni William Cameron American expatriates in the Philippines 20th-century American diplomats