Alanson B. Houghton
Alanson B. Houghton | |
---|---|
United States Ambassador tothe United Kingdom | |
In office April 27, 1925 – March 28, 1929 | |
President | Calvin Coolidge Herbert Hoover |
Preceded by | Frank B. Kellogg |
Succeeded by | Charles G. Dawes |
United States Ambassador to Germany | |
In office April 22, 1922 – February 21, 1925 | |
President | Warren G. Harding Calvin Coolidge |
Preceded by | Ellis Loring Dresel(as Chargé d'Affaires) |
Succeeded by | Jacob Gould Schurman |
Member of theU.S. House of Representatives from New York's37thdistrict | |
In office March 4, 1919 – February 28, 1922 | |
Preceded by | Harry H. Pratt |
Succeeded by | Lewis Henry |
Personal details | |
Born | Alanson Bigelow Houghton October 10, 1863 Cambridge, Massachusetts,US |
Died | September 15, 1941 Dartmouth, Massachusetts,US | (aged 77)
Political party | Republican |
Children | Amory Houghton |
Relatives | Houghton family |
Residence(s) | Corning, New York,US |
Signature | |
Alanson Bigelow Houghton(October 10, 1863 – September 15, 1941) was an American businessman, politician, and diplomat who served as aCongressmanand Ambassador. He was a member of theRepublican Party.
Early life and business career[edit]
Alanson B. Houghton was born on October 10, 1863, inCambridge,Middlesex County,Massachusetts. He was the son of Ellen Ann (Bigelow) and Amory Houghton Jr. (1837–1909), who would later be President of theCorning Glass Works,the company founded by Alanson's grandfather Amory Houghton Sr. in 1851.[1][2]
In 1868, his family moved toCorning,New York.He attended the Corning Free Academy in Corning andSt. Paul's SchoolinConcord, New Hampshire.Houghton graduated fromHarvard Universityin 1886 and then pursued postgraduate courses in Europe.[2]He attended graduate school inGöttingen,Berlin, and Paris until 1889.[2]
Upon his return to Corning in 1889, Houghton began work for his family's business,Corning GlassWorks. He served as vice president of the company from 1902 to 1910, and as the company's president from 1910 to 1918. Under Houghton's leadership, the company tripled in size to become one of the largest producers of glass products in the United States. The company manufactured 40% of incandescent light bulbs and 75% of the railway signal glass used in the U.S.
Houghton's interest in and promotion of education, particularly in westernNew Yorkstate, led to his being appointed a trustee ofHobart Collegein 1917.
He was a member of theJekyll Island Club(aka The Millionaires Club) onJekyll Island, Georgia,along withJ.P. MorganandWilliam Rockefelleramong others.
Politics[edit]
Houghton was a presidential elector in the1904 presidential election.[3]He was also apresidential electorin1916,voting for the Republican candidatesCharles Evans HughesandCharles W. Fairbanks.[4]
In 1918, Alanson B. Houghton defeated incumbent CongressmanHarry H. Prattin theRepublicanprimary. He went on to win the general election and joined theSixty-sixth Congress,representing New York's 37th Congressional District. In 1920, Houghton garnered 68% of the vote to win reelection overDemocratCharles R. Durham andSocialistFrancis Toomey. Houghton took office on March 4, 1919. During his two terms in the House, Houghton served on the Foreign Affairs and Ways and Means committees.
Diplomacy[edit]
Houghton, having studied in prewar Germany, admired German culture and understood German politics. His appointment was approved by the U.S. Senate and well received by theWeimar Republic.On February 28, 1922, Houghton resigned his House seat to accept appointment fromPresident Warren G. Hardingas theU.S. Ambassador to Germany.Houghton believed that world peace, European stability, and American prosperity depended upon a reconstruction of Europe's economy and political system. He saw his role as promoting American political engagement with Europe. He overcame domestic opposition, and disinterest in Washington. He quickly realized that the central issues of the day were all entangled in economics, especially war debts owed by the Allies to the United States, reparations owed by Germany to the Allies, worldwide inflation, and international trade and investment. Solutions, he believed, required new policies by Washington and close cooperation with Britain and Germany. He was a leading promoter of theDawes Plan.[5]
On February 24, 1925,President Calvin Coolidgeappointed Houghton as theU.S. Ambassador to Great Britain.Houghton assumed the post on April 6, 1925, and served until April 27, 1929. Houghton's service in both Germany and England gave him a unique ability to address the issue of thewar reparationsGermany owed to its World War I opponents, England being one of them. Houghton laid some of the groundwork for theDawes Plan,named after then U.S. Vice PresidentCharles G. Dawes,who would be Houghton's successor as Ambassador to Great Britain.
In1928,Houghton ran for theU.S. Senatefrom New York against first-term incumbentRoyal S. Copeland,a Democrat. Houghton lost by just over one percentage point.
Death and legacy[edit]
After his loss in the 1928 Senate race, Houghton returned to managing the Corning Glass Works. He was a founding member of the Board of Trustees of theInstitute for Advanced Study,inPrinceton, New Jersey,serving as chairman until his death in 1941. He also was an original standing committee member of theFoundation for the Study of Cyclesand served as vice president of the American Peace Society, which publishesWorld Affairs,the oldest U.S. journal on international relations.
Houghton died at his summer home inSouth Dartmouth, Massachusetts,on September 15, 1941. He was interred at Hope Cemetery Annex inCorning, New York.
DuringWorld War IItheLiberty shipSSAlanson B. Houghtonwas built inPanama City, Florida,and named in his honor.[6]
Houghton's son,Amory Houghton(1899–1981), served as theUnited States Ambassador to France(1957–1961) underPresident Dwight D. Eisenhower.His grandson,Amo Houghton,was aU.S. CongressmanfromNew Yorkfrom 1987 until 2005.
See also[edit]
- List of covers ofTimemagazine (1920s)– April 5, 1926
- The Harvard Monthly
References[edit]
- ^Ingham, John N. (1983).Biographical Dictionary of American Business Leaders.ISBN9780313239083.
- ^abcRupieper, Hermann J. (1979)."Alanson B. Houghton: An American Ambassador in Germany, 1922–1925".The International History Review.1(4): 490–508.doi:10.1080/07075332.1979.9640195.ISSN0707-5332.
- ^"To Cast Vote To-morrow".New-York Tribune.Vol. LXIV, no. 21238. New York, N.Y. January 8, 1905. p. 3 – viaChronicling America.
- ^"Electors Forget the Law"(PDF).The New York Times.Albany, New York (published November 27, 1916). November 26, 1916. p. 4.RetrievedApril 15,2023.
- ^Jeffrey J. Matthews,Alanson B. Houghton: ambassador of the new era(2004) pp 48–49.
- ^Williams, Greg H. (July 25, 2014).The Liberty Ships of World War II: A Record of the 2,710 Vessels and Their Builders, Operators and Namesakes, with a History of the Jeremiah O'Brien.McFarland.ISBN978-1476617541.RetrievedDecember 7,2017.
Further reading[edit]
- Jones, Kenneth Paul, ed.U.S. Diplomats in Europe, 1919–41(ABC-CLIO. 1981)onlineon Houghton's role in Europe, pp 25–42..
- Matthews, Jeffrey J.Alanson B. Houghton: Ambassador in the New Era.Wilmington, Del.: Scholarly Resources Inc., 2004.
- United States Congress."Alanson B. Houghton (id: H000813)".Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.Retrieved on 2008-02-15
- Kestenbaum, Lawrence.The Political Graveyard.
- Harvard Business School.Leadership database.
External links[edit]
- American business executives
- Corning Inc.
- 1863 births
- 1941 deaths
- Businesspeople from Cambridge, Massachusetts
- Ambassadors of the United States to the United Kingdom
- Ambassadors of the United States to Germany
- Politicians from Cambridge, Massachusetts
- Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from New York (state)
- Harvard University alumni
- Politicians from Corning, New York
- 1904 United States presidential electors
- 1916 United States presidential electors
- People from Dartmouth, Massachusetts
- 20th-century American diplomats