1. Robert Bacon was an American athlete, banker, businessman, statesman, diplomat and Republican Party politician who served as the 39th United States Secretary of State in the Theodore Roosevelt administration from January to March 1909.
31 Facts About Robert Bacon
1. 2.
Robert Bacon served as Assistant Secretary of State from 1905 to 1909 and Ambassador to France from 1909 to 1912.
3.
Robert Bacon befriended future president Theodore Roosevelt, leading to a lifelong friendship and professional relationship.
4.
Robert Bacon continued to advance United States interests in Latin America after leaving office, conducting a tour of the region for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and publishing a treatise arguing for better relations with South America.
5.
Robert Bacon was a leader in the movement for military preparedness following the outbreak of the First World War, establishing training programs for potential soldiers and officers prior to American entry to the war.
6.
Robert Bacon was commissioned as a major in the United States Army in 1917 and served under General John Pershing in France.
7.
Robert Bacon returned to the United States following the war but died from complications following surgery less than two months after his arrival in New York City.
8.
Robert Bacon was born on July 5,1860, in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts, and raised in the Beacon Hill neighborhood of Boston.
9.
The Robert Bacon family had early colonial roots and settled in the town of Barnstable on Cape Cod.
10.
Robert Bacon was president of the glee club, chief marshal of his class day celebration, and a member of the AD Club and Delta Kappa Epsilon.
11.
Robert Bacon would remain with the firm until his resignation in 1903.
12.
In 1898, Robert Bacon took on the firm's work for the newly formed Federal Steel Corporation, a steel conglomerate with over $100 million in capital.
13.
Robert Bacon was named as a defendant in the suit, which challenged the right of Northern Securities to own stock in the Northern Pacific and Great Northern.
14.
On September 5,1905, Robert Bacon accepted an appointment from President Theodore Roosevelt, his former Harvard classmate, to serve as United States Assistant Secretary of State.
15.
Robert Bacon successfully negotiated the basis of a settlement of debt owed by the Dominican Republic and the return of land in Puerto Rico to the Catholic Church.
16.
The most pressing matter during Robert Bacon's tenure as acting secretary was a rebellion leading to the collapse of the Republic of Cuba, an independent state established by the United States following a period of American military government.
17.
In January 1909, Elihu Root was elected to represent New York in the US Senate, and Robert Bacon was nominated to succeed him as Secretary of State on January 25.
18.
Robert Bacon directed American participation in the London Naval Conference through February 1909, where American delegates proposed to invest a new International Prize Court with permanent jurisdiction as a court of international justice.
19.
Robert Bacon served as United States Ambassador to France under President Taft from 1909 until 1912.
20.
Robert Bacon continued to develop ties to Latin American colleagues in France, hosting an annual celebration for these countries on George Washington's birthday, at which he emphasized the similarities between Washington, Simon Bolivar and Jose de San Martin.
21.
Robert Bacon submitted his resignation as Ambassador on January 2,1912, upon his election as a Fellow of Harvard University.
22.
Robert Bacon remained in office until Myron Herrick was nominated as his successor.
23.
Robert Bacon was attached to the British Royal Army Medical Corps and assisted with the establishment of a typhoid hospital near Ypres.
24.
Robert Bacon was a staunch advocate of the United States' entry into World War I and spoke in favor of increased military preparedness via universal military service as the president of the National Security League in 1916.
25.
Robert Bacon criticized President Woodrow Wilson for inaction at the German invasion of Belgium and sought the Republican nomination for US Senate against William M Calder.
26.
Robert Bacon continued to push for a stronger national defense as well as a protective tariff that could be used for the mobilization of industry in case of war.
27.
Robert Bacon was named as the candidate of the American Party but withdrew on account of his pledge to Calder.
28.
Robert Bacon was then commissioned as a major in the United States Army in May 1917, one month after the American entry into World War I, before sailing to France as a member of the staff of Major General John J "Blackjack" Pershing, who was made commander of the American Expeditionary Forces.
29.
Robert Bacon was promoted to lieutenant colonel in 1918 and served as chief of the American military mission at British General Headquarters working with the British commander, Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig, commanding the British Expeditionary Force on the Western Front.
30.
Robert Bacon returned to the United States in April 1919, five months after the war ended due to the Armistice with Germany on November 11,1918.
31.
Robert Bacon died at the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary on May 29,1919, from blood poisoning after undergoing surgery on his mastoiditis.