{"record":{"affiliations":[{"polityId":"polity-3fcc9adb88012825729f2b2c","role":"U.S. diplomatic and consular officer","sourceIds":["b-skinner-state","b-skinner-fsj"]}],"aliases":["Robert P. Skinner"],"appointmentIds":[],"appointmentsDataset":"https://chanceries.org/diplomats.json","archivalSources":[],"canonicalUrl":"https://chanceries.org/diplopedia/people/person-832edd0a8a14b14d5d6f6378-be127671f3/","countrySlug":null,"countrySlugs":["ethiopia"],"documentedRoles":[{"assertionId":"assert-e651bc6552fa0b0a3575dfbe","associationBasis":"documented-participant","evidenceClass":"direct","note":"Signed the treaty of commerce with Menelik II on 27 December 1903.","predicate":"participated_in","role":"U.S. commissioner and treaty signatory","sourceIds":["b-skinner-frus258","b-skinner-fsj"],"targetId":"event-1ce8da238f655da2e0a05b61","targetType":"event","title":"Menelik II and Robert Skinner sign a commercial treaty","url":"/research/history/ethiopia-treaty-1ce8da238f/","validTime":{"attestations":[{"precision":"day","value":"1903-12-27"}],"continuity":"attestation","end":null,"endInclusive":true,"start":null}}],"entityId":"https://chanceries.org/diplopedia/people/person-832edd0a8a14b14d5d6f6378-be127671f3/#person","eventIds":[],"expandedParagraphs":["Robert Peet Skinner led the American mission that concluded a commercial treaty with Emperor Menelik II on December 27, 1903. President Theodore Roosevelt had appointed him commissioner and plenipotentiary for the journey to Ethiopia. The treaty protected travel and commerce and provided for an exchange of representatives acceptable to each government.","Skinner began his working life in newspapers. Raised in Massillon, Ohio, he acquired a share in the local Weekly Independent at twenty and edited it after it became a daily. He also worked for the New York World and supported William McKinley's political campaigns. After passing consular examinations, he became consul at Marseilles in 1897.","He represented the United States in Greece and then in the Baltic states, residing in Riga. His last post was the ambassadorship to Turkey. He left that mission in January 1936 and retired from the service the following month."],"id":"global:person-832edd0a8a14b14d5d6f6378","identifiers":{},"identityScope":"global","legacyPersonIds":[],"legacyUrl":"https://chanceries.org/diplomat-be127671f3e9ad3cb370.html","name":"Robert Peet Skinner","notes":[],"paragraphSources":[["b-skinner-frus258","b-skinner-fsj"],["b-skinner-fsj"],["b-skinner-state","b-skinner-fsj"]],"profileUrl":"diplomat-be127671f3e9ad3cb370.html","relatedEvents":[],"relatedPeople":[],"relationships":[],"researchStatus":"reviewed","reviewedOn":"2026-11-01","revision":"f578d2a8c2e24322","sources":[{"accessedOn":"2026-11-01","date":"1904-09-30","id":"b-skinner-frus258","locator":"FRUS 1904, document 258; treaty articles I–V, signature clause, and proclamation","publisher":"Office of the Historian, U.S. Department of State","title":"Treaty of commerce with Ethiopia, concluded 27 December 1903","type":"primary-record","url":"https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1904/d258"},{"accessedOn":"2026-11-01","date":"1956-02","id":"b-skinner-fsj","locator":"Printed pages 30–31 and continuation; PDF pages 31–32 for early life and Ethiopian commission","publisher":"American Foreign Service Association, Foreign Service Journal","title":"A Diplomatist: Robert Peet Skinner","type":"professional-history","url":"https://afsa.org/sites/default/files/fsj-1956-02-february_0.pdf"},{"accessedOn":"2026-11-01","date":"","id":"b-skinner-state","locator":"Greece, Baltic states and Turkey appointments","publisher":"Office of the Historian, U.S. Department of State","title":"Robert Peet Skinner","type":"official-record","url":"https://history.state.gov/departmenthistory/people/skinner-robert-peet"}],"topics":["United States–Ethiopia relations","Commercial diplomacy"]},"schemaVersion":1}