Robert Peet Skinner

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. ^{1, 2}

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. ²

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. ^{3, 2}