Robert Lansing

Robert Lansing brought the habits of an international lawyer to the State Department during the First World War. As secretary from 1915 to 1920, he moved from defending neutral maritime rights toward supporting American participation in the war, while his influence remained subordinate to Woodrow Wilson’s direction. ¹

Robert Lansing handled the American response to Germany’s assurances after the sinking of the passenger liner Arabic. On 6 October 1915, the Secretary of State wrote to German ambassador Johann Heinrich von Bernstorff accepting his government’s disavowal and its orders intended to prevent a recurrence. Lansing also agreed to begin discussions over compensation. ²

Lansing had reached the department through international legal practice. Born in 1864, he graduated from Amherst and entered the law before working on the Bering Sea arbitration, the Alaska boundary dispute, and North Atlantic fisheries proceedings. He became Counselor to the State Department in 1914 and Secretary of State in 1915. ¹

His secretaryship continued through American entry into the First World War and the Paris Peace Conference. In 1917, he negotiated an agreement with Japanese envoy Ishii Kikujirō that reaffirmed the Open Door policy while recognizing Japan’s special interests in China. Lansing later differed with President Woodrow Wilson over the League of Nations and the President’s ability to perform his duties after a stroke. He resigned in 1920 and returned to international legal practice in Washington. ¹

Lansing initially protested British restrictions on neutral commerce as well as German submarine attacks. Over time, he concluded that American interests required participation on the Allied side. At the Paris Peace Conference in 1919 he was a member of the American negotiating delegation, but his legal and strategic judgments did not always align with Wilson’s plans for the postwar order. ¹

His work also extended beyond the European settlement. He signed the 1916 treaty purchasing the Danish West Indies, strengthening the American position in the Caribbean. At the department, he hired its first special agents to investigate activities associated with the Central Powers, an early foundation of its later security service. These territorial and administrative measures accompanied the much larger wartime transformation of American diplomacy. ¹