American statesman and author, born in Boston, MA, on the 12th of May 1850. He graduated at Harvard College in 1871 and at the Harvard Law School in 1875; was admitted to the Suffolk (MA) bar in 1876; and in 1876–1879 was instructor in American history at Harvard. He was a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1880–1881, and of the National House of Representatives in 1887–1893; succeeded Henry L. Dawes as United States Senator from Massachusetts in 1893; and in 1899 and in 1905 was re-elected to the Senate, where he became one of the most prominent of the Republican leaders, and an influential supporter of President Roosevelt. He was a member of the Alaskan Boundary Commission of 1903, and of the United States Immigration Commission of 1907. In the National Republican Convention of 1896 his influence did much to secure the adoption of the gold standard “plank” of the party’s platform. He was the permanent chairman of the National Republican Convention of 1900, and of that of 1908. In 1874–1876 he edited the North American Review with Henry Adams; and in 1879–1882, with John T. Morse, Jr., he edited the International Review. In 1884–1890 he was an overseer of Harvard College. His doctoral thesis at Harvard was published with essays by Henry Adams, J. L. Laughlin and Ernest Young, under the title Essays on Anglo-Saxon Land Law (1876). He wrote: Life and Letters of George Cabot (1877); Alexander Hamilton (1882), Daniel Webster (1883) and George Washington (2 vols., 1889), in the “American Statesmen” series; A Short History of the English Colonies in America (1881); Studies in History (1884); Boston (1891), in the “Historic Towns” series; Historical and Political Essays (1892); with Theodore Roosevelt, Hero Tales from American History (1895); Certain Accepted Heroes (1897); The Story of the American Revolution (2 vols., 1898); The War with Spain (1899); A Fighting Frigate (1902); A Frontier Town (1906); and, with J. W. Garner, A History of the United States (4 vols., 1906). He edited The Works of Alexander Hamilton (9 vols., 1885–1886) and The Federalist (1891).
As a member of the Committee on Foreign Relations of the United States Senate he supported (1914) the repeal of the Panama Canal toll exemptions clause as desired by President Wilson. Although he believed that under the Hay–Pauncefote Treaty the United States had full right to discriminate in favour of American shipping, he felt that a mistake had been made in refusing Great Britain’s request for arbitration of the question. He was opposed to woman suffrage and in August was “blacklisted” by the National American Suffrage Association. In January 1915 he opposed the ship purchase bill for the acquisition of shipping which the President had asked Congress to pass, on the ground that it would lead to endless foreign complications because of conditions arising out of the World War. In February he also opposed the treaty negotiated by Secretary Bryan with Colombia, in which it was proposed to pay Colombia $25,000,000 and to express regrets for incidents attending America’s recognition of the independence of Panama and acquisition of the Panama Canal Zone. He construed this as a criticism of the administration of President Roosevelt when the Canal Zone was acquired. In 1916 he assailed the suggestion of an American embargo on arms, declaring that such action would place America on the side of the Central Powers. In January of the same year he offered a resolution calling for armed intervention in Mexico. He was an unpledged delegate-at-large from Massachusetts to the Republican National Convention, 1916, and served as chairman of the Committee on Resolutions. The same year he was elected vice-president of the American Society of International Law. In July he supported the navy bill, calling for an appropriation of $315,000,000, and declared that America needed a fleet both in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans as the Panama Canal was “vulnerable.” In October he publicly charged that the President had added a “postscript” to the second “Lusitania” note, informing the German Government that the strong words in the first note were “not to be taken seriously” and had withdrawn it when members of the Cabinet threatened to resign. Later he accepted, somewhat perfunctorily, the President’s denial of such action. He opposed prohibition and urged moderate taxation of individual incomes and of excess war profits of corporations. In 1918 he opposed the Overman bill, bestowing special war powers on the President, on the ground that it might lead to autocracy. Senator Lodge had long been a sharp critic of President Wilson’s policies and his antagonism became more personal after the meeting of the Peace Conference. In December 1918 he advocated postponement of the question of a league of nations until after the signing of the treaty, insisting that the two should be considered separately. In the same year he was elected Republican floor leader of the Senate and, as such and as chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, his position was one of great influence. When the President submitted to the Senate the Treaty of Peace, Senator Lodge became the leader of the opposition. He assailed the President for usurping power and ignoring the Senate whose responsibility in the matter, he declared, was as great as the President’s. Under his leadership fourteen reservations were carried through the Senate, “all designed to protect the safety, independence and sovereignty of the United States. They did not nullify the treaty. They simply Americanized it”; these, he maintained, constituted the “irreducible minimum,” which the President must accept, if the treaty was to be ratified by the Senate. The President refused to accept the reservations, a prolonged deadlock ensued, ending in rejection of the treaty as submitted by the President. At the Republican National Convention in 1920 Senator Lodge served as permanent chairman. He was one of the four United States delegates at the Washington Conference on the Limitation of Armament, in 1921. See also “Colonialism in the United States.” (See authored article: Albert Gallatin.)
