BIOGRAPHY Robert Lansing Secretary of State,  Term of Appointment: 06/24/1915 to 02/13/1920

Travels

• Born in Watertown, New York on October 17, 1864;
• Graduated from Amherst College in 1886;
• Admitted to the bar in 1889 and practiced in Watertown;
• Married Eleanor Foster in 1890;
• Associate counsel for the United States in the Bering Sea Arbitration, 1892-1893;
• Counsel for the Mexican and Chinese Legations in Washington, 1894-1895 and 1900-1901;
• Counsel for the United States before the Bering Sea Claims Commission, 18961897; before the Alaskan Boundary Tribunal in 1903; in the North Atlantic Coast Fisheries Arbitration 1908-1910; and in the American and British Claims Arbitration in 1912;
• Agent of the United States in the last-mentioned arbitration, 1913-1914;
• Instrumental in founding the American Society of International Law in 1906 and in establishing the American Journal of International Law in 1907;
• Counselor of the Department of State 1914-1915;
• Secretary of State ad interim June 9-23, 1915;
• Secretary of State in President Wilson's Cabinet and served from  June 24, 1915 until February 13, 1920;
• As Secretary of State, protested against British blockade and contraband practices;
• Signed the Treaty of 1916 for the purchase of the Danish West Indies and the Lansing-Ishii Agreement of 1917 with Japan;
• Practiced international law in Washington, DC;
• Died in Washington, DC on October 30, 1928.