Robert
Lansing was born in Watertown, New York in 1864. He became an attorney
in 1889 and made his name as a US counsel in arbitration cases. An
authority on international law, he became counsellor for the Department
of State in 1914.
President Woodrow Wilson was impressed
with Lansing's abilities and appointed him secretary of state, when
William Jennings Bryan resigned in June,
1915. Lansing was responsible for negotiating the Lansing-Ishii agreement
with Japan.
Lansing was a member of the USA's delegation to the Paris
Peace Conference of 1919. However Lansing had strong disagreements
with Woodrow Wilson about the Versailles
Treaty and the League of Nations.
Although he had serious reservations about the peace treaties he attempted
to gain Senate approval of them.
Lansing became increasingly important during Wilson's illness (September-January).
This concerned Wilson and in February 1920, Lansing was asked to resign.
Lansing returned to law practice in Washington
and wrote The
Peace Negotiations
(1921) and The
Big Four and the Peace Conference
(1921). Robert
Lansing died on 30th October, 1928.
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