Jay Pierrepont Moffat
Encyclopedia
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
diplomat
Diplomat
A diplomat is a person appointed by a state to conduct diplomacy with another state or international organization. The main functions of diplomats revolve around the representation and protection of the interests and nationals of the sending state, as well as the promotion of information and...
, historian
Historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...
and statesman
Statesman
A statesman is usually a politician or other notable public figure who has had a long and respected career in politics or government at the national and international level. As a term of respect, it is usually left to supporters or commentators to use the term...
who, between 1917 and 1943, served the State Department in a variety of posts, including that of Ambassador to Canada during the first year of U.S. participation in World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
A native of Rye, New York, Moffat was a professional diplomat who had previously served as the private secretary
Private Secretary
In the United Kingdom government, a Private Secretary is a civil servant in a Department or Ministry, responsible to the Secretary of State or Minister...
to the American Ambassador to the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
(1917-19), followed by service as secretary of the American legation
Legation
A legation was the term used in diplomacy to denote a diplomatic representative office lower than an embassy. Where an embassy was headed by an Ambassador, a legation was headed by a Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary....
in Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
(1919-21) and in Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
(1921-23). Between 1925 and 1927 he served President Calvin Coolidge
Calvin Coolidge
John Calvin Coolidge, Jr. was the 30th President of the United States . A Republican lawyer from Vermont, Coolidge worked his way up the ladder of Massachusetts state politics, eventually becoming governor of that state...
as Ceremony Officer at the White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
and in 1927, at the end of his assignment, he was married in Hancock, New Hampshire
Hancock, New Hampshire
Hancock is a town in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 1,654 at the 2010 census. Hancock is home to the Welch Family Farm Forest....
to Lilla Cabot Grew, the daughter of fellow diplomat Joseph C. Grew who, while Moffat was serving in his final post as ambassador to Canada, was the U. S. Ambassador to Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
at the time of the December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor.
Moffat continued his diplomatic career in the post of secretary to the American legation in Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
(1927-31) and as the U.S. consul general to Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
(1935-37). From 1937 to 1940 he again served in Washington
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, this time in the significant post of the Chief of the State Department's Western Europe
Western Europe
Western Europe is a loose term for the collection of countries in the western most region of the European continents, though this definition is context-dependent and carries cultural and political connotations. One definition describes Western Europe as a geographic entity—the region lying in the...
an Division. Finally, in June 1940, after Ambassador to Canada James H. R. Cromwell
James H. R. Cromwell
James Henry Roberts Cromwell was an American diplomat, candidate for the United States Senate, author, and one-time husband of Doris Duke, "the richest girl in the world".-Biography:...
resigned after 142 days to run for the U.S. Senate, President Franklin Roosevelt nominated Moffat to his first and, as it turned out, final post as U.S. ambassador. He was immediately confirmed and served until his death, two years and seven months later, in the midst of World War II.
Jay Pierrepont Moffat died in Ottawa
Ottawa
Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...
two and-a-half weeks after his 47th birthday and was succeeded as ambassador by Ray Atherton
Ray Atherton
Ray Atherton was a United States diplomat who served as the first United States Ambassador to Canada .-Biography:Ray Atherton was born in Brookline, Massachusetts in 1883. He was educated at Harvard College, graduating with a B.A. in 1905. He then moved to Paris to study architecture, becoming...
. In his obituary, The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
remarked that "even in war, when death is knocking at such a multitude of doors, the loss of a trusted public man in the flower of his age and his powers is lamentable". In addition to his work as a diplomat, he wrote a work on Turkish history
History of Turkey
The history of the Turks begins with the migration of Oghuz Turks into Anatolia in the context of the larger Turkic expansion, forming the Seljuq Empire in the 11th century. After the Seljuq victory over forces of the Byzantine Empire in 1071 at the Battle of Manzikert, the process was accelerated...
and, in 1956, his papers were donated to the Harvard University Library
Harvard University Library
The Harvard University Library system comprises about 90 libraries, with more than 16 million volumes. It is the oldest library system in the United States, the largest academic and the largest private library system in the world...
by his father-in-law Ambassador Joseph Grew.
Career
- Secretary to the Legation at The HagueThe HagueThe Hague is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants , it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam...
(1917-1919) - Secretary to the Legation in PolandPolandPoland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
(1919-1921) - Secretary to the Legation in JapanJapanJapan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
(1921-1923) - Ceremony Officer at the White HouseWhite HouseThe White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
(1925-1927) - Secretary to the Legation in SwitzerlandSwitzerlandSwitzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
(1927-1931) - Chief of the Western EuropeWestern EuropeWestern Europe is a loose term for the collection of countries in the western most region of the European continents, though this definition is context-dependent and carries cultural and political connotations. One definition describes Western Europe as a geographic entity—the region lying in the...
an Division of the State Department (1932-1935) - Consul General at Legation in Sydney, Australia (1935-1937)
- Chief of the Division of European Affairs at the State Department (1937-1940)
- Ambassador to Canada (1940-1943)
Sources
- Moffat to Ottawa -- Printout -- TIME at jcgi.pathfinder.com Time magazine June 10, 1940 story on Jay Pierrepont Moffat's nomination as Ambassador to Canada
- Moffat, Jay Pierrepont, 1896-1943. Diplomatic papers: Guide. at oasis.harvard.edu:10080 Harvard University Library's record of the diplomatic papers of Jay Pierrepont Moffat