Willard Dickerman Straight

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American financier, publisher, and diplomat (1880–1918)

title: "Willard Dickerman Straight" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["20th-century-american-architects", "american-diplomats", "united-states-army-personnel-of-world-war-i", "bordentown-military-institute-alumni", "cornell-university-alumni", "whitney-family", "1880-births", "1918-deaths", "deaths-from-the-spanish-flu-pandemic-in-france", "war-correspondents-of-the-russo-japanese-war", "recipients-of-the-distinguished-service-medal-(us-army)", "united-states-army-officers", "reuters-people", "united-states-army-reservists", "the-new-republic-people", "people-from-oswego,-new-york", "deaths-from-pneumonia-in-france", "american-military-personnel-killed-in-world-war-i", "military-personnel-from-new-york-(state)"] description: "American financier, publisher, and diplomat (1880–1918)" topic_path: "history" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willard_Dickerman_Straight" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American financier, publisher, and diplomat (1880–1918) ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox person"]

FieldValue
imageWilliard Straight, portrait bust LCCN2014680658 (2) (cropped).jpg
birth_date
birth_placeOswego, New York, US
death_date
death_placeParis, France
resting_placeSuresnes American Cemetery and Memorial
spouse
parentsHenry H. Straight
Emma Dickerman
childrenWhitney Willard Straight
Beatrice Whitney Straight
Michael Whitney Straight
educationBordentown Military Institute
alma materCornell University (1901)
module{{Infobox military person
embedyes
birth_date
death_date
placeofburial_coordinates
allegianceUnited States
branchUnited States Army
serviceyears1917–1918
rankMajor
::

| image = Williard Straight, portrait bust LCCN2014680658 (2) (cropped).jpg | alt = | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = | birth_place = Oswego, New York, US | death_date = | death_place = Paris, France | resting_place = Suresnes American Cemetery and Memorial | spouse = | parents = Henry H. Straight Emma Dickerman | children = Whitney Willard Straight Beatrice Whitney Straight Michael Whitney Straight | occupation = | education = Bordentown Military Institute | networth = | alma mater = Cornell University (1901) |module={{Infobox military person | embed = yes | honorific_prefix = | name = | honorific_suffix = | image = | image_upright = | alt = | caption = | native_name = | native_name_lang = | birth_name = | other_name = | nickname = | birth_date = | birth_place = | death_date = | death_place = | placeofburial = | placeofburial_label = | placeofburial_coordinates = | allegiance = United States | branch = United States Army | branch_label = | serviceyears = 1917–1918 | serviceyears_label = | rank = Major | known_for = Willard Dickerman Straight (January 31, 1880 – December 1, 1918) was an American investment banker, publisher, reporter, diplomat and by marriage, a member of the Whitney family. He was a promoter of Chinese arts and investments, and a major supporter of liberal causes.

Early life

Straight was born on January 31, 1880, in Oswego, New York, Emma was described as an artist who "loved poetry, pictures — beauty in all its forms — but above all else, people." His parents were faculty members at Oswego Normal School. Straight was orphaned at age ten, by the death of his father in 1886 and his mother in 1890. Willard and his sister were taken in by Dr. Elvire Ranier, one of the earliest woman physicians in the country. He attended Bordentown Military Institute in New Jersey, and in 1897 he enrolled at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, and graduated in 1901 with a degree in architecture. At Cornell, he joined Delta Tau Delta, edited and contributed to several publications, and helped to organize Dragon Day, an annual architecture students' event. He was also elected to the Sphinx Head Society, membership in which was reserved for the most respected men of the senior class.

Career

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2a/Willard_Dickerman_Straight_in_1917_(cropped).jpg" caption="publisher=[[Cornell University Library]]}}"] ::

In 1906, after briefly working in Havana, Cuba, he returned to China as American Consul-General at Mukden, Manchuria. While there, he and Ms. Mary Harriman were reportedly romantically involved, but their marriage was prevented by E. H. Harriman, her wealthy father. He then went on to work for J. P. Morgan & Co.

Straight married heiress Dorothy Payne Whitney in 1911.

In 1914, Willard and Dorothy, together with Herbert Croly, began publication of The New Republic, a weekly political magazine that quickly became the voice of American liberalism. In 1917, they helped found Asia Magazine, a prominent academic journal on China.

In 1915, Straight left J.P. Morgan and went to work as a vice-president for American International Corporation. In that same year, Straight became involved with the Preparedness Movement and attended the July 1915 Citizens' Military Training Camp in Plattsburgh, New York. When the United States entered World War I two years later, Straight joined the United States Army. He served stateside and later in France with the Adjutant General's Corps and First Army. For his service, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal and served as a major.

According to Eric Rauchway, Straight favored an American version of imperialism that was a liberal effort to take political control in Asia away from Britain, Russia, Japan, and other colonial powers and to put it in the hands of those more enlightened. Believing deeply in liberal doctrines about human nature, Straight believed American imperialism was the one best hope for the oppressed peoples of the world.

Personal life

| header = Memorial buildings | align = right | direction = | total_width = 300 | perrow = 2 | image1= 1130 Fifth Avenue.jpg | caption1 = Willard D. Straight House in New York City | image2= Willardstraighhall edited.jpg | caption2 = Willard Straight Hall at Cornell University Straight was romantically involved with Ethel Roosevelt, daughter of U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt, according to the society pages of the times, but they broke up. He served as a trustee of Cornell University and a member of the Century Association and Knickerbocker Club.

In 1911, after five years of courtship, Straight married Dorothy Payne Whitney (1887–1968), a member of the prominent Whitney family, in Geneva, Switzerland. Her father was William Collins Whitney, the Secretary of the Navy during the first Cleveland administration, and her mother was Flora Payne, the daughter of Senator Henry B. Payne of Ohio. The Straights moved first to Beijing, then, having adjudged China too unsafe after the 1911 Revolution, back to the United States in 1912. Together, Willard and Dorothy had:

On December 1, 1918, Straight died of pneumonia, a complication of the Spanish influenza, in Paris, where he was arranging the arrival of the American mission to the Paris Peace Conference.

Legacy

Following the death of Straight's good friend Henry Schoellkopf in 1912, Straight donated $100,000 () to construct the Schoellkopf Memorial Hall in his honor. After his death, his wife made a substantial donation to Cornell to build the school's first student union building, Willard Straight Hall, which was named in his honor.

References

References

  1. [http://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1918/12/02/97048021.html?pageNumber=13 MAJ. W.D. STRAIGHT IS DEAD IN PARIS Financier and Diplomat Victim of Pneumonia While on War Mission with Col. House. BEGAN LIFE AS A POOR BOY Son of Missionary to Japan and China, He Won International Fame—Tributes Here. Chosen by E.H. Harriman Associated With J.P. Morgan & Co.] - ''[[The New York Times]]'' December 2, 1918; accessed Dec 6, 2015
  2. (1922). "Willard Straight in the Orient: With Illustrations from His Sketch-books". Asia Publishing Company.
  3. (2014). "Cornell: A History, 1940-2015". Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press.
  4. [https://www.dos.cornell.edu/wsh/history_2.html Willard Straight Hall – History] Cornell University, Dean of Students Office; accessed 05-05-2008
  5. "Willard D. Straight". [[Cornell University Library]].
  6. (July 30, 1911). "Willard Straight, who is to marry Dorothy Whitney. A Career That Reads Like a Romance Is That of the Missionary's Son Who Became a Figure in Finance, Politics and International Affairs, and Who Won the Love of Two Heiresses". [[The New York Times]].
  7. Harry N. Scheiber, "World War I as Entrepreneurial Opportunity: Willard Straight and the American International Corporation." ''Political Science Quarterly'' 84.3 (1969): 486. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/2147271 online]
  8. ''Colonel Roosevelt'', by [[Edmund Morris (writer). Edmund Morris]], p.433, published 2010 by [[Random House]]
  9. [https://books.google.com/books?id=aNfrnkW2AF4C&dq=willard+dickerman+straight+obituary&pg=RA1-PT326 My Life before the World War, 1860--1917: A Memoir] by [[John Pershing]], University of Kentucky Press, 2013; accessed Dec 6 2015
  10. (1919). "Army and Navy". [[Cornell University]].
  11. Eric * Rauchway, "Willard Straight and the Paradox of Liberal Imperialism." ''Pacific Historical Review'' 66.3 (1997): 363+. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/3640202 online]
  12. [http://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1918/12/02/97048021.html?pageNumber=13 MAJ. W.D. STRAIGHT IS DEAD IN PARIS - Financier and Diplomat Victim of Pneumonia While on War Mission with Col. House. BEGAN LIFE AS A POOR BOY Son of Missionary to Japan and China, He Won International Fame—Tributes Here. Chosen by E.H. Harriman Associated With J.P. Morgan & Co.] - ''[[The New York Times]]'' December 2, 1918; accessed Dec 6, 2015
  13. (1914). "The World Almanac & Book of Facts". Newspaper Enterprise Association.
  14. [https://ezra.cornell.edu/posting.php?timestamp=886050000 Dear Uncle Ezra] Cornell University; accessed 05-05-2008
  15. (January 7, 2004). "Michael Straight". [[The Daily Telegraph.
  16. {The Schoellkopfs, A Family History}, 1994 Copy Held by Cornell University Archives.
  17. [http://www.cornellbigred.com/Sports/general/2007/SchoellkopfField.asp Cornell Big Red.com] Schoellkopf facts/history accessed 10-09-2007

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