
Elihu Root
Former United States Secretary of State
Education
- Bachelor of law degree - Law School of New York University
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Overview
Elihu Root was an American lawyer, Republican politician, and statesman who served as the 41st United States Secretary of War under Presidents William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt and 38th United States Secretary of State under Roosevelt. In both positions as well as a long legal career, he pioneered the American practice of international law. Root is sometimes considered the prototype of the 20th century political "wise man," advising presidents on a range of foreign and domestic issues. He also served as a United States Senator from New York and received the 1912 Nobel Peace Prize.
Root was a leading New York City lawyer who moved frequently between high-level appointed government positions in Washington, D.C., and private-sector legal practice in New York City. His private clients included major corporations and such powerful players as Andrew Carnegie. Root served as president or chairman of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the Carnegie Institution of Washington, and the Carnegie Corporation of New York. Root was a prominent opponent of women's suffrage and worked to ensure the New York state constitution allowed only men to vote.
As Secretary of War from 1899 to 1904, Root administered colonial possessions won in the Spanish–American War, especially the Philippines and Cuba. Root favored a paternalistic approach to colonial administration, emphasizing technology, engineering, and disinterested public service. He helped design the Foraker Act of 1900, the Philippine Organic Act (1902), and the Platt Amendment of 1901. He was a strong advocate for the Panama Canal and the Open Door Policy. Root also modernized the Army into a professional military apparatus comparable to the best in Europe. He restructured the National Guard into an effective reserve, created the United States Army War College and established a general staff.
After a brief return to private life, Root rejoined the Roosevelt administration as Secretary of State from 1905 to 1909. Root modernized the consular service by minimizing patronage, promoted friendly relations with Latin America, and resolved frictions with Japan over the immigration of unskilled workers to the West Coast of the United States. He negotiated 24 bilateral international arbitration treaties, which led to the creation of the Permanent Court of International Justice.
In the United States Senate, Root was a conservative supporter of President William Howard Taft. He played a central role in Taft's nomination to a second term at the 1912 Republican National Convention. By 1916, he was a leading proponent of military preparedness with the expectation that the United States would enter World War I. President Woodrow Wilson sent him to Russia in 1917 in an unsuccessful effort to establish an alliance with the new revolutionary government that had replaced the Czar. Root supported Wilson's vision of the League of Nations but with reservations along the lines proposed by Republican Senator Henry Cabot Lodge.
Early Life
Elihu Root was born February 15, 1845 in Clinton, New York, to Oren Root and Nancy Whitney Buttrick, both of English descent. His father was a professor of mathematics at Hamilton College.
Elihu studied at local schools including Williston Seminary, where he was a classmate of G. Stanley Hall, before enrolling at Hamilton. He joined the Sigma Phi Society and was elected to the Phi Beta Kappa Society. After graduation, Root was an instructor of physical education for two years at Williston Seminary and taught for one year at the Rome Free Academy.[citation needed]
Despite his parents' encouragement to become a Presbyterian minister,[citation needed] Root moved to New York City in 1865 with his brother Wally and sought a career in the law. He enrolled at New York University School of Law and earned money teaching American history at elite girls' schools. At the time, most law students in the United States applied for admission to the bar after one year of study, but Root stayed on for a second year, essentially a private tutelage under Professor John Norton Pomeroy. He graduated in 1867 with a Bachelor of Laws and was admitted to the bar on June 18, 1867.
Career
- United States - Former Secretary of State