View source for Bainbridge Colby

{{Short description|American politician (1869–1950)}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name                = Bainbridge Colby
| image               = Bainbridge Colby, bw photo portrait, 1920 (3x4a).jpg
| caption             = Colby in 1920
| office              = 43rd [[United States Secretary of State]]
| president           = [[Woodrow Wilson]]
| term_start          = February 13, 1920
| term_end            = March 4, 1921
| predecessor         = [[Robert Lansing]]
| successor           = [[Charles Evans Hughes]]
| state_assembly1     = New York
| district1           = 29th [[Manhattan|New York County]]
| term_start1         = January 1, 1901
| term_end1           = December 31, 1902
| predecessor1        = Hal Bell
| successor1          = George B. Clark
| birth_date          = {{birth date|1869|12|22}}
| birth_place         = [[St. Louis]], [[Missouri]], U.S.
| death_date          = {{death date and age|1950|4|11|1869|12|22}}
| death_place         = [[Bemus Point, New York]], U.S.
| party               = [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] (Before 1912)<br>[[Bull Moose Party|Progressive]] (1912–1920)<br>[[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] (1920–1950)
| otherparty          = [[Independence Party (United States)|Independence]] (1916)
| spouse              = Nathalie Sedgwick<br>Ann Ahlstrand Ely
| children            = 7
| education           = [[Williams College]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]])<br>[[New York Law School]] ([[Bachelor of Laws|LLB]])
}}
'''Bainbridge Colby''' (December 22, 1869 – April 11, 1950) was an American politician and attorney who was<ref>{{Cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=faqqVGdMbOoC&q=Bainbridge+Colby+progressive&pg=PA153 | title=Men Against Myths: The Progressive Response| isbn=9780275968885| last1=Greenbaum| first1=Fred| year=2000| publisher=Greenwood Publishing}}</ref> a co-founder of the [[Bull Moose Party|United States Progressive Party]] and [[Woodrow Wilson]]'s last [[United States Secretary of State|Secretary of State]]. Colby was a Republican until he helped co-found the National Progressive Party in 1912; he ran for multiple offices as a member of that party, but did not win any.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.infoplease.com/encyclopedia/history/bios/us/colby-bainbridge|title=Colby, Bainbridge|website=InfoPlease|access-date=November 20, 2019}}</ref><ref name=EB1922>{{cite EB1922 |wstitle=Colby, Bainbridge |volume=30 |page=721 }}</ref>

Colby served as Secretary of State from February 1920<ref name=EB1922/> until 1921, at a time when President Woodrow Wilson was medically handicapped and largely out of touch. He is best known for promoting a [[Good Neighbor policy]] for Latin America, and for denouncing the communist regime in Russia.

==Early life and education==
Bainbridge Colby was born in [[St. Louis, Missouri]] on December 22, 1869.<ref name=EB1922/> He graduated from [[Williams College]], where he was admitted to [[Phi Beta Kappa]],<ref>[http://politicalgraveyard.com/geo/MO/phi-beta-kappa.html Politician members in Missouri], ''PoliticalGraveyard.com'', accessed October 9, 2009</ref> then attended [[Columbia Law School]] and [[New York Law School]] (1892).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://millercenter.org/academic/americanpresident/wilson/essays/cabinet/455 |title=American President: Bainbridge Colby (1920 - 1921) |access-date=2009-03-07 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081228211923/http://millercenter.org/academic/americanpresident/wilson/essays/cabinet/455 |archive-date=2008-12-28}} The Miller Center for Public Affairs, University of Virginia</ref>

==Career==
He was admitted to the New York bar, and served as a member of the [[New York State Assembly]] (New York Co., 29th D.) [[125th New York State Legislature|1901–1902]]. 
He spoke at the [[Colby College]] commencement on June 19, 1933, at which time he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws degree.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.hulahips.com/bainbridgecolbyspeechs/colbylawdegree/|title=Index of B ainbridge Colby speeches|website=www.hulahips.com|access-date=November 20, 2019|archive-date=December 20, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181220230636/http://www.hulahips.com/bainbridgecolbyspeechs/colbylawdegree/|url-status=dead}}</ref>

===Politics===
At the [[1914 New York state election]], Colby ran on the [[Bull Moose Party|Progressive]] ticket for [[U.S. Senator from New York]], but was defeated by Republican [[James W. Wadsworth, Jr.]] At the [[1916 New York state election]], he ran again, this time on the Progressive and [[Independence League]] tickets, but was defeated by Republican [[William M. Calder]].

During [[World War I]], Colby was a member of the [[United States Shipping Board]].

Colby was a special assistant to the [[United States Attorney General]] in an [[anti-trust]] action in 1917, and represented the U.S. at the Inter-Allied Conference at Paris the same year.

===Secretary of State===
Wilson appointed him Secretary of State on March 23, 1920, after firing his predecessor, [[Robert Lansing]], for insubordination. Wilson's appointment of Colby was "bizarre" says historian [[John Milton Cooper]], for Colby had no diplomatic experience or skills. Editorial responses from leading newspapers ranged "from puzzlement to outrage."<ref>John Milton Cooper, ''Woodrow Wilson: A Biography'' (2009) p 556</ref> Colby was chosen because he was totally loyal to Wilson.

On August 26, eight days after ratification of the [[Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Nineteenth Amendment]], Colby issued the official proclamation that it had become a part of the [[Constitution of the United States]], guaranteeing women the right to vote.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/section/learning|title=The Learning Network|newspaper=The New York Times |access-date=November 20, 2019}}</ref> In December 1920, Colby embarked on the battleship {{USS|Florida|BB-30|2}} for an official goodwill cruise to South America.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1920/12/05/102990706.pdf|title=The New York Times, December 5, 1920|access-date=November 20, 2019}}</ref> His goodwill trip set the stage for the transition to a "Good Neighbor" policy.<ref>Smith, 1963</ref>

Colby advocated his policies firmly even as Wilson suffered the debilitating side effects of a series of strokes. Colby supported the [[League of Nations]] and established a precedent for not recognizing newly Communist Russia; that would be reversed in 1933.<ref>McFadden, 1995</ref> In a major statement in 1920, Colby declared:
:It is not possible for the Government of the United States to recognize the present rulers of Russia as a government with which the relations common to friendly governments can be maintained. This conviction has nothing to do with any particular political or social structure which the Russian people themselves may see fit to embrace. It rests upon a wholly different set of facts....that the existing regime in Russia is based upon the negation of every principle of honor and good faith, and every usage and convention, underlying the whole structure of international law; the negation, in short, of every principle upon which it is possible to base harmonious and trustful relations, whether of nations or of individuals. The responsible leaders of the regime have frequently and openly boasted that they are willing to sign agreements and undertakings with foreign Powers while not having the slightest intention of observing such undertakings or carrying out such agreements....it is their understanding that the very existence of Bolshevism in Russia, the maintenance of their own rule, depends, and must continue to depend, upon the occurrence of revolutions in all other great civilized nations, including the United States, which will overthrow and destroy their governments and set up Bolshevist rule in their stead. They have made it quite plain that they intend to use every means, including, of course, diplomatic agencies, to promote such revolutionary movements in other countries.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu//coldwar/documents/episode-1/colby.htm|title=Bainbridge Colby|website=nsarchive2.gwu.edu|access-date=November 20, 2019}}</ref>

He served until Wilson left office on March 4, 1921.

The Library of Congress maintains a collection of Colby’s documents.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/eadmss.ms011091 | title=Bainbridge Colby papers, 1863-1950 }}</ref>

===Later career===

After leaving office as secretary of state, Colby continued to practice law for the remainder of his career. As an attorney, Colby accepted Woodrow Wilson as a partner after the latter's presidency; Colby left that firm in 1923. Earlier in his career, Colby's most notable client was [[Mark Twain]]. Colby addressed the fractious [[1924 Democratic National Convention]] as the chief spokesman for the minority of delegates that unsuccessfully sought a [[party platform|platform]] plank denouncing the then-powerful [[Ku Klux Klan]] by name.<ref>[[Claude G. Bowers]], ''My Life: The Memoirs of Claude Bowers'', [https://archive.org/details/mylifethememoirs017259mbp/page/n127/mode/1up?view=theater p,120] (New York: [[Simon & Schuster]] 1962) (retrieved Jul.27, 2024).</ref>

Colby was a prominent member of the [[American Liberty League]], a group of wealthy, anti-[[New Deal]] Democrats. He eventually supported the Republican candidate, [[Alf Landon]], over [[Franklin Roosevelt]] in 1936.<ref>[https://findingaids.loc.gov/exist_collections/ead3pdf/mss/2011/ms011091.pdf Bainbridge Colby Papers A Finding Aid to the Collection in the Library of Congress]</ref>

==Personal life==
Colby was married twice. His first wife was Nathalie Sedgwick, who became a novelist; they were married in 1895 and had three children (Katherine Sedgwick Colby, Nathalie Sedgwick Colby and Frances Bainbridge Colby). Colby decided to divorce his wife while he was in [[Paris]] in 1928.<ref name="auto1">{{Cite magazine|date=November 11, 1929|title=Milestones: Nov. 11, 1929|magazine=Time |url=http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,738003,00.html|access-date=November 20, 2019|via=content.time.com}}</ref> The divorce was finalized in [[Reno, Nevada]] later that year.<ref>{{Cite web|title=COLBY FAMILY & OTHERS|url=http://freepages.rootsweb.com/~colby/genealogy/colbyfam/b142.html|access-date=November 20, 2019|website=freepages.rootsweb.com}}</ref> The marriage apparently was very contentious and Colby felt the need to include in his divorce decree a monthly payment of $1,500.00 to stop Nathalie from "ridiculing him in her writings".<ref name="auto1" /> Less than a year later, he married Anne Ahlstrand Ely, who was politically engaged in many of the same issues as Colby, such as women's suffrage. (As Secretary of State, Colby would issue the proclamation announcing that the [[Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|19th Amendment]], guaranteeing women the right to vote, had been ratified as part of the [[U.S. Constitution]].)<ref>{{Cite web|title=19th Amendment adopted|url=https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/19th-amendment-adopted|access-date=November 20, 2019|website=HISTORY|date=9 February 2010 }}</ref>

Colby died in 1950. He is buried in [[Bemua Point, New York]].<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1950/04/12/archives/bainbridge-colby-noted-lawyer-dies-wilsons-secretary-of-state-in.html | title=BAINBRIDGE COLBY, NOTED LAWYER, DIES; Wilson's Secretary of State in 1920-21 Later Became His Partner in Firm Here FORMER BULL-MOOSE AIDE Backed Theodore Roosevelt and the Progressives in 1912-- Legal Leader for 58 Years Known as Brilliant Lawyer Ran for Senate in 1914 His Position on Mandates Opposition to Prohibition | work=The New York Times | date=12 April 1950 }}</ref> After his deaths, his widow donated much memorabilia to the local library; it eventually found a home at the Library of Congress.<ref name="auto">{{Cite web|title=COLBY FAMILY & OTHERS|url=http://freepages.rootsweb.com/~colby/genealogy/colbyfam/b11.html|access-date=November 20, 2019|website=freepages.rootsweb.com}}</ref> She never remarried and died in 1963.<ref name="auto" /> At the time of his death,<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Grape Belt - Google News Archive Search|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=0JlBAAAAIBAJ&pg=2564,4465344&dq=bainbridge+colby+dead&hl=en|access-date=November 20, 2019|website=news.google.com}}</ref> Colby was the last surviving member of the Wilson Cabinet.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* McFadden, David W. "After the Colby Note: The Wilson Administration and the Bolsheviks, 1920-21." ''Presidential Studies Quarterly'' 25.4 (1995): 741-750. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/27551509 online]
* Smith, Daniel M. "Bainbridge Colby and the Good Neighbor Policy, 1920-1921." ''Mississippi Valley Historical Review'' 50.1 (1963): 56-78.
* Smith, Daniel Malloy. "Aftermath of war: Bainbridge Colby and Wilsonian diplomacy, 1920-1921" ''Memoirs of the American Philosophical Society'' vol 80 (1970)
* Winid, Boguslaw W. "After the Colby Note: The Wilson Administration and the Polish-Bolshevik War." ''Presidential Studies Quarterly'' 26.4 (1996): 1165-1169. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/27551677 online]

==External links==
{{wikisource|works=or}}
*{{commons category-inline}}
* {{Find a Grave|10505367}}
* Library of Congress, Colby Papers Collection http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/eadmss.ms011091

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{{succession box | title = [[New York State Assembly]] <br>New York County, 29th District | before = Hal Bell | years = 1902 | after = George B. Clark}}
{{s-off}}
{{U.S. Cabinet official box
| before=[[Robert Lansing]]
| after=[[Charles Evans Hughes]]
| years=1920 – 1921
| president= [[Woodrow Wilson]]
| department= Secretary of State}}
{{s-end}}

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{{Wilson cabinet}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Colby, Bainbridge}}
[[Category:1869 births]]
[[Category:1950 deaths]]
[[Category:New York (state) lawyers]]
[[Category:Lawyers from St. Louis]]
[[Category:New York (state) Republicans]]
[[Category:United States secretaries of state]]
[[Category:New York Law School alumni]]
[[Category:Columbia Law School alumni]]
[[Category:Williams College alumni]]
[[Category:Woodrow Wilson administration cabinet members]]
[[Category:New York (state) Progressives (1912)]]
[[Category:20th-century American politicians]]
[[Category:Politicians from St. Louis]]
[[Category:Candidates in the 1914 United States Senate elections]]