John Batterson Stetson Jr. (October 14, 1884 – November 15, 1952) was an American diplomat and businessman. The son of John B. Stetson, he served as the United States Minister to Poland from 1925 to 1929.
As his father's scion, Stetson Jr. took up a position as a director of the John B. Stetson Company; he also served on the board of trustees for his (and his father's) eponymous university, Stetson University.[4] His own ventures, however, were not so profitable: though he bought himself a seat on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in 1930,[5] his company was banned from trading three years later,[6] soon went bankrupt and into receivership; he ultimately bought it out in 1936,[7] and later disposed of his NYSE seat.[3]
As a trustee of the university that had been named for his father, Stetson had a great interest in the history of Florida, using his money and influence to attract historians and purchase collections;[9] he also organized the Florida State Historical Society and later became an officer of the Florida Historical Society.[4]
In 1924, Stetson was first considered to become the United States Minister to Finland during the Coolidge administration;[16] going so far as to return home, in late May, to discuss the matter with Secretary of State Frank B. Kellogg.[17]
Ultimately, however, Stetson acceded to his predecessor, Alfred J. Pearson, who requested the post to Finland.[18] Instead, Stetson served, during the inter-war period, as the third and last United States Minister to Poland from August 29, 1925,[19] to August 29, 1929, exactly four years. In the aftermath of World War I, he adjudged Marshal Józef Piłsudski's government as good for America, in economic terms; and American business was more than happy to respond to the Polish need for capital and investment.[20] Still, one of his first official acts was to ask foreign minister August Zaleski to reduce the censorship of the press in the country.[21] In 1927, he toured the country, by plane and automobile;[22] and also donated his own funds to aid those suffering from flooding in Poland.[23] After leaving the diplomatic corps, Stetson criticized isolationism, especially in the matter of foreign loans.[24]
In 1981, alongside Hugh S. Gibson and Anthony Joseph Drexel Biddle Jr., Stetson was considered perhaps one of the few diplomats to have "understood and sympathized with Poland's strategic dilemma" during that time.[25]
Personal life
Stetson married Ruby F. Carlisle in June 1907.[26] They had two daughters[2] and two sons: Stuart Carlisle, a Marine Corps officer killed in a plane crash in 1941;[8] and John B. Stetson III, a National Guardsman who also predeceased his father, in 1944.[27]
Stetson also contributed, inadvertently, to an exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History in 1921: a chunk of limestone, 40 pounds (18 kg), still in the shape of a Stetson hat; the result of an impulsive throw twenty years before into Fossil Creek.[28]
^Cole, Heather (May 24, 2013). "Bound in human skin". Houghton Library Blog. Archived from the original on November 1, 2020. Retrieved November 1, 2020.
