Joseph Hodges Choate (January 24, 1832 – May 14, 1917) was an American lawyer and diplomat. He was chairman of the American delegation at the Second Hague Conference, and ambassador to the United Kingdom.[1]
His father's first cousin (his first cousin once removed) was Rufus Choate, a U.S. Representative and U.S. Senator from Massachusetts. His paternal grandparents were George Choate and Susanna Choate, and his maternal grandparents were Gamaliel Hodges and Sarah (née Williams) Hodges.[3]
"United States Embassy". Caricature by Spy published in Vanity Fair in 1899.Choate featured on the 14 Apr 1898 cover of VogueJoseph Hodges Choate on May 11, 1917, in Manhattan
After graduation from law school, Choate was admitted first to the Massachusetts in 1855, followed by admission to the New York bar in 1856, after which he entered the law office of Scudder & Carter in New York City.
His success in his profession was immediate, and in 1860 he became junior partner in the firm of Evarts, Southmayd & Choate, the senior partner in which was William M. Evarts. This firm and its successor, that of Evarts, Choate & Beaman, remained for many years among the leading law firms of New York and of the country, the activities of both being national rather than local.
His greatest reputation was won perhaps in cross-examination. In politics, he allied himself with the Republican Party on its organization, being a frequent speaker in presidential campaigns, beginning with that of 1856. He never held political office, although he was a candidate for the Republican U.S. senatorial nomination for New York against Senator Thomas C. Platt in 1897. During this time he was a "true believer" in the cause of Cuban independence, being heavily informed and swayed by Cuban exiles in New York City, including Tomás Estrada Palma.[5] In 1894, he was president of the New York state constitutional convention.[6]
U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom
He was appointed, by President McKinley, U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom to succeed John Hay in 1899, and remained in this position after Theodore Roosevelt's ascendancy to the presidency until the spring of 1905.[7] In England, he won great personal popularity, and accomplished much in fostering the good relations of the two great English-speaking powers. He represented the president at the funeral of Queen Victoria. He was one of the representatives of the United States at the Second Hague Peace Conference in 1907.[8][9]
Later life
Upon the outbreak of the World War I, he ardently supported the cause of the Allies. He severely criticized President Wilson's hesitation to recommend America's immediate cooperation, but shortly before his death retracted his criticism. He was chairman of the mayor's committee in New York for entertaining the British and French commissions in 1917. His death was hastened by the physical strain of his constant activities in this connection.[10]
Personal life
Photograph of Caroline Sterling Choate, May 13, 1902.
Choate died on May 14, 1917, at his residence, 8 East 63rd Street in Manhattan.[15]
His funeral was held on May 17 at St. Bartholomew's Church in New York, where it was attended by the British Ambassador, Sir Cecil Spring-Rice, the French Minister of Education, M. Hovelacque, and the Assistant Secretary of State, William Phillips, among many others. He was buried in the Stockbridge Cemetery in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. Memorial services were held on May 22 in London, England, and on May 31 at Trinity Church on Wall Street.[16]
In 1919, two years after his death, members of the Harvard Club of New York City established the Joseph Hodges Choate Memorial Fellowship at Harvard University to commemorate his life and legacy. It is awarded each year to a student from the University of Cambridge on the recommendation of the Cambridge Vice-Chancellor for study in any Department of Harvard University.
^"Address of Joseph H. Choate: At the Opening of the Museum Building March 30, 1880". The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin. 12 (6): 126–129. 1917. doi:10.2307/3253830. JSTOR3253830. "To
him in large degree the Museum owes the breadth of its original scope, embracing all arts and embracing art in its relation to education and practical life as well as to the enjoyment of the beautiful."
^Auxier, George W. “The Propaganda Activities of the Cuban Junta in Precipitating the Spanish-American War, 1895-1898.” The Hispanic American Historical Review, vol. 19, no. 3, Duke University Press, 1939, pp. 286–305, https://doi.org/10.2307/2507259.
^"Joseph Hodges Choate Dies Suddenly". New York Times. May 15, 1917. Retrieved 2009-02-16. Joseph H. Choate died suddenly late last night at his residence, 8 East Sixty third Street, of a heart attack. He had complained of feeling ill during the day and had retired early, but there was no physician with him when the end came. He breathed his last at 11:30. Mrs. Choate and their daughter, Miss Mabel, were at his side.
^Pumpelly, Josiah C. (1918). "Hon. Joseph Hodges Choate, LL.D."(PDF). The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record. XLIX: 2–9. Retrieved 27 June 2020.
