George Wilkins Guthrie was a lawyer, diplomat, a prominent Mason and Grand Master of that order in Pennsylvania, officer of several hospitals and charitable organizations and a member of a number of clubs as well as a trustee of the University of Pittsburgh. During his administration he brought about a number of reforms in the municipal government, among them the institution of the municipal civil service.
Background
George Wilkins Guthrie, the son of John Brandon Guthrie and Catherine (Murray) Guthrie, and a descendant of Robert Guthrie, a native of Ireland who emigrated to America in 1744, was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States on September 5, 1848. His father was a prominent resident of that city, having twice served it as mayor.
Education
Young Guthrie was educated in the public schools and in 1866 graduated from the Western University of Pennsylvania (now the University of Pittsburgh) with the degree of A. B.
In 1868 he received the degree of A. M. from the same institution.
He then began the study of law in the office of Hon. Robert J. Walker in Washington, D. C. , and at the same time entered the law school of Columbian College (now George Washington University) where he received the degree of LL. B. in 1869.
Career
Admitted in 1869 to the Washington bar and to the bar of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, George Wilkins Guthrie began practice in Pittsburgh, at first in partnership with Colonel James W. Kerr and later with the Hon. Malcolm Hay.
He was early recognized as a leader in the legal profession and was retained in many of the most important civil-law cases in western Pennsylvania.
In 1876 he was associate counsel for the Tilden electors in Florida. George Wilkins Guthrie took an active part in the affairs of the Democratic party, was one of the secretaries of the National Democratic Convention in 1884 and a delegate to the conventions of 1904 and 1912.
He took a prominent part in municipal affairs, being a member of the Municipal Program Committee of the National Municipal League in 1900.
In 1896 he was a candidate for mayor of Pittsburgh, sponsored by the Citizens Municipal League, but failed of election.
In 1905, when Pittsburgh was swept by a wave of political and moral reform, he was again a candidate for the mayoralty as leader of the reformers, and on February 20, 1906, was elected for a term of three years by the largest vote ever polled in the city up to that time.
He was the third member of his family to hold this office.
In 1912 he was elected chairman of the Pennsylvania State Democratic Committee.
On May 20, 1913, President Wilson appointed him ambassador to Japan. This appointment came at a time of intense Anti-American feeling in that country, provoked by the California Alien Land Bill. Shortly after Guthrie assumed his duties as ambassador (September 8, 1913) a mob attacked the Japanese Foreign Office in Tokio in demand of stronger action on the part of the Japanese government in the controversy.
A very serious situation might have resulted had he not succeeded in convincing the Japanese statesmen that the economic and social problems of California had no real relationship to the good will of the United States as a whole toward Japan, and that the best interests of both nations would in the end be served by a calm consideration of the issues involved.
When the World War broke out he assumed the additional responsibility of attending to the affairs of Germany in Japan and handled the problems which arose with great tact.
On March 8, 1917, he died very suddenly at Tokio. His body was brought to the United States on a Japanese cruiser as a token of the high esteem with which he was regarded by that government.
Achievements
Membership
He was a prominent Mason and Grand Master of that order in Pennsylvania in 1910-11. He was an officer of several hospitals and charitable organizations and a member of a number of clubs as well as a trustee of the University of Pittsburgh.
Connections
George Wilkins Guthrie was married on December 2, 1886, to Florence J. Howe of Pittsburgh.