Background

Gilbert M. Hitchcock was born on September 18, 1859 in Omaha, Nebraska, United States. He was the son of United States Senator Phineas Warren Hitchcock of Nebraska.

Education

He was educated in the city's public schools and for 2 years attended the gymnasium (high school) in Baden-Baden, Germany. He received a law degree from the University of Michigan in 1881 and was admitted to the Nebraska bar.

Career

In 1885 Hitchcock and three associates founded the Omaha Evening World. In 1889 he purchased the Morning Herald, one of the most important Democratic newspapers in Nebraska, and consolidated it with the Evening World as the Omaha World Herald. From this solid financial and political base he launched his public career.

It was as a "Bryan man" that Hitchcock was elected in 1902 to the United States House of Representatives, where he served until elected senator in 1911. In the Senate, Hitchcock showed considerable independence from the Woodrow Wilson administration. He opposed the Federal Reserve Act of 1913 and, in 1914, introduced a bill to embargo all arms to countries at war in Europe, a plan resisted vigorously by President Wilson. Germany's resumption of submarine warfare in 1917, and the publication of the Zimmermann telegram, brought Hitchcock to support of the administration. Reluctantly, he voted to declare war on Germany. Hitchcock's greatest influence in the Senate began when he assumed chairmanship of the Foreign Relations Committee in April 1918. He was a reluctant internationalist, and it was only during World War I that he saw the necessity for some international agency to secure the peace. Yet, despite his conversion to advocacy of the League of Nations, Hitchcock's relations with President Wilson remained cool. The President ignored Hitchcock's suggestion that the modifications of the League's collective security provisions proposed by Republican senator Henry Cabot Lodge be incorporated into the Treaty of Versailles to make it more acceptable. Meanwhile, Democratic counterproposals, acceptable to the President, had little general success. Though Hitchcock supported Wilson to the end, the League and the treaty were defeated. Hitchcock was defeated for reelection in 1922 and in 1930. He served as chairman of the Democratic platform committee in 1932.

Achievements

• Gilbert Monell Hitchcock founded the Omaha World Herald. Senator Hitchcock's most significant contribution while in the Senate was his leadership of the fight for the ratification of the Treaty of Versailles and the Covenant of the League of Nations in 1919-1920. Gilbert M. Hitchcock Elementary School and Hitchcock Park in Omaha were named in his honor.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Treaty of peace with Germany ... Report

    (This book was originally published prior to 1923, and rep...)

  • 66th Congress 2d Session. Senate. Document No. 237; The Adriatic Question

    (Leopold is delighted to publish this classic book as part...)

  • The Adriatic Question

    (This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. T...)

Politics

The Hitchcock family was traditionally Republican. But viewing the plight of western agriculture in the 1880's, Hitchcock aligned himself with the Democratic-Populist camp in Nebraska, whose leader was William Jennings Bryan.

Connections

In 1883 he married Jessie Crounse, the daughter of Nebraska Supreme Court justice and future governor Lorenzo Crounse. In 1927 he married Martha Harris.

Father:

Phineas Warren Hitchcock

1st wife:

Jessie Crounse

father-in-law:

Lorenzo Crounse

2nd wife:

Martha Harris

References

• Woodrow Wilson and the great betrayal
• Henry Cabot Lodge: A Biography