Henry Prather Fletcher was an American diplomat who served under six presidents.
Background
He was born in Greencastle, Pennsylvania, the son of Lewis Henry Clay Fletcher, a bank cashier, and Martha Ellen Rowe. His mother died in 1882, and Fletcher was raised by his older sisters; his later humor, grace, and warmth may perhaps be attributed to their gentle discipline.
Education
Fletcher attended local public and private schools until 1884, when his father became auditor for the Cumberland Railroad in Chambersburg.
He completed his basic education in 1889 at the Chambersburg Academy.
(Fletcher later lamented his failure to attend Princeton; and the lack of college credentials remained a psychological--if not a real--impediment to his career. )
Career
At the age of eighteen, he became a district court reporter and began to read law with his uncle, Judge D. Watson Rowe. He passed the bar examination in 1894, entered partnership with his uncle, and became an active member of the Republican Party.
The Spanish-American War propelled Fletcher into a new direction. Through bounding enthusiasm, political pressure, and a convincing letter from Senator Matthew Quay, he gained entry into Theodore Roosevelt's Rough Riders.
Fletcher went to Cuba as part of K Troop, First United States Cavalry, but saw no action. He then accepted a temporary commission as first lieutenant and stayed in the army long enough for a tour of duty in the Philippines, where he served as an adjutant and then as a revenue officer (1899 - 1901).
He enjoyed a relatively peaceful army life, and his position in the army of occupation also helped form the conservative paternalism so characteristic of his mature philosophy.
After leaving the army, Fletcher obtained an appointment from President Theodore Roosevelt as second secretary in the new Havana legation. He served in Cuba (1902 - 1903), China (1903 - 1905), and as secretary to the American legation in Portugal (1905 - 1907), before returning to Peking as charge d'affaires--and as a seasoned diplomat with skills in Mandarin as well as Spanish.
Dollar diplomacy found no greater champion than Fletcher. Although he disapproved of political meddling, he sincerely believed that China benefited from American economic involvement.
He developed a solid reputation with his superiors and acquired other advantages from his China post. Straight provided him with Wall Street connections, such as Edward H. Harriman, Thomas W. Lamont, and J. P. Morgan. These ties, which Fletcher used later to open Latin American markets, led to his meeting socialite Beatrice Bend.
President William H. Taft appointed Fletcher minister to Chile in December 1909. After Wilson's election he survived the advent of the new administration and Secretary of State William J. Bryan's purge of mission chiefs by traveling to Washington to plead his case.
Through his Wall Street friends, he received the support of presidential adviser Edward M. House, which also helped. A year later (1914), the Santiago post was elevated to embassy level and Fletcher became the first ambassador, heralding the trend toward professional and linguistically competent diplomats that culminated in the Rogers Act of 1924.
Between 1909 and 1916 Fletcher ably assisted American investment in Chile. By the time he departed, Guggenheim interests were prominent in Chilean copper, and Bethlehem Steel dominated Chile's iron ore industry.
During the next decade Fletcher served briefly as under secretary of state (1921 - 1922) and as ambassador to Belgium (1922 - 1924) and Italy (1924 - 1929). The treasured post, Great Britain, eluded him despite his active candidacy in 1923, 1928, and 1932.
This was his greatest disappointment. In the midst of other assignments, he led the United States delegation to the Fifth Pan-American Conference (1923) and joined the United States delegation to the Sixth (1928).
At both meetings he worked to stave off political challenges to the principle of United States intervention in Latin American affairs.
He also headed the delegation to the International Conference for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Property, which met in Rome in 1928. After he left the Italian post in June 1929, he served on the Forbes Commission to Haiti (1930) and chaired the United States Tariff Commission (1930 - 1931).
Recalled to public service, Fletcher became a special adviser to the secretary of state in 1944 and participated in the Dumbarton Oaks Conference.
He retired in 1945 and died in Newport, Rhod Island.
He enjoyed a relatively peaceful army life, and his position in the army of occupation also helped form the conservative paternalism so characteristic of his mature philosophy.
Politics
He passed the bar examination in 1894, entered partnership with his uncle, and became an active member of the Republican Party.
Membership
He headed the Republican National Committee (1934 - 1936) and remained a member and counselor to its executive body until 1944.
Connections
In 1917, he married Beatrice Bend (1874-1941), a daughter of George H. Bend, a member of the New York Stock Exchange who had gone bankrupt. They had no children.
Father:
Lewis Henry Clay Fletcher
associates:
Edward H. Harriman, Thomas W. Lamont, and J. P. Morgan