John Holladay Latané

Background

John Holladay Latané was born in Staunton, Virginia, the second son and seventh child of the twelve children of Bishop James Allen Latané of the Reformed Episcopal Church and Mary Minor Holladay. The Latané family in America began with Lewis Latané, who emigrated to Virginia in 1701 with a group of Huguenot refugees, of whom he was the pastor.

Education

John graduated from Baltimore City College, a high school, in 1889 and in 1892 received the degree of A. B. from Johns Hopkins University. He continued his studies there in history and received the degree of Ph. D. in 1895 with a dissertation entitled The Early Relations between Maryland and Virginia (1895).

Career

From 1895 to 1896 Latané was acting professor of history and economics at City College, Baltimore, and the following year he taught history and English at San Rafael Military Academy, California. In 1898 he became professor of history and economics at Randolph-Macon Woman's College, Lynchburg, Virginia, where he remained until 1902. From 1902 to 1913 he was professor of history at Washington and Lee University, becoming in the latter year professor of American history and head of the department at Johns Hopkins University. From 1919 to 1924 he was dean of the college faculty.

In 1930 he became a member of the research staff of the Walter Hines Page School of International Relations. The study of history was not an end in itself for Latané but was the means by which to solve present problems or plot future courses. Consequently, he was always willing to emerge from academic security and help to apply the lessons of history to existing conditions.

During the discouraging years from 1919 to 1930 he addressed hundreds of meetings in favor of the League of Nations. The same spirit led him into public political discussions on various questions. He served on the commission to draft a charter for Baltimore in 1917, on the Maryland council of defense, 1917-1919, and on the board of trustees of St. John's College, Annapolis.

He always fought tenaciously for what he considered to be just. Intensely loyal to his friends, he could be exceedingly pugnacious in a dispute, and he aroused the resentment of many of his fellow historians when in the years 1913 to 1915 he attacked a group whom he accused of dominating the American Historical Association by the methods of a political machine (Frederic Bancroft, J. H. Latané, Dunbar Rowland, Why the American Historical Association Needs Thorough Reorganization, 1916-17).

Latané will be remembered chiefly as a historian. His books and numerous articles reflect his keen interest in the contemporary world. Except for his dissertation and three widely used textbooks, A History of the United States (1918), for high schools, A History of American Foreign Policy (1927), for colleges, and American History for Young Americans (1917), for grade-school students, all his books and most of his articles were devoted largely to contemporary events. The best-known were The Diplomatic Relations of the United States and Spanish America (1900); America as a World Power, 1897-1907 (1907), a volume in the American Nation series; From Isolation to Leadership (1918); The United States and Latin America (1920).

Inevitably these books reveal the weaknesses of histories written so close to the events that the best source materials are not available and proper perspective is not possible: yet, written between the reports of journalists and the so-called definitive work of future scholars they helped to crystallize opinion for several generations at least.

He died of a heart attack, in New Orleans, where he was attending a meeting of the Association for the Advancement of Science, and was buried in Lexington, Virginia.

Achievements

• Latané played a leading part in the founding of the Walter Hines Page School of International Relations. His chief interest was in problems of international relations, and he championed especially the ideas and policies of Woodrow Wilson. He supported the League of Nations, the Kellog-Briand Pact and opposed Prohibition. His non-isolationist, international views were reflected in his teachings, writings and lecures. His famous work "America as a World Power" was widely used and did much to formulate the first views of the academic world about American history from 1897 to 1907. Like all his books, it is marked by clear writing, wise judgment, and vigorous thought.

Works

More photos

• book

  • American History, 1897-1907. America as a World Power

    (The main field of the volume is the Spanish War of 1898 a...)

  • From Isolation to Leadership, Revised: A Review of American Foreign Policy (Dodo Press)

    ("The first edition of this book appeared in October, 1918...)

  • The Neutralization Features of the Hay-Pauncefote Treaty

    (Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We h...)

  • A history of the United States

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

  • The United States and Latin America

    ( This work has been selected by scholars as being cultur...)

  • The Diplomatic Relations of the United States and Spanish America (Classic Reprint)

    (This volume is based upon a course of lectures delivered ...)

  • The American Nation, A History

    (This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curat...)

  • Development Of The League Of Nations Idea, V1-2: Documents And Correspondence Of Theodore Marburg

    (Two Volumes In One.)

  • A history of American foreign policy,

    (Hardbound. 1934 Revised: D.W.Wainhouse. Numerous maps. Re...)

Personality

He was popular with his students, and he had a fund of anecdotes about historical figures and a gift for delineation of character.

Quotes from others about the person

• "A man of unimposing appearance, with high forehead, sandy hair, a close-cropped mustache and pugnacious chin, he presented a stern and austere surface that cracked as soon as his interest was aroused and allowed his actually jovial nature to show through" (Sun, post).

Connections

On October 17, 1905, Latané married Elinor Jackson (Junkin) Cox, a widow. They had one child, Elinor.

Father:

James Allen Latané

Bishop

Mother:

Mary Minor Holladay

Spouse:

Elinor Jackson (Junkin) Cox

Daughter:

Elinor Latané