Background
Robert Edwin Olds was born on October 22, 1875, at Duluth, Minnesota. He was the first child of James Edwin Olds, a native of New York State, who had moved West and married Lillian May Goodrich in Minnesota.
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Robert Edwin Olds was born on October 22, 1875, at Duluth, Minnesota. He was the first child of James Edwin Olds, a native of New York State, who had moved West and married Lillian May Goodrich in Minnesota.
Robert Edwin received the degree of A. B. at Harvard in 1897 with the highest honors, and that of LL. B. in 1900.
For the next seventeen years after college Robert Olds practised with the firm of Davis, Kellogg & Severance, afterwards Davis, Severance & Olds, at St. Paul. Olds's broad humanitarian idealism stimulated, and his ample private means made possible, a period of distinguished service for the American Red Cross. First he served as counselor of the American Red Cross Commission to France (January 1918 - January 1919) and then, as European commissioner in charge of American Red Cross operations abroad (January 1919 - July 1921), he directed, from Paris or on tour, the great work of furnishing relief throughout Europe. Regretting America's trend toward international isolation, he felt that his country should cooperate generously in the humanitarian field at least. During the next four years he pursued such varied interests as the presidency of the American Library in Paris, membership on the arbitration tribunal appointed to adjust pecuniary claims between the United States and Great Britain under the treaty of 1910, membership on a commission named by the League of Nations to plan for cooperation on disaster relief, more Red Cross activities, and other organizational work chiefly in France.
On October 1, 1925, his old friend and former law partner, Secretary of State Frank B. Kellogg, made Olds an assistant secretary of state. Kellogg had great confidence in the loyalty and discretion of his friend, and many of the most difficult and important matters before the Department of State were placed largely in his hands, or were worked out by the secretary of state with the guidance of the assistant secretary. The latter's aptitude for modest self-effacement and his quiet, tactful manner of dealing with his chief when he felt that Kellogg was wrong made Olds an ideal assistant. Kellogg recognized his worth by appointing him on May 19, 1927, to be under-secretary of state, the position in the department ranking immediately below the secretaryship. During his years in the department he worked on many problems in all fields of international relationships. He was especially interested in Mexican problems, was well acquainted with Dwight Morrow, the ambassador to Mexico, and worked with him on the land and petroleum controversies and the church problem in Mexico as they affected United States-Mexican relations. He collaborated in the negotiation of the Franco-American arbitration treaty and signed it on behalf of his government. Olds contributed greatly to the conclusion of the war-claims agreement of May 19, 1927, between the United States and Great Britain, whereby it was agreed that the United States would not claim damages or demand arbitration for the settlement of claims arising out of British war measures in the First World War, thus terminating long years of discussion and negotiation. Olds, too, doubtless furnished far more than technical advice to the secretary of state in the negotiations which led to the conclusion of the Kellogg-Briand Pact, or Pact of Paris. He retired from the State Department on June 30, 1928, and thereafter lived in Paris.
His legal work in Paris for the New York law firm of Sullivan & Cromwell left him some time to indulge his many other interests including the Red Cross, the International Chamber of Commerce, the American Library and the American Hospital at Paris, and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He was made a member of the economic consultative committee of the League of Nations in 1929, of the reparation commission in the same year, and of the permanent court of arbitration at The Hague in 1931. The Chinese Government named him as an adviser to assist in placing its controversy with Japan before the League of Nations.
Olds died suddenly of a cerebral hemorrhage in Paris on November 24, 1932, when he was in his fifty-eighth year.
Robert Olds served as counselor of the American Red Cross Commission to France (1918) and as European commissioner in charge of American Red Cross operations abroad (1919-1921). Robert Olds was Assistant Secretary of State (1925-1926) and Under Secretary of State (1927-1929). Olds was joint author of Review of the Legal Aspects of Industrial Agreements (1930) and contributed "The American Policy Affecting Industrial Combinations and Agreements" to Trade Combinations in U. S. A. , France, Germany, Poland (1932). He was decorated by eight foreign governments.
Robert Olds was a member of the permanent court of arbitration at the Hague (1931), the council of the International Chamber of Commerce, and the reparations commission under the treaty of Versailles
Physically Olds was thick-set, broad-shouldered and smooth-faced, serious of mien and decisive in manner. Almost austere in appearance, he was nevertheless kindly, modest, and forthright.
Robert Edwin married Rose Wilhelmina Nabersberg on September 16, 1902.
