Background

Ethnicity: Tyler was descended from a long line of New Englanders.

Tyler Dennett was born on June 13, 1883, in Spencer, Wisconsin, United States. He was the first of four children of Reverend William Eugene, a Baptist pastor, and Roxena (Tyler) Dennett.

Education

After graduation in 1900 from Moses Brown School, Dennett was educated at Bates College. Then he attended Willams College on a scholarship. There he achieved distinction as a student, editor, and football player. He graduated in 1904. A year as secretary to Reverend John H. Dennison, clergyman and Williams College's professor, led Dennett to Union Theological Seminary, where he received a Bachelor of Divinity degree in 1908. Later he obtained a Doctor of Philosophy degree at Johns Hopkins University in 1924.

Career

Tyler Dennett began his career while studying. At Union Theological Seminary Tyler Dennett followed a pastoral assistantship in Washington, District of Columbia, service in a Congregational mission in Seattle from 1909 to 1910, and a call to the Congregational Church of Los Angeles from 1910 to 1914. Between 1914 and 1920 employment by the Methodist Episcopal Board of Foreign Missions and the Inter-Church World Movement took him twice to Asia on extended tours of inspection. There were articles collected and published in 1918 as The Democratic Movement in Asia, a work that examines the role of American missionaries in promoting democratic values in Asia. The articles were illustrated with some remarkable photographs taken by the author.

In 1920 Dennett moved to Washington where he worked in the archives of the Department of State till 1922. While there, he researched American policy in the Far East for American commissioners at the Washington Disarmament Conference. Dennett eventually published this research in the book, Americans in Eastern Asia: A Critical Study of the Policy of the United States with Reference to China, Japan, and Korea in the Nineteenth Century. Dennett continued his research.

Access to the papers of Theodore Roosevelt and a lectureship in American history at Johns Hopkins University from 1923 till 1924 allowed him to continue his account of American-Asian relations with Roosevelt and the Russo-Japanese War (1925). In 1924, Secretary of State Charles Evans Hughes made Dennett chief of the division of publications and editor for the Department of State. He held this position lecturing American history in 1927-1928 at Columbia University until 1929 when he became a historical advisor.

Dennett became professor of international relations in the School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University in 1931 and three years later was elected president of Williams College. When Dennett took office, the school was academically weak and catered to wealthy graduates of Eastern boarding schools. Dennett saw himself as key to the college's reform. He redesigned the curriculum, balanced the budget, strengthened discipline, and raised faculty salaries. He reorganized the student government and the college administration. He earned a reputation for being brash and sometimes insulting.

Dennett's beliefs and harsh words resulted in many irreconcilable differences with the board of trustees. He was a sharp critic of the New Deal and a strong opponent of the board of directors' power over the college president. Dennett disagreed with the board's purchase of the Greylock Hotel, for which he thought "no educational use is apparent or specifically stated." He eventually resigned in 1937.

Between the years 1938 and 1939, Dennett worked as a visiting lecturer in Australia and New Zealand. In 1939, he published a compilation of selections from John Hay's diaries and letters, Lincoln and the Civil War in the Diaries and Letters of John Hay. He continued his study of international affairs until his death in 1949.

Achievements

• Tyler Dennett was a gifted historian, outstanding educator, as well as a prize-winning writer. His book, John Hay: From Poetry to Politics, was awarded Pulitzer Prize for biography in 1934. For his writings, he was listed as a notable author by Marquis Who's Who.
  
  He was also known for his work as a historical advisor for the Department of State. Under Dennett's direction, the publication of United States diplomatic correspondence in World War I years was successfully undertaken. For the first time order rather than chaos, and competent, responsible editorial direction characterized the publications program of the department.
  
  Dennett is also remembered as the president of Williams College who made a lot of efforts to realize reform in the college.

Works

More photos

• book

  • The Democratic Movement in Asia 1918
  • A Better World 1920
  • Americans in Eastern Asia; A Critical Study of the Policy of the United States with Reference to China, Japan and Korea in the 19th Century 1922
  • Roosevelt and the Russo-Japanese War; A Critical Study of American Policy in Eastern Asia in 1902-5, Based Primarily upon the Private Papers of Theodore Roosevelt 1925
  • John Hay: From Poetry to Politics 1933

Politics

Dennett was a sharp critic of the New Deal.

Personality

Physical Characteristics: At fifty-one, Dennett was a solid, square man with a massive headset on heavy shoulders. He had alert, penetrating eyes and a ruddy wrinkled face.

The cause of Dennett's death was a heart attack.

Quotes from others about the person

• "He is human and sincere. He is caustic and inconsiderate. He is a real man."
  
  "He is a holy terror."

Connections

On March 15, 1911, Dennett married Maybelle Raymond. The marriage produced four children: (George) Raymond, Tyler Eugene, Audrey, and Laurence.

Father:

William Eugene Dennett

Mother:

Roxena (Tyler) Dennett

Wife:

Maybelle Raymond