Paul S. (Paul Samuel) Reinsch

Born in Wisconsin in 1869, Paul Samuel Reinsch became a political scientist, historian, and teacher at the University of Wisconsin. He was part of the generation that helped build international relations into a serious field of study in the United States, writing on world politics, colonial government, and foreign affairs.

In 1913, President Woodrow Wilson appointed him U.S. minister to China, a post he held until 1919. His years in Beijing placed him at the center of major political change, and records of his papers show that his work there continued to shape his later career as a legal and financial adviser connected to Chinese affairs.

Reinsch drew on that experience in An American Diplomat in China (1922), a firsthand account of the early Chinese republic and the international pressures surrounding it. He died in 1923, leaving behind a body of work that connects academic political science with practical diplomacy.