author
Robert Lansing
1864–1928
A careful lawyer turned diplomat, he helped steer American foreign policy through World War I and the tense peace that followed. His career put him at the center of major debates over international law, Japan and China, and the League of Nations.
1 Audiobook
The Peace Negotiations: A Personal Narrative
by Robert Lansing
About the author
Born in Watertown, New York, in 1864, Robert Lansing trained as a lawyer and became known for his expertise in international law. Before reaching the Cabinet, he worked on major diplomatic and legal questions for the U.S. government and served as counselor to the State Department when World War I began.
In 1915, he became Secretary of State under President Woodrow Wilson. During a turbulent period in world affairs, he dealt with neutrality issues, wartime diplomacy, and the negotiations that followed the war. He is often remembered for the 1917 Lansing–Ishii Agreement, an effort to ease tensions between the United States and Japan over China.
Lansing also took part in the Paris Peace Conference after World War I, but he eventually broke with Wilson over the president's approach to peace negotiations and the League of Nations. He left office in 1920 and later wrote about diplomacy and the peace settlement, leaving behind a record of one of the most demanding stretches in American foreign policy.