Hiram Bingham, formally
Hiram Bingham III, (November 19, 1875 June 6, 1956) was an
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
academic, explorer and politician. He rediscovered the
IncaThe Inca civilization began as a tribe in the Cuzco area, where the legendary first Sapa Inca, Manco Capac founded the Kingdom of Cuzco around 1200. Under the leadership of the descendants of Manco Capac, the Inca state grew to absorb other Andean communities. In 1442, the Incas began a...
settlement of
Machu PicchuMachu Picchu is a pre-Columbian Inca site located above sea level. It is situated on a mountain ridge above the Urubamba Valley in Peru, which is northwest of Cuzco and through which the Urubamba River flows...
in 1911. Later, Bingham served as a member of the
United States SenateThe United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral United States Congress, the lower house being the House of Representatives. The composition and powers of the Senate and the House are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution . Each U.S state is represented by two senators,...
.
Bingham was born in
Honolulu, Hawai'iHonolulu is the capital of and the most populous census-designated place in the U.S. state of Hawaii. Although Honolulu refers to the urban area on the southeastern shore of the island of Oahu, the city and the county are consolidated, known as the City and County of Honolulu, and the city and...
, to
Hiram Bingham IIHiram Bingham, formally Hiram Bingham II , was a Protestant Christian missionary to Hawaii and the Gilbert Islands....
(1831–1908), an early Protestant missionary to the Kingdom of Hawai'i, the grandson of
Hiram Bingham IHiram Bingham , born in Bennington, Vermont, was in the first group of Protestant missionaries to introduce Christianity to the Hawaiian islands.-Life:...
(1789–1869), another missionary.
Hiram Bingham, formally
Hiram Bingham III, (November 19, 1875 June 6, 1956) was an
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
academic, explorer and politician. He rediscovered the
IncaThe Inca civilization began as a tribe in the Cuzco area, where the legendary first Sapa Inca, Manco Capac founded the Kingdom of Cuzco around 1200. Under the leadership of the descendants of Manco Capac, the Inca state grew to absorb other Andean communities. In 1442, the Incas began a...
settlement of
Machu PicchuMachu Picchu is a pre-Columbian Inca site located above sea level. It is situated on a mountain ridge above the Urubamba Valley in Peru, which is northwest of Cuzco and through which the Urubamba River flows...
in 1911. Later, Bingham served as a member of the
United States SenateThe United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral United States Congress, the lower house being the House of Representatives. The composition and powers of the Senate and the House are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution . Each U.S state is represented by two senators,...
.
Early life
Bingham was born in
Honolulu, Hawai'iHonolulu is the capital of and the most populous census-designated place in the U.S. state of Hawaii. Although Honolulu refers to the urban area on the southeastern shore of the island of Oahu, the city and the county are consolidated, known as the City and County of Honolulu, and the city and...
, to
Hiram Bingham IIHiram Bingham, formally Hiram Bingham II , was a Protestant Christian missionary to Hawaii and the Gilbert Islands....
(1831–1908), an early Protestant missionary to the Kingdom of Hawai'i, the grandson of
Hiram Bingham IHiram Bingham , born in Bennington, Vermont, was in the first group of Protestant missionaries to introduce Christianity to the Hawaiian islands.-Life:...
(1789–1869), another missionary. He attended O'ahu College, now known as
Punahou SchoolPunahou School, once known as Oahu College, is a private, co-educational, college preparatory school located in Honolulu CDP, City and County of Honolulu in the U.S. State of Hawaii...
in Hawai'i from 1882 to 1892. He went to the United States in his teens in order to complete his education, entering
Phillips AcademyPhillips Academy is a co-educational independent boarding high school for boarding and day students in grades 9-12...
in
Andover, MassachusettsAndover is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. It was incorporated in 1646 and as of the 2000 census population was 31,247. It is part of the Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, Massachusetts-New Hampshire metropolitan statistical area....
, from which he graduated in 1894. He obtained a degree from
Yale UniversityYale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut, and a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States. Yale has produced many notable alumni, including five...
in 1898, a degree from the
University of California, BerkeleyThe University of California, Berkeley is a public research university located in Berkeley, California, United States. The oldest of the ten major campuses affiliated with the University of California, Berkeley offers some 300 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in a wide range of disciplines...
in 1900, and a degree from
Harvard UniversityHarvard University is a private university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts and a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1636 by the colonial Massachusetts legislature, Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and currently comprises ten separate academic units...
in 1905. While at Yale, Bingham was a member of
Acacia FraternityAcacia Fraternity is a Greek social fraternity originally based out of Masonic tradition. At its founding in 1904, membership was originally restricted to those who had taken the Masonic obligations, and the organization was built on those ideals and principles. Within one year, four other Masonic...
. He taught history and politics at Harvard and then served as preceptor under
Woodrow WilsonThomas Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States. A leading intellectual of the Progressive Era, he served as President of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913...
at
Princeton UniversityPrinceton University a private university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League and is considered one of the Colonial Colleges....
. In 1907, Yale University appointed Bingham III as a lecturer in South American history.
Archaeology
Bingham was not a trained archaeologist. Yet, it was during Bingham's time as a lecturer later professor at Yale that he discovered the largely forgotten Inca city of
Machu PicchuMachu Picchu is a pre-Columbian Inca site located above sea level. It is situated on a mountain ridge above the Urubamba Valley in Peru, which is northwest of Cuzco and through which the Urubamba River flows...
. In 1908, he had served as delegate to the First Pan American Scientific Congress at
Santiago, ChileSantiago , is the capital and largest city of Chile, and the centre of its largest conurbation . It is located in the country's central valley, at an elevation of 520 m AMSL...
. On his way home via
PeruPeru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean.Peruvian territory was home to the Norte Chico...
, a local prefect convinced him to visit the pre-Columbian city of
ChoquequiraoChoquequirao is a partly excavated ruined city of the Inca in the south of Peru. It bears a striking similarity in structure and architecture to Machu Picchu and is referred to as its 'sister'...
. Bingham published an account of this trip in
Across South America; an account of a journey from Buenos Aires to Lima by way of Potosí, with notes on Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, and Peru (1911).
Bingham was thrilled by the prospect of unexplored Inca cities, and in 1911 returned to the
AndesThe Andes are the world's longest exposed mountain range. They lie as a continuous chain of highland along the western coast of South America...
with the Yale Peruvian Expedition of 1911. On 24 July 1911, Melchor Arteaga led Bingham to
Machu PicchuMachu Picchu is a pre-Columbian Inca site located above sea level. It is situated on a mountain ridge above the Urubamba Valley in Peru, which is northwest of Cuzco and through which the Urubamba River flows...
, which had been largely forgotten by everybody except the small number of people living in the immediate valley (possibly including two local missionaries named Thomas Payne and Stuart McNairn whose descendants claim that they had already climbed to the ruins in 1906).
Bingham returned to Peru in 1912 and 1915 with the support of Yale and the
National Geographic SocietyThe National Geographic Society , headquartered in Washington, D.C. in the United States, is one of the largest non-profit scientific and educational institutions in the world. Its interests include geography, archaeology and natural science, the promotion of environmental and historical...
.
Machu Picchu has become one of the major tourist attractions in
South AmericaSouth America is the southern continent of the Americas, situated entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere...
, and Bingham is recognized as the man who brought the site to world attention, although many others helped to bring this site into the public eye. The switchback-filled road that carries tourist buses to the site from the
Urubamba RiverThe Urubamba River is a river in Peru. A partially navigable headwater of the Amazon River, it rises in the Andes to the south-east of Cuzco near the Puno Region border, where it is called the Vilcanota River . In the Sacred Valley, between Písac and Ollantaytambo, it is also called the Wilcamayu...
is called the Hiram Bingham Highway.
Bingham has been cited as one possible basis for the "
Indiana JonesDr. Henry Walton "Indiana" Jones, Jr. is a fictional adventurer, OSS agent, professor of archaeology, and the protagonist of the Indiana Jones franchise. George Lucas created the character in homage to the action heroes of 1930s film serials...
" character. His book
Lost City of the Incas became a bestseller upon its publication in 1948.
Peru has long sought the return of the estimated 40,000 artifacts, including mummies, ceramics and bones, Bingham had removed from the Machu Picchu site. On 14 September 2007, an agreement was made between Yale University and the Peruvian government for the return of the objects. though on April 12, 2008 the Peruvian government stated that they had revised previous estimates of 4,000 pieces up to 40,000.
Prior discoverers of Machu Picchu
Soon after Bingham announced the existence of Machu Picchu others came forward claiming to have seen the city first, such as the British missionary Thomas Payne and a German engineer named J. M. von Hassel. Recent discoveries have put forth a new claimant, a German named Augusto Berns who bought land opposite the Machu Picchu mountain in the 1860s and then tried to raise money from investors to plunder nearby Incan ruins. An 1874 map shows the site of
Machu PicchuMachu Picchu is a pre-Columbian Inca site located above sea level. It is situated on a mountain ridge above the Urubamba Valley in Peru, which is northwest of Cuzco and through which the Urubamba River flows...
.
Marriage and family
He married Alfreda Mitchell, granddaughter of Charles L. Tiffany, on November 20, 1899, and had seven sons, including
Jonathan Brewster BinghamJonathan Brewster Bingham was an American politician and diplomat. He was the US delegate to the United Nations General Assemblies and was elected to Congress....
(1914–1986) (Democratic
CongressmanThe United States House of Representatives, commonly referred to as the "House," is the lower house of the bicameral United States Congress, the upper house being the United States Senate. The composition and powers of the House and the Senate are established in Article One of the Constitution...
),
Hiram Bingham IVHiram "Harry" Bingham IV was an American diplomat. He served as a Vice-Consul in Marseille, France, during World War II, and helped over 2,500 Jews to flee from France as Nazi forces advanced.-Early life:...
(1903–1988) (diplomat and World War II hero); Charles Tiffany (1906–1993) (physician), Brewster (1908–1995) (minister), Mitchell (1910–1994) (artist), Woodbridge (1901–1986) (professor) and Alfred Mitchell Bingham (1905–1998) (lawyer and author). After a divorce he married Suzanne Carroll Hill in June 1937.
In 1982 Temple University Press published Char Miller's doctoral dissertation on the Bingham family titled "Fathers and sons: The Bingham family and the American mission."
Military
Bingham achieved the rank of captain of the Connecticut National Guard in 1916. In 1917, he became an aviator and organized the United States Schools of Military Aeronautics. He served the
Aviation Section, U.S. Signal CorpsThe Aviation Section, U.S. Signal Corps, was the name of the military aviation service of the United States Army from 1914 to 1918, and a direct ancestor of the United States Air Force. It replaced the Aeronautical Division, U.S. Signal Corps and was succeeded briefly by the Division of Military...
and the
Air ServiceThe United States Army Air Service was a forerunner of the United States Air Force. It was established on May 24, 1918, after U.S. entry into World War I, replacing the Aviation Section, U.S...
, attaining the rank of lieutenant colonel. In
IssoudunIssoudun is a commune in the Indre department in central France. It is also referred to as Issoundun, which is the ancient name.-History:...
,
FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
, Bingham commanded the primary Air Service flying school.
Politics
In 1922, Bingham was elected Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut, an office he held until 1924. In November 1924, he was elected Governor. On December 16, 1924, Bingham was also elected as a Republican to serve in the United States Senate to fill a vacancy created by the suicide of Frank Bosworth Brandegee. Bingham defeated noted educator
Hamilton HoltHamilton Holt was an American educator, editor, author and politician.-Editor:...
by a handy margin. Now both Governor-elect and Senator-elect, Bingham served as Governor for one day, the shortest term of any Connecticut Governor.
Bingham was re-elected to a full six-year term in the Senate in 1926.
Senator Bingham was Chairman of the Committee on Printing and then Chairman of the Committee on Territories and Insular Possessions. President Calvin Coolidge appointed Bingham to the President's Aircraft Board during his first term in the Senate; the press quickly dubbed the ex-explorer "The Flying Senator".
Bingham failed in his second reelection effort in the wake of the 1932 Democratic landslide following the Great Depression and left the Senate at the end of his second term in 1933.
During World War II, Bingham lectured at several United States Navy training schools. In 1951, Bingham was appointed Chairman of the Civil Service Commission
Loyalty Review BoardUnited States Executive Order 9835, sometimes known as The Loyalty Order, was signed March 21, 1947 by U.S. President Harry S. Truman. The order established the first general loyalty program in the United States, which was designed to root out communist influence within the various departments of...
, an assignment he kept through 1953
Censure In The Senate
The Senate Judiciary Subcommittee investigated an arrangement between Bingham, his clerk, and a lobbyist who agreed to pass information on to Bingham's office after executing a plan that was irregular, "even by the standards of his day." Bingham took his clerk off duty, and paid his salary to the lobbyist, thus allowing him to attend as a Senate staffer to closed meetings of the Finance Committee's deliberations on tariff legislation.
The initial ruling of the Judiciary Subcommittee was a condemnation of Bingham's scheme; but recommended no formal Senate action. Subsequently, Bingham decided to label the subcommittee's inquiry as a partisan witch hunt, provoking further Senate interest which eventually lead to a Resolution of
CensureCensure is a process by which a formal reprimand is issued to an individual by an authoritative body. In a deliberative assembly, a motion to censure is used....
that passed on November 4, 1929, by a vote of 54 to 22.
Death
On June 6, 1956, Bingham died at his
Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C. , formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, the District, or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States, founded on July 16, 1790...
home. He was interred at
Arlington National CemeteryArlington National Cemetery, in Arlington County, Virginia is a military cemetery in the United States, established during the American Civil War on the grounds of Arlington House, formerly the estate of the family of Robert E. Lee's wife Mary Anna Lee, a descendant of Martha Washington. The...
in Arlington, Virginia.
See also
Eternity in their Hearts by
Don RichardsonDon Richardson is a Canadian Christian missionary, teacher, author and international speaker who worked among the tribal people of Western New Guinea, Indonesia...
, Regal Books, Ventura, CA, 1981. ISBN 0-8307-0925-8, pages 34–35
External links