Whitelaw Reid was a U.S.

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 politician and newspaper editor, as well as the author of a popular history of Ohio in the Civil War

Ohio in the War

Ohio in the War: Her Statesmen, Generals, and Soldiers is a work of history of the U.S. State of Ohio during the American Civil War, written by Whitelaw Reid. It was first published in 1867, and re-printed in 1895. It is almost 2000 pages in two volumes...

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Early life

Born James Whitelaw Reid on a farm near Xenia, Ohio

Xenia, Ohio

Xenia is a city in and the county seat of Greene County, Ohio, United States. The municipality is located in southwestern Ohio 21 miles from Dayton and is part of the Dayton Metropolitan Statistical Area...

, Reid attended Xenia Academy and went on to graduate from Miami University

Miami University

Miami University is a coeducational public research university located in Oxford, Ohio, United States. Founded in 1809, it is the 10th oldest public university in the United States and the second oldest university in Ohio, founded four years after Ohio University. In its 2012 edition, U.S...

 with honors in 1856. At Miami, he was a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon

Delta Kappa Epsilon

Delta Kappa Epsilon is a fraternity founded at Yale College in 1844 by 15 men of the sophomore class who had not been invited to join the two existing societies...

 (Kappa chapter), and lobbied for the expulsion of the six members who ultimately founded Sigma Chi

Sigma Chi

Sigma Chi is the largest and one of the oldest college Greek-letter secret and social fraternities in North America with 244 active chapters and more than . Sigma Chi was founded on June 28, 1855 at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio when members split from Delta Kappa Epsilon...

.

Career

He was the longtime editor of the New York Tribune

New York Tribune

The New York Tribune was an American newspaper, first established by Horace Greeley in 1841, which was long considered one of the leading newspapers in the United States...

and close friend of Horace Greeley

Horace Greeley

Horace Greeley was an American newspaper editor, a founder of the Liberal Republican Party, a reformer, a politician, and an outspoken opponent of slavery...

. He was a leader of the Liberal Republican movement in 1872.

A Republican, he had an illustrious career as a diplomat

Diplomat

A diplomat is a person appointed by a state to conduct diplomacy with another state or international organization. The main functions of diplomats revolve around the representation and protection of the interests and nationals of the sending state, as well as the promotion of information and...

, serving as United States Ambassador to France

United States Ambassador to France

This article is about the United States Ambassador to France. There has been a United States Ambassador to France since the American Revolution. The United States sent its first envoys to France in 1776, towards the end of the four-centuries-old Bourbon dynasty...

 from 1889 to 1892, and again as U.S. Ambassador to the Court of St. James's

United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom

The office of United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom was traditionally, and still is very much so today due to the Special Relationship, the most prestigious position in the United States Foreign Service...

 from 1905 to 1912. In 1892, he was the Republican vice presidential nominee replacing Levi P. Morton

Levi P. Morton

Levi Parsons Morton was a Representative from New York and the 22nd Vice President of the United States . He also later served as the 31st Governor of New York.-Biography:...

 on a ticket headed by incumbent President Benjamin Harrison

Benjamin Harrison

Benjamin Harrison was the 23rd President of the United States . Harrison, a grandson of President William Henry Harrison, was born in North Bend, Ohio, and moved to Indianapolis, Indiana at age 21, eventually becoming a prominent politician there...

. The Harrison-Reid ticket received the electoral votes of sixteen states (145 EV) finishing second among the three tickets that captured electoral votes. Reid was given a spot on the peace commission

Treaty of Paris (1898)

The Treaty of Paris of 1898 was signed on December 10, 1898, at the end of the Spanish-American War, and came into effect on April 11, 1899, when the ratifications were exchanged....

 following the Spanish-American War

Spanish-American War

The Spanish–American War was a conflict in 1898 between Spain and the United States, effectively the result of American intervention in the ongoing Cuban War of Independence...

. Manhattanville College

Manhattanville College

Manhattanville College is a private, coeducational liberal arts college offering undergraduate and graduate degrees, located in Purchase, New York. Founded in 1841 it was known initially as Manhattanville College of the Sacred Heart...

 in Purchase, New York

Purchase, New York

Purchase, New York is a hamlet of the town of Harrison, in Westchester County. Its ZIP code is 10577. Its name is derived from Harrison's purchase, for Harrison could have as much land as he could ride in one day...

 of Westchester County is located on his former estate.

Death

After his death while serving as the ambassador to Britain, his body was returned to New York aboard HMS Natal

HMS Natal (1905)

HMS Natal was a Duke of Edinburgh-class armoured cruiser built for the Royal Navy in the mid-1900s. She escorted the royal yacht in 1911–1912 for the newly-crowned King George V's trip to India to attend the Delhi Durbar. During World War I the ship was assigned to the 2nd Cruiser Squadron of the...

. He is buried in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery

Sleepy Hollow Cemetery

Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Sleepy Hollow, New York is the resting place of numerous famous figures, including Washington Irving, whose story "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" is set in the adjacent Old Dutch Burying Ground. Incorporated in 1849 as Tarrytown Cemetery, it posthumously honored Irving's...

 in Sleepy Hollow, New York

Sleepy Hollow, New York

Sleepy Hollow is a village in the town of Mount Pleasant in Westchester County, New York, United States. It is located on the eastern bank of the Hudson River, about north of midtown Manhattan in New York City, and is served by the Philipse Manor stop on the Metro-North Hudson Line.Originally...

.

External links

• Whitelaw Reid at Find A Grave
  Find A Grave
  Find a Grave is a commercial website providing free access and input to an online database of cemetery records. It was founded in 1998 as a DBA and incorporated in 2000.-History:...
  
  , contains two speeches by Reid.
• American and English studies Vol. 1 by Whitelaw Reid
• American and English studies Vol. 2 by Whitelaw Reid
• The greatest fact in modern history (The rise and development of the United States) by Whitelaw Reid
• Abraham Lincoln by Whitelaw Reid
• Ohio in the war : her statesmen, her generals, and soldiers Vol. 1 by Whitelaw Reid
• Ohio in the war : her statesmen, her generals, and soldiers Vol. 2 by Whitelaw Reid
• Byron. Address at University College, Nottingham, on Speech day, 29th Nov., 1910, for the Byron chair of English literature by Whitelaw Reid
• One Welshman: a glance at a great career. Inaugural address, autumn session, University College of Wales, Aberystwyth, October 31st, 1912 by Whitelaw Reid
• Our new duties: a commencement address at the seventy-fifth anniversary of Miami university, Thursday, June 15, 1899 by Whitelaw Reid