Laurence Steinhardt

Laurence Adolph Steinhardt (October 6, 1892 – March 28, 1950) was a United States diplomat. He served as the U.S. Minister to Sweden and U.S. Ambassador to Peru, the USSR, Turkey, Czechoslovakia, and Canada.[1] He was the first United States Ambassador to be killed in office.

Laurence Steinhardt
2nd United States Ambassador to Canada
In office November 1, 1948 – March 28, 1950
President	Harry Truman
Preceded by	Ray Atherton
Succeeded by	Stanley Woodward
United States Ambassador to Czechoslovakia
In office July 20, 1945 – September 19, 1948
President	Harry Truman
Preceded by	Anthony Joseph Drexel Biddle Jr.
Succeeded by	Joseph E. Jacobs
10th United States Ambassador to Turkey
In office March 10, 1942 – April 2, 1945
President	Franklin D. Roosevelt
Preceded by	John Van Antwerp MacMurray
Succeeded by	Edwin C. Wilson
United States Ambassador to the Soviet Union
In office August 11, 1939 – November 12, 1941
President	Franklin D. Roosevelt
Preceded by	Joseph E. Davies
Succeeded by	William H. Standley
United States Ambassador to Peru
In office September 13, 1937 – April 10, 1939
President	Franklin D. Roosevelt
Preceded by	Fred Morris Dearing
Succeeded by	Raymond Henry Norweb
United States Minister to Sweden
In office August 28, 1933 – June 26, 1937
President	Franklin D. Roosevelt
Preceded by	John Motley Morehead III
Succeeded by	Fred Morris Dearing
Personal details
Born	Laurence Adolph Steinhardt October 6, 1892 New York City, US
Died	March 28, 1950 (aged 57) near Ramsayville, Ontario, Canada
Resting place	Arlington National Cemetery
Spouse(s)	Dulcie Hofmann Steinhardt Beau
Alma mater	Columbia University (BA, MA, LLB)
Profession	diplomat, lawyer

Biography

Steinhardt was born October 6, 1892 in New York City. He graduated from Columbia College, Columbia University in 1913, and received his M.A. and LL.B. in 1915.[2][3] He served as a Sergeant in the Quartermaster Corps in the US Army in World War I.

He was a member of the Federation of American Zionists and the American Zion Commonwealth. He practiced law at Guggenheimer, Untermyer and Marshall, where his uncle Samuel Untermyer was partner, from 1920 through 1933. In 1932, he worked on the presidential campaign of Franklin Roosevelt.[4]

Steinhardt was appointed U.S. Minister to Sweden in 1933 by Roosevelt. He was appointed ambassador to Peru in 1937, the Soviet Union in 1939.

On 23 February 1940, writing a letter from Moscow to Loy Henderson at the US Dept of State, Steinhardt reported that after having visited Riga, Tallinn and Leningrad with John Cooper Wiley that he "could find no evidence in Riga or Tallinn – and John agrees with me – that there is any move presently on foot by the Soviets to "take over."[5] Of course, the take over occurred several months later in June 1940.

In 1941, he evacuated the Moscow embassy to Kuybyshev.[6]

On January 12, 1942, he was appointed ambassador to Turkey. While ambassador to Turkey, Steinhardt, particularly because he was Jewish, was involved in the rescue of Hungarian Jews from Bergen Belsen. He also played a significant role in helping many eminent intellectuals fleeing Europe to find refuge in Turkey.[4]

In 1945, President Truman appointed Steinhardt ambassador to Czechoslovakia, and to Canada in 1948. While serving as the Ambassador to Canada, he was killed in a plane crash on March 28, 1950 near Ramsayville, Ontario, while en route to New York.

He was buried in Arlington National Cemetery.[7][8]

Family

He married the former Dulcie Yates Hofmann (1917–1974); they had one daughter, Dulcie Ann.

See also

• John Gordon Mein, the next US ambassador to die in the line of duty

References

1. http://www.nndb.com/people/338/000120975/
2. Catalogue of the Officers and Students of Columbia College, for the Year 1915. D. Van Nostrand. 1915. p. 274.
3. "Steinhardt, Laurence A. (Laurence Adolph), 1892–1950 - Social Networks and Archival Context". snaccooperative.org. Retrieved July 18, 2020.
4. http://digitalassets.ushmm.org/photoarchives/detail.aspx?id=1135012&search=LAURENCE&index=1
5. Steinhardt to Henderson, File 315, 23 Feb 1940, Yellow Folder, Box 78, Laurence A Steinhardt Papers, Library of Congress
6. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on May 18, 2013. Retrieved June 14, 2013.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
7. Burial Detail: Steinhardt, Laurence A (Section 30, Grave 728) – ANC Explorer
8. Carbone, Nick (September 12, 2012). "Before Libya: US Ambassadors Who Have Died in the Line of Duty". newfeed.time.com. Time.

Sources

• Laurence Adolph Steinhardt (1892–1950) US State Department Office of the Historian

External links

• "Index to Politicians: Stein to Steinzer". The Political Graveyard. Retrieved January 3, 2021.
• Lawrence Adolph Steinhardt at ArlingtonCemetery•net, an unofficial website