Mccormick, Robert Sanderson

Related Category: U.S. History: Biographies

1849–1919, American diplomat, b. Rockbridge co., Va.; nephew of Cyrus Hall McCormick. President McKinley appointed (1901) him minister to Austria-Hungary. He became the first American ambassador to Austria-Hungary, and he then served as ambassador to Russia (1902–5) and to France (1905–7). He married Katherine Von Etta Medill, daughter of Joseph Medill. His son Joseph Medill McCormick, 1877–1925, b. Chicago, began his journalistic career as a reporter on the family newspaper, the Chicago Tribune. By 1908 the newspaper was under his management. He was a leading figure in Theodore Roosevelt's Progressive party campaign (1912) and later served in the Illinois legislature (1913–17), in the U.S. House of Representatives (1917–19), and in the U.S. Senate (1919–25). He was a strong opponent of the League of Nations. His brother was Robert Rutherford McCormick (see separate article). His wife was Ruth Hanna McCormick, 1880–1945, b. Cleveland, daughter of Mark Hanna. She early became interested in Republican party politics. She served (1929–31) in the U.S. House of Representatives but was defeated as a candidate for the U.S. Senate in 1930.