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Charles Lyon Chandler
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'''Charles Lyon Chandler''' (1883June 29, 1962) was an American consul and historian of [[Latin America–United States relations]]. A [[Harvard]] graduate who came to South America in the [[United States Consular Service|Consular Service]], he became a student and proponent of [[Pan-Americanism]]. His pioneering 1915 book ''Inter-American Acquaintances'' proposed a new, Pan-American origin for the [[Monroe Doctrine]]. After being denied a permanent diplohmatic appointment he worked for the [[Southern Railway (U.S.)|Southern Railway]] and the [[Corn Exchange Bank]]; at the same time he became a respected independent scholar who helped found the ''[[Hispanic American Historical Review]]''. Beside many articles on early inter-American relations, he co-authored an unpublished biography of [[Joel Roberts Poinsett]]. During [[World War II]] he worked in Brazil for the U.S. government, and before retirement he taught at [[Haverford College|Haverford]], [[Georgetown University|Georgetown]] and [[Ursinus College|Ursinus]].
For his scholarship and promotion of good relations based on shared cultural values, Chandler achieved significant honors in several South American countries—but not in the United States. This, combined with scant attention to his scholarship, led his biographer to characterize him as a [[forgotten man]].
==Early life==
Chandler was born in a [[Unitarianism|Unitarian]] family, and would attribute a great influence to religious values of social progress and "perfect mutual toleration". His aunt Agnes Blake Poor encouraged a love of Spanish and Portuguese,<ref>Poor would publish ''Pan-American Poems'' in 1918 (Boston: Gorham Press), a translated anthology of Latin-American poetry. Mitiyo Morinaka, p. 129.</ref> while he took Latin and French in high school and studied German on his own. At [[Harvard College]] he focused on history and political science, studying under [[Frederick Jackson Turner]], [[Edward Channing]] and [[Archibald Cary Coolidge]] before graduating ''[[magna cum laude]]'' in 1905.<ref>Avenius, "Charles Lyon Chandler", pp. 169–170.</ref>
==Consular service==
Already in Europe on a George W. Dillaway fellowship, Chandler obtained a job in the [[United States Consular Service]] as the secretary of the American [[envoy (title)|envoy]] in Portugal, [[Charles Page Bryan]]. The State Department sent him to Japan, where he studied [[interpreting]], and then to [[Formosa]] and [[Manchuria]] as [[vice consul]]. In 1908 he was sent to [[Montevideo]], Uruguay—the beginning of his Latin American experience.<ref>Avenius, "Charles Lyon Chandler", pp. 170–171.</ref>
Chandler wrote diverse reports for trade publications, such as arguing for American entrepreneurs to invest in Argentina rather than Japan or China. He was also returned to the United States to attend business conferences. Studying [[private international law]] at the [[University of Buenos Aires]] (after transferring to that consulate), he earned a certificate, and used university club life to interest Argentines in studying in the United States. He was the first foreign member of the university's Law Student's Club, and was active in the United States Universities Club of Buenos Aires as well as the Harvard Club of the River Plate.<ref>Avenius, "Charles Lyon Chandler", p. 171.</ref>
In August 1911, he began writing ''Inter-American Acquaintances''. The first chapter appeared the next month and the completed book in 1915 (Sewanee, Tennessee: University Press), with a second edition in 1917. Predating other early works on Pan-American relations, his biographer asserts that "Chandler's publications must be considered precursors to the pioneers".<ref>Avenius, "Charles Lyon Chandler", p. 172.</ref> According to a contemporary review:
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Chandler was transferred to [[Callao]], Peru, to serve as vice and deputy consul. The newspaper ''El Diario'' reported that "Chandler is a true American, inasmuch as he truly reflects reality; he is very much a ''latino'' in his fine projects and in his ideas and conceptions."<ref> ''El Diario'' (Lima), October 29, 1911, quoted in Avenius, "Charles Lyon Chandler", p. 173.</ref> He was elected to Lima's National Club, founded a United States Universities Club of Peru and enrolled at the [[University of San Marcos]]. In January 1914, however, the State Department informed him that he failed the entrance examination for permanent appointment to the [[United States Diplomatic Service|Diplomatic Service]].<ref>Avenius, "Charles Lyon Chandler", pp. 171–172.</ref>
==Later career==
Leaving diplomacy, Chandler sustained himself with business jobs instead, working as an agent for the [[Southern Railway (U.S.)|Southern Railway]] from 1914 to 1918, and as foreign trade manager for the [[Corn Exchange Bank]] of [[Philadelphia]] from 1918 to 1942. He continued lecturing, organizing tours and publishing scholarly articles related to inter-American affairs. He helped organize and fund the ''[[Hispanic American Historical Review]]'',<ref>Chapman, "Founding of the Review", pp. 12–16.</ref> and wrote some of its first articles. In 1924 he discovered the tomb of the first Colombian ambassador to the United States, [[Manuel Torres (diplomat)|Manuel Torres]], in Philadelphia.<ref>Avenius, "Charles Lyon Chandler", pp. 174-176, 180.</ref>
During 1933 and 1934 he worked with [[Edwin J. Pratt]] on a biography of [[Joel Roberts Poinsett]], intended for publication the next year. This "most important historical effort of his career"<ref name="AveniusP177">Avenius, "Charles Lyon Chandler", p. 177</ref> was upset, however, when [[J. Fred Rippy]] and [[Herbert E. Putnam]] both published Poinsett biographies that year. While Chandler sharply criticized these books in the ''[[Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography]]'', stressing that "neither can be considered a definitive and final biography",<ref>Chandler, "Book Reviews", pp. 84–86.</ref> it did not prevent his own work from being rejected by [[Princeton University Press|Princeton]]'s and [[Harvard University Press|Harvard]]'s university presses. The manuscript was revised but never published.<ref name="AveniusP177"/>
Following a switch to the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]] in the 1920s, Chandler became a supporter of [[Franklin Roosevelt]] in the 1930s, exchanging some personal letters with the president. When the United States entered [[World War II]], Chandler left banking for a job with the government's [[Rubber Development Corporation]]. He worked in Washington as well as Brazil, and in September 1943 moved to the [[Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs]] in [[Rio de Janeiro]]. He discovered the tomb of early American diplomat [[William Tudor (1779–1830)|William Tudor]] there, and was popular in the Brazilian press.<ref>Avenius, "Charles Lyon Chandler", pp. 178–180.</ref>
Returning from Brazil at age 63, he spent six years teaching at [[Haverford College]], [[Georgetown University]] and [[Ursinus College]]. At Ursinus he taught political science and helped obtain the [[Huntington Wilson]] Papers.<ref>[https://ift.tt/2XhMNsQ Finding aid], Francis Mairs Huntington-Wilson Papers, Ursinus College.</ref> In retirement he taught at a Unitarian Sunday school, preached, and was unofficially involved with the Williams Foundation, an organization dedicated to interchange between the U.S. and Argentina.<ref>Avenius, "Charles Lyon Chandler", pp. 170, 180.</ref>
==Death and legacy==
He died in [[Ridley Park]], Pennsylvania, on June 29, 1962.<ref>Avenius, "Charles Lyon Chandler", p. 180.</ref> His wife donated his papers to the [[University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill]].<ref>[https://ift.tt/2JbHMbw Finding aid], Charles Lyon Chandler Papers, #3614, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.</ref>
"Almost everything he wrote or spoke about seemed to show, in some way, that peoples of the Western Hemisphere and get along together under certain circumstances," Chandler's biographer Sheldon Avenius wrote.<ref>Avenius, "Charles Lyon Chandler," p. 176.</ref> While Chandler was honored in South America, and witnessed an actual improvement in inter-American relations, the United States had little interest in Chandler's advocacy based on shared cultural values—leading Avenius to conclude that Chandler "remains today a splendid example of the [[forgotten man]]".<ref>Avenius, "Charles Lyon Chandler", p. 169.</ref>
==Awards and honors==
* 1926, Colombia – honorary [[doctor of laws]]
* 1934, Chile – [[Order of Merit (Chile)|Order of Merit]]
* 1944, Brazil – Commander in the [[Order of the Southern Cross]]
* 1944, Brazil – honorary [[doctor of letters]] from the [[Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul|University of Porto Alegre]]
* 1945, Brazil – commemorative medal for the centennial of the [[Baron of Rio Branco]]
* Colombia – elected to
* Colombia – [[Order of Boyacá]]<ref>Avenius, "Charles Lyon Chandler", pp. 170–180.</ref>
==Notes==
==Bibliography==
* Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (1 for 2) With photograph 1951, and list of works.
* Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (1 for 2)
* Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (1 for 2)
==External links==
*
[[Category:1883 births]]
[[Category:1962 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century American historians]]
[[Category:Historians of the United States]]
[[Category:Historians of Latin America]]
[[Category:Harvard College alumni]]
June 29, 2019 at 03:34PM
