Charles Richard Crane

Charles Richard Crane (August 7, 1858 – February 14, 1939) was a wealthy American businessman, heir to a large industrial fortune and connoisseur of Arab culture, a noted Arabist. His widespread business interests gave him entree into domestic and international political affairs where he enjoyed privileged access to many influential power brokers at the top levels of government. His special arena of interest was Eastern Europe and the Middle East.

He was the eldest son of plumbing parts mogul, Chicago manufacturer, Richard T. Crane. In the 1900s, he brought Thomas Masaryk, Maksim Kovalevsky and Pavel Milyukov to lecture at the University of Chicago. After meeting Masaryk, he became interested in Slavic nationalism and sponsored The Slav Epic paintings by Alphonse Mucha When Mucha designed the Czechoslovak bills, he used a previous portrait of Josephine Crane Bradley as Slavia for the 100 koruna bill.

President William Howard Taft appointed Crane minister to China on July 16, 1909, but on the eve of his departure to his post on October 4, 1909, he was recalled to Washington and forced to resign under pressure by U.S. Secretary of State Philander C. Knox, who held him responsible for the publication in a Chicago newspaper of the U.S. government's objections to two recent treaties between Japan and China.

Crane contributed heavily to Woodrow Wilson's 1912 election campaign. Wilson rewarded Crane with appointments to the 1917 Special Diplomatic Commission to Russia, known as the Root Commission, as a member of the American Section of the Paris Peace Conference, and to the 1919 Inter-Allied Commission on Mandates in Turkey that became known as the King-Crane Commission. While the commission was originally proposed by the U.S. to develop an international consensus on the future make up and status of post-World War I Middle East nations, the commission quickly became a U.S.-only sponsored effort. With the appointment of Crane as co-head of the commission, it set about to issue a report to inform U.S. policy makers. In respect to the creation of a Jewish state in the Middle East, the report cautioned "Not only you as president but the American people as a whole should realize that if the American government decided to support the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine, they are committing the American people to the use of force in that area, since only by force can a Jewish state in Palestine be established or maintained." Crane opposed the establishment of a Jewish state in the Middle East. He was a passionate spokesman for the independence of the Arab states.

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