Henry Morgenthau, Sr.
| Henry Morgenthau Sr. | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| 4th United States Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire | |
|
In office 1913–1916 |
|
| President | Woodrow Wilson |
| Preceded by | William Woodville Rockhill |
| Succeeded by | Abram I. Elkus |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
April 26, 1856 Mannheim, Baden, Germany |
| Died | November 25, 1946 (aged 90) New York City, United States |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse(s) | Josephine Sykes |
| Children |
Helen Morgenthau Fox Henry Morgenthau Jr. Alma Wertheim Ruth Morgenthau |
| Alma mater |
City College of New York Columbia Law School |
| Profession | Lawyer |
| Religion | Judaism |
Henry Morgenthau (/ˈmɔːrɡəntaʊ/, with a /t/; April 26, 1856 – November 25, 1946) was an American lawyer, businessman and United States ambassador, most famous as the American ambassador to the Ottoman Empire during the First World War. As ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, Morgenthau has come to be identified as the most prominent American to speak about the Armenian Genocide.
Morgenthau was the father of the politician Henry Morgenthau Jr. His grandchildren included Robert M. Morgenthau, District Attorney of Manhattan for 35 years, and the historian Barbara W. Tuchman.
Morgenthau was born, the ninth of 11 living children, in Mannheim, Grand Duchy of Baden, in 1856 into an Ashkenazi Jewish family. He was the son of Lazarus and Babette Morgenthau. His father was a successful cigar manufacturer who had cigar factories at Mannheim, Lorsch and Heppenheim, employing as many as 1,000 people (Mannheim had a population of 21,000 during this period). Having suffered a severe financial setback during the American Civil War, due to an 1862 tobacco tariff on imports, which closed German tobacco exports to the US forever, the family emigrated to New York in 1866. There, despite a considerable "nest egg" of cash, his father was unsuccessful in re-establishing himself in business, as his development and marketing of various inventions and his investments in other enterprises failed. Lazarus Morgenthau was able to stave off failure and stabilize his income by becoming a fundraiser for Jewish houses of worship. Henry attended City College of New York, where he received a BA, and later graduated from Columbia Law School. He began his career as a lawyer, but he made a substantial fortune in real estate investments. He married Josephine Sykes in 1882 and had four children: Helen, Alma, Henry Jr. and Ruth. Morgenthau built a successful career as a lawyer and served as the leader of the Reform Jewish community in New York.
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