John George Alexander Leishman
| John George Alexander Leishman | |
|---|---|
Leishman in 1901
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| United States Ambassador to Switzerland | |
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In office June 9, 1897 – August 9, 1897 |
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| Appointed by | William McKinley |
| Preceded by | John L. Peak |
| Succeeded by | Arthur S. Hardy |
| United States Ambassador to Turkey | |
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In office 1901–1909 |
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| Appointed by | William McKinley |
| Preceded by | Oscar S. Straus |
| Succeeded by | Oscar S. Straus |
| United States Ambassador to Germany | |
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In office October 24, 1911 – October 4, 1913 |
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| Appointed by | Woodrow Wilson |
| Preceded by | David Jayne Hill |
| Succeeded by | James W. Gerard |
| United States Ambassador to Italy | |
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In office July 4, 1909 – October 7, 1911 |
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| President | William Howard Taft |
| Preceded by | Lloyd C. Griscom |
| Succeeded by | Thomas J. O'Brien |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
March 28, 1857 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania |
| Died | March 27, 1924 (aged 66) Monte Carlo |
| Parents | John B. Leishman (1827–1857) Amelia Henderson (1832–1905) |
John George Alexander Leishman (March 28, 1857 – March 27, 1924) was an American businessman and diplomat. He worked in various executive positions at Carnegie Steel Company and later served as an ambassador for the United States.
John George Alexander Leishman was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on March 28, 1857, the only son of Scots-Irish immigrants John B. Leishman (1827–1857) and Amelia Henderson (1832–1905).
His father drowned in the Allegheny River the same year in which he was born. Leishman began a lifetime of work at age ten, as an assistant for a Pittsburgh physician. Over the next seventeen years, Leishman would rise to become a trusted confidant of both Henry Clay Frick and Andrew Carnegie.
Prior to his entry into the Carnegie service, John Leishman had been in the service of Shoenberger Steel Company, as what was termed a "mud clerk". Mud clerks were the steel industry’s representatives on the river wharf, responsible for tracking the shipping of goods: the arrival of raw materials and the departure of finished products. To guarantee efficiency and success, mud clerks lived 24 hours a day in small sheds on the riverbank. This work led first to an unsuccessful venture as an independent steel broker and then a successful partnership with his friend and colleague from Shoenberger Steel, William Penn Snyder.
As senior partner in Leishman and Snyder, Leishman caught the attention of Andrew Carnegie, who convinced Leishman to enter Carnegie's service on October 1, 1884, as Special Sales Agent. Carnegie saw more than a little of himself in the younger man; throughout his life, Carnegie continued to think of Leishman as one of his “boys” and included Leishman in the official “History of the Carnegie Veterans Association”. Leishman occupied the following positions: Vice Chairman, Carnegie Brothers & Company, Ltd.; Vice President and Treasurer, Carnegie Steel Company and President, Carnegie Steel Company.
The Leishmans' social and business connections provided entrée into an extraordinarily exclusive circle of sixty-odd families, called the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club. It was conceived as an idyllic summer colony, bought and developed by Henry Clay Frick in Cambria County, Pennsylvania, a short, convenient train ride away from the smoke and soot of Pittsburgh’s industry. To create the summer colony, an abandoned Pennsylvania Railroad earthen dam was rebuilt and increased in size to create a mountaintop reservoir for pleasure boating, which was named Lake Conemaugh. Among the Club’s members were Andrew Carnegie, Henry Clay Frick and Andrew Mellon. The Club’s earthen dam failed on May 31, 1889, contributing to the Johnstown Flood disaster.
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