William Castle, Jr.

William Richards Castle Jr.
William Richards Castle Jr. (Philip de László, 1921)
Born	(1878-06-19)June 19, 1878 Honolulu, Hawaii
Died	October 13, 1963(1963-10-13) (aged 85) Washington, DC
Occupation	Educator, Diplomat
Spouse(s)	Margaret Farlow
Children	1 child: Rosamond
Parent(s)	William Richards Castle Ida Beatrice Lowrey

William Richards Castle Jr. (June 19, 1878 – October 13, 1963) was an American educator and diplomat. With great wealth from his family's Hawaiian holdings, he rose rapidly to the highest levels of the United States Department of State. He took a strong interest in Pacific issues, in part because of his family's background in Hawaii.

William Richards Castle Jr. was born in Honolulu on June 19, 1878, when it was the Kingdom of Hawaii. His father, William Richards Castle, served King David Kalākaua as attorney general and later as Hawaiian Minister to the United States, where he was an active proponent of annexation. His grandfather, Samuel Northrup Castle, founded the giant agricultural corporation Castle & Cooke. William Richards Castle Jr. graduated from Punahou School and then Harvard College in 1900, where he was a founding member of the Fox Club. His mentor was Professor Barrett Wendell. He remained at Harvard as an English instructor and assistant dean in charge of freshmen from 1904 to 1913. In 1910 he was President and one of the founders of the Hawaiian Trail & Mountain Club. From 1915 through 1917, he was editor of the Harvard Graduates' Magazine and wrote several articles for it. He published two novels and a book on Hawaiian history.

During World War I he opened an American Red Cross bureau in Washington, DC, to assist in reuniting families and locating U.S. citizens missing overseas. As Director of Communications, his department handled 10,000 letters per day.

In 1919 Castle joined the U.S. State Department, rising quickly in part because of his family's money and connections with the Republican Party. He served as assistant chief of the division of Western European affairs and from 1921 as its chief. He was appointed Assistant Secretary of State on February 26, 1927, during the administration of Calvin Coolidge.