William Edward Dodd
| William Dodd | |
|---|---|
| United States Ambassador to Germany | |
|
In office August 30, 1933 – December 29, 1937 |
|
| President | Franklin D. Roosevelt |
| Preceded by | Frederic M. Sackett |
| Succeeded by | Hugh R. Wilson |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
William Edward Dodd October 21, 1869 Clayton, North Carolina |
| Died | February 9, 1940 (aged 70) Round Hill, Loudoun County, Virginia |
| Cause of death | pneumonia |
| Resting place | Rock Creek Cemetery, Washington, DC |
| Nationality | USA |
| Political party | Democratic Party |
| Spouse(s) | Martha Ida "Mattie" Johns (m. 1901–38) |
| Children |
William E. Dodd, Jr. ("Bill") b. 1905 Martha Dodd b. 1908 |
| Parents | John D. Dodd Evelyn Creech |
| Alma mater |
Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College, B.S. 1895, M.S. 1897 University of Leipzig, Ph.D. 1900 |
| Occupation | Historian Diplomat |
William Edward Dodd (October 21, 1869 near Clayton, North Carolina – February 9, 1940 near Round Hill, Virginia) was an American historian, author and diplomat. A liberal Democrat, he served as the United States Ambassador to Germany from 1933 to 1937 during the Nazi era. Initially a holder of the slightly Antisemitic notions of his times, he went to Germany with unofficial instructions from President Franklin D. Roosevelt to do what he could to protest Nazi treatment of Jews in Germany "unofficially," while also attempting to follow official State Department instructions to maintain cordial official diplomatic relations. Convinced from first hand observation that the Nazis were an increasing threat, he resigned over his inability to mobilize the Roosevelt administration, particularly the State Department, to counter the Nazis prior to the start of World War II.
Dodd was born on October 21, 1869 on a farm near Clayton, North Carolina. He was of English or Scottish descent, his paternal ancestors having lived in America since the 1740s when the first of the family to arrive in the New World, Daniel Dodd, settled among the Highland Scots in the Cape Fear Valley. Dodd earned his bachelor's degree from the Virginia Polytechnic Institute (Virginia Tech) in 1895 and a master's degree in 1897. He earned his Ph.D. at the University of Leipzig in 1900. He and his wife Martha married on December 25, 1901. They had two children, a daughter, Martha, who became a Communist agent, and a son, William E. Dodd, Jr.
Dodd learned a class-conscious view of Southern history from his family, which taught him that slaveholders were responsible for the Civil War. His semi-literate and impoverished father supported his family only through the generosity of wealthier relatives, whom Dodd came to view as "hard men, those traders and aristocratic masters of their dependents". Dodd taught history at Randolph–Macon College from 1900 to 1908. His instruction there was at times controversial, because it included attacks on Southern aristocratic values. In 1902, he wrote an article in The Nation in which he complained of pressure to flatter Southern elites and their view that slavery played no role in the onset of the Civil War. He criticized the Grand Camp of Confederate Veterans by name. Confederate societies called for his dismissal. Dodd explained that "To suggest that the revolt from the union in 1860 was not justified, was not led by the most lofty minded statesmen, is to invite not only criticism but an enforced resignation." University administrators supported him and he attacked his accusers and detailed their distortions of Southern history. When recruited by the University of Chicago, he began his 25-year career as Professor of American History there in 1908.
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