Henry Morgenthau Sr.: Background information when reading The Hundred-Year Walk

Henry Morgenthau Sr.

This article relates to The Hundred-Year Walk

In The Hundred Year Walk, author Dawn MacKeen mentions observations made by non-Turkish individuals who were unwilling witnesses to the Armenian Genocide. One person she cites several times is Henry Morgenthau, Sr. (1856-1946), who was the United States Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire from 1913 to 1916, and as such bore witness to actions the Turkish government took against its Armenian citizens and did everything in his power to make sure those in the United States knew exactly what was taking place. .

Morgenthau immigrated to the United States in 1866 with his family, Jewish German expatriates who moved to New York after the U.S. Civil War. After graduating from Columbia Law School, Morgenthau was a successful lawyer and made a fortune in real estate, eventually becoming very active in Democratic Party politics.

Morgenthau contributed heavily to Woodrow Wilson's 1912 presidential campaign, hoping that a cabinet position would result from his generosity. Wilson, however, felt he needed a Jewish American to act as a bridge between the Muslims of the Ottoman Empire and the Christians of the United States, and so instead asked Morgenthau to become an ambassador to that area of the world. Morgenthau initially refused, but reconsidered at the urging of a pro-Zionist friend who felt he could also help look after American interests in Palestine more effectively from Constantinople (Istanbul) than from Washington.

Morgenthau's primary responsibility was to ensure the safety of Americans in the region. Because the United States remained neutral when World War I initially broke out Morgenthau was also able to act in the interests of other countries whose embassies had closed. He was well acquainted with many in the Turkish government, particularly with Talaat Pasha, the Interior Minister and one of the chief architects of the Armenian Genocide.

Beginning in April 1915, news of Armenian deportations and massacres began to reach the U.S. embassy. Morgenthau began regularly cabling the United States Department of State with increasingly dire messages (one on July 16, 1915 read that "a campaign of race extermination is in progress"). Nevertheless, Wilson wanted to maintain neutrality and keep the United States out of the war that was consuming Europe, and so opted to do nothing. Morgenthau also met constantly with Turkish officials, protesting their actions, but he was ignored on that front as well.

Making no headway with either government, his next step was to enlist the aid of his fellow Americans. Along with several others he formed a fundraising group dubbed the Committee on Armenian Atrocities, which was able to raise over $100 million in aid (equivalent to approximately $1 billion in today's dollars). In addition, through his friendship with Adolph Ochs, then the publisher of The New York Times, he ensured that the massacres received prominent press coverage — 145 articles were printed on the subject in 1915 alone.

Morgenthau continued documenting the atrocities against the Armenian community but eventually resigned his position in 1916, feeling he could no longer work with members of the Turkish government who showed so little regard for human life. His 1919, memoir, Ambassador Morgenthau's Story, describes the culpability of the Turkish government, and his bearing witness to the horrors while serving in the Ottoman Empire.

Picture of Henry Morgenthau from U.S. Library of Congress

Filed under People, Eras & Events

This "beyond the book article" relates to The Hundred-Year Walk. It originally ran in March 2016 and has been updated for the January 2017 paperback edition. Go to magazine.