Frank Polk

Frank Lyon Polk (September 13, 1871 – February 7, 1943) was an American lawyer and diplomat, who was also a name partner of the law firm today known as Davis Polk & Wardwell.

Early life Polk was born in New York City.

He graduated from Yale College in 1894 and Columbia University Law School confirmed by the United States Senate on December 17, 1915. On April 17, 1914, Polk was wounded by gunfire when a former city employee attempted to assassinate Mitchel.

He served in the Department of State as Counselor until 1919, US Under Secretary of State in 1919 and 1920, and then as Acting US Secretary of State in 1920. Polk headed the American Commission to Negotiate Peace in 1919, and after President Woodrow Wilson's and Secretary Robert Lansing's departure from Paris in 1919, he represented the United States at the Paris peace conference. He also managed the 1924 Democratic presidential convention campaign of John W. Davis, another name partner of his law firm.

Polk served as president of the New York Public Library from April 13, 1932 until his death on February 7, 1943.

Personal life Polk was married to Elizabeth Sturgis Potter. Elizabeth was the daughter of James Potter, the Cunard Line representative in Philadelphia and former Philadelphia Phillies owner, and Elizabeth (Sturgis) Potter. The Polks lived at 6 East Sixty-eighth Street in New York City, had a home in Syosset on Long Island and in Boca Grande, Florida. Together, they had five children: John, Elizabeth, Frank, James, and Alice.

Descendants Polk is the grandfather of financier Lewis Polk Rutherfurd. Rutherfurd was married to Janet Jennings Auchincloss, the half-sister of former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, from 1966 until her death in 1985.