Henry Percival Dodge

Henry Percival Dodge (January 18, 1870 – October 16, 1936) was a United States diplomat who served as resident minister in South America, Northern Africa, and Europe for many years.

Early life Dodge was born in Boston, Massachusetts on January 18, 1870. He was a son of Henry Cleaves Dodge and Alice Almia Lamb. After the death of his mother, his father remarried to Rosalie Cox of Philadelphia. followed by an LL.B. degree from Harvard Law School in 1895.

Career Dodge was admitted to the bar in 1895. From 1897 to 1898, he studied in France, Germany and Italy.

On July 1, 1907, during a recess of the U.S. Senate, President Theodore Roosevelt concurrently appointed Dodge as the United States Minister to Honduras and El Salvador. He presented his credentials in El Salvador on December 31, 1907, and in Honduras on June 17, 1908, almost a year after his initial appointment. During his term, he was a resident of San Salvador and served both countries until February 6, 1909, when he was recommissioned to El Salvador only.

On February 23, 1926, President Coolidge appointed Dodge to his final diplomatic post as the U.S. Minister to Denmark. He presented his credentials in Denmark on August 24, 1926, and served until he left his post on March 1, 1930.

Niagara Falls peace conference Henry Percival Dodge, Joseph Rucker Lamar, Frederick William Lehmann, and Robert F. Rose at the Niagara Falls peace conference, 1914. In 1914, Dodge participated in the Niagara Falls peace conference, when representatives from Argentina, Brazil and Chile—the ABC Powers—successfully met in Niagara Falls, Canada, for diplomatic negotiations in order to avoid war between the United States and Mexico, during the era of the Mexican Revolution and following increasing tensions over the Tampico Affair. The Tampico Affair began as a minor incident involving U.S. sailors and Mexican forces loyal to the dictator General Victoriano Huerta during the faction wars phase of the Mexican Revolution, which led to a breakdown of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

The U.S. was represented by Frederick William Lehmann, a former United States Solicitor General and Joseph Rucker Lamar, an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. To celebrate the success of the conference, the ABC envoys and the U.S. and Mexican delegates to the conference attended a royal garden party on May 27, 1914, given by the Duke of Connaught, the Governor General of Canada, at the King Edward Hotel.

Personal life Lake Albano, Sunset, , by George Inness. Donated by Dodge's daughter in 1962, in his memory, to the National Gallery of Art. On February 21, 1903, Dodge was married to Margaret Riché Adams (1876–1920) at Nice, France. Margaret, who was born in Mare Island, California, was a daughter of Rear Admiral James Dexter Adams and his wife, Margaret Jane Phelps (a daughter of Rear Admiral Thomas S. Phelps). Together, they were the parents of Alice Lamb Cleaves Dodge (1905–1985).

Margaret died by falling down an elevator shaft. After her death, he married Agnes Page-Brown in Paris on April 26, 1922. Agnes was a daughter of the late architect Arthur Page-Brown (known for buildings that incorporated classical styles in the Beaux-Arts manner) and the former Lucy Pryor (daughter of Sara Agnes Rice and Justice Roger Atkinson Pryor, a Virginian newspaper editor and politician who served as a General in the Confederate Army).

He died in Zurich, Switzerland on October 16, 1936. His widow died in 1952.