Robert Sanderson McCormick

Robert Sanderson McCormick (July 26, 1849 – April 16, 1919) was an American diplomat. Born in rural Virginia, he was part of the extended McCormick family that became influential in Chicago.

Early life McCormick was born July 26, 1849, on the family plantation known as Walnut Grove in Rockbridge County, Virginia. His father was William Sanderson McCormick (1815–1865) and his mother was Mary Ann (née Grigsby) McCormick (1828–1878), whose family owned the Hickory Hill plantation.

When Robert was an infant, his family moved to Chicago to join the McCormick family agricultural machinery business, which in 1902 merged into International Harvester. He attended prep school at the University of Chicago and went to college at the University of Virginia.

Career McCormick formed a partnership with his paternal cousin Hugh Leander Adams, which they named McCormick & Adams, to invest in a grain elevator at St. Louis, Missouri, in 1876. In the continuing national economic troubles in the aftermath of the panic of 1873, the enterprise failed.

Diplomatic career Politically active and a major donor to the Republican Party, in 1889 McCormick was appointed as Second Secretary of the American Legation in London, where he served from 1889 to 1892, under Minister Robert Todd Lincoln, eldest son of the late President Abraham Lincoln.

On September 26, 1902, Roosevelt appointed him to St. Petersburg to serve as United States Ambassador to Imperial Russia. He was commissioned during a recess of the Senate and recommissioned on December 8, 1902, after confirmation. McCormick presented his credentials on January 12, 1903, and was present in St Petersburg during the Bloody Sunday protests of that year. After reaching appointment as U.S. Ambassador to France on March 8, 1905, he presented his recall on March 27, 1905.

He presented his credentials in Paris on May 2, 1905, and replaced Horace Porter.

Personal life

On June 8, 1876, he married Katherine van Etta "Kate" Medill (1853–1932). She was a daughter of Joseph Medill (1823–1899), who owned and managed the Chicago Tribune newspaper, and his wife. Together, the McCormicks were the parents of three children: He was buried in Graceland Cemetery.

Awards In 1907, Emperor Nicholas II of Russia conferred on him the Order of St. Alexander Nevsky, in recognition of his services to Russia during the war with Japan. The Japanese decorated him with the first class of the Order of the Rising Sun, for his attention to Japan's interest during the Russo-Japanese War. He was credited with negotiating with Russia to allow Jews to emigrate using US passports, as suggested by Chicago Rabbi Emil G. Hirsch. The French government conferred on him the Grand Cordon of the Legion of Honor, for furthering the relations between France and the United States.

Family tree