John Gilbert Winant: Difference between revisions

'''John Gilbert Winant''' {{small|[[Order of Merit|OM]]}} (February 23, 1889 – November 3, 1947) was an American [[diplomat]] and [[politics of the United States|politician]] with the [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican party]] after a brief career as a teacher in [[Concord, New Hampshire]].<ref>Lawrence Kestenbaum. [http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/wilsons-winford.html "The Political Graveyard: Index to Politicians: Wilson-allen to Winfrey"]. ''politicalgraveyard.com''.</ref> John Winant held positions in [[New Hampshire]], national, and international politics. He was the 60th [[governor of New Hampshire]] from 1925 to 1927 and 1931 to 1935. Winant also served as [[U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom]] during most of [[World War II]]. Depressed by career disappointments, a failed marriage and heavy debtsdebt, he committedkilled suicidehimself in 1947.<ref name=NYTobit>

Winant was born on the East Side, New York City, the son of Frederick and Jeanette Winant. His father was a partner in a prosperous real estate company. Winant attended [[St. Paul's School (New Hampshire)|St. Paul's School]] in Concord and progressed to [[Princeton University]], but he was a poor student, and left without graduating. He was appointed an instructor in history at St. Paul's in 1913, remaining there until 1917. He was elected to the [[New Hampshire House of Representatives]] in 1916. In 1917, he joined the [[United States Army Air Service]], trained as a pilot, and commanded the [[8th Aero Squadron|8th Aero Squadron (Observation)]] in France, with the rank of captain.<ref name=NYTobit/>

He twice served as Governor of New Hampshire: from 1925 to 1927, and from 1931 to 1935. He served his later termsterm during the [[Great Depression]] and responded in several ways. He oversaw an emergency credit act which allowed the state to guarantee debts of municipalities so that local governments could continue. He pushed through a minimum wage act for women and children. During the depressionDepression, Winant fought to keep improving the state's highways while reorganizing the state banking commission and pursuing more accurate accounting of state agencies' funds. Working closely with the federal government, Winant was the first governor whose state filled its enrollment quota in the [[Civilian Conservation Corps]].<ref name=NYTobit/><ref>[http://www.nh.gov/nhdhr/publications/glikeness/winajohn.html "John G. Winant, A Guide to Likenesses of New Hampshire Officials and Governors on Public Display at the Legislative Office Building and the State House Concord, New Hampshire, to 1998, New Hampshire Division of Historical Resources"]. ''nh.gov''.</ref>

Subsequently, President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] appointed Winant as first head of the [[Social Security Board (United States)|Social Security Board]] in 1935, a position he held until 1937.<ref name=NYTobit/> At the time, it was rumored that Roosevelt appointed Winant to prevent him from running for President in 1936, but Winant never admitted to Presidential aspirations.

In 1941, Roosevelt appointed Winant ambassador to Britainthe [[Court of St. James's]], and Winant remained in that post until he resigned in March 1946.<ref name=NYTobit/> Winant as dramatically changed the U.S. stance towardtowards Britain compared to his predecessor], [[Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr.]]. Upon landing at [[Bristol]] airport in March 1941, Winant announced, "I'm very glad to be here. There is no place I'd rather be at this time than in England." <ref name="Olson">{{cite book|last=Olson,|first=Lynne|author-link=Lynne Lynn. ''Olson|title=Citizens of London: The Americans Whowho Stoodstood with Britain in Itsits Darkestdarkest, Finestfinest Hour''hour|url=https://archive. org/details/citizensoflondon0000olso_n9i2/page/n7/mode/2up|url-access=registration|year=2010|publisher=Random House.|location=New 2010.York|isbn=978-0-8129-7935-0}}</ref>{{rp|4–5}} The remark heartened a country that had come through the [[Battle of Britain]] and was in the midst of [[The Blitz]], and it was featured dramatically on the front pages of most British newspapers the next day.<ref name="Olson"/>{{Citation neededrp|date=April 20215}}

The new ambassador quickly developed close contacts with King [[George VI]] and Prime Minister [[Winston Churchill]], even though the U.S. was only providing military aid and the Axis was not yet at war with the U.S.<ref name="Olson"/><ref name="NPR"> [https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=123231825 ''Citizens of London'': Interview with author and book excerpt "Chapter 1: There's No Place I'd Rather Be Than In England"]. [[National Public Radio]], ''[[All Things Considered]]'', February 3, 2010.</ref> Winant had an affair with Churchill's second daughter [[Sarah Churchill (actress)|Sarah Churchill]] during that time.<ref name="NPR"/>

Winant was with Churchill when Churchill learned of the [[attack on Pearl Harbor]].<ref name="Olson"/>{{rp|143–144}}

Winant married Constance Rivington Russell (1899–1983) in 1919.<ref name=NYTobit/><ref>{{cite news|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IUoEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA23|title=The Roosevelt New Deal Sends An Ambassador To Britain's New Dealers|date=March 3, 1941|publisher=[[Life (magazine)|Life]]}}</ref> They had a daughter, Constance Russell Winant (1921–1978), and two sons, John Gilbert Winant Jr. (1922–1993) and Rivington Russell Winant (1925–2011).<ref>[http://newdeal.feri.org/kiosk/profile.cfm?QID=2836 "Commemorative Chairs: John G. Winant"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303211250/http://newdeal.feri.org/kiosk/profile.cfm?QID=2836 |date=March 3, 2016 }}. ''feri.org''.</ref> The younger Constance married Carlos Valando, a Peruvian scientist, in 1941.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,789975,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100624093913/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,789975,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=June 24, 2010|title=Milestones, Feb. 24, 1941|date=February 24, 1941|magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]|access-date=April 11, 2010}}</ref>

Winant shot himself in the head at his Concord home on 3 November 3, 1947, the day his book ''Letter from Grosvenor Square'' was published.<ref name=NYTobit/><ref>[http://www.ssa.gov/history/mywinantarticle.html "Social Security"]. ''ssa.gov''.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://harvardmagazine.com/2000/11/john-gilbert-winant.html|title=John Gilbert Winant—Brief life of an exemplary public servant: 1889–1947|author=James O. Freedman|work=Harvard Magazine, November–December 2000|date=November 2000 |access-date=April 16, 2009}}</ref> The book ''Citizens of London'' reports that after Roosevelt's death, with Winant distanced from his Republican Party base, "[h]e hoped that he was going to become secretary-general of the new UN... On top of that [disappointed hope], his affair with [[Sarah Churchill (actress)|Sarah Churchill]] ended badly. 'He was an exhausted, sick man after the war'," author Olson continued in the interview on NPR.<ref name="NPR01">[https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=123231825 Report with author interview at time of publication of ''Citizens of London: The Americans Who Stood with Britain in Its Darkest, Finest Hour'' by Lynne Olson (2010, Random House, 496 p.)]. [[National Public Radio]], ''[[All Things Considered]]'', February 3, 2010.</ref>

Winant was buried at Blossom Hill cemeteryCemetery in Concord; his wish to be buried in the St. Paul's School's consecrated cemetery was refused by the Episcopalian rector on the grounds that suicide was a sin. However, in the more secular culture of 1968, his casket was reinterred at St Paul's.<ref name=Hare>Hare, J. (2010). Eventually, Winant ended up at St. Paul's. ''Concord Monitor'', February 5, 2010.</ref> His epitaph was his 1946 quote:

Two positions have been endowed in Winant's honourhonor at the University of Oxford: the [https://www.politics.ox.ac.uk/academic-staff/janina-dill.html John G. Winant Lectureship in U.S. Foreign Policy] and the John Gilbert Winant Visiting Professorship of American Government, which is held at Oxford's [[Rothermere American Institute]].<ref>[http://www.rai.ox.ac.uk/people/winant John G. Winant Visiting Professor of American Government] RAI. June 11, 2015.</ref>

On June 30, 2017, a statue of Winant was unveiled outside the New Hampshire State Library in Concord. The campaign to build the statue with private funds was led by Van McLeod, longtime headCommissioner of New Hampshire's Department of Cultural Resources, and statethe lawmakerformer Speaker of the New Hampshire House, [[Steve Shurtleff]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nhpr.org/post/statue-governor-john-winant-unveiled-concord|title=Statue of Governor John Winant Unveiled in Concord|last=Bookman|first=Todd|website=www.nhpr.org|date=June 30, 2017 |language=en|access-date=2018-12-29}}</ref>

* {{FindagraveFind a Grave|7146316}}

[[Category:American politicians who committeddied by suicide]]

[[Category:GovernorsRepublican Party governors of New Hampshire]]

[[Category:MembersRepublican Party members of the New Hampshire House of Representatives]]

[[Category:Republican Party New Hampshire Republicansstate senators]]