Admiral George Dewey; A Sketch of the Man
New York: Harper & Brothers, 1899. Presumed First Edition, First printing. Hardcover. xii, [2], 279,[9] pages. Index. Front board weak. Pencil note and pencil erasure on front endpaper. John Barrett (November 28, 1866 ? October 17, 1938) was a United States diplomat and one of the most influential early directors general of the Pan American Union. On his death, the New York Times commented that he had "done more than any other person of his generation to promote closer relations among the American republics". Barrett was born on November 28, 1866. He graduated from Dartmouth with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1889. From 1889 to 1894, he worked as a journalist. As a journalist, he so impressed President Grover Cleveland during a meeting that he was appointed as the United States U.S. Minister to Siam (now Thailand). He served in that country for four years working to improve trade relations before returning to life as a journalist, working as a war correspondent during the Spanish?American War and then as a diplomatic adviser to Admiral George Dewey. (He wrote a biography of Dewey in 1899.) He was appointed as a delegate to the second Pan-American Conference in 1901 through the following year. In 1903, he was appointed as the Minister to Argentina, and though he only served in that position for one year, President Theodore Roosevelt later remarked that he had begun a "new United States-Argentine era". He was then appointed as Minister to Panama and then to Colombia. In 1907, he was appointed the first Director General of the Bureau of American Republics, renamed as the Pan American Union in 1910. He served in this capacity for 14 years. More