Somerville Pinkney Tuck (1891-1967)

From the Gloversville Leader-Herald,  August 13, 1956.

  U.S. Ambassador to Egypt Somerville Pinkney Tuck was, like Charlemagne Tower Jr. before him, well educated and born into wealth and prominence. As the son of Somerville Pinkney Tuck (1848-1923), an American born jurist who served on the International Court of Egypt, Tuck the younger attended schools in Europe and was well prepared for a life in diplomatic service. Born in Staten Island, New York on May 21, 1891, Somerville Pinkney Tuck was the son of Judge Somerville Pinkney and Emily Rosalie (Snowden) Tuck. While father and son share the same name, most sources record both under the abbreviated name "S. Pinkney."

  No biography of S. Pinkey Tuck's diplomatic accomplishments would be complete without mention of his father, who attained international distinction as a jurist. A graduate of the University of Virginia in 1869, S. Pinkney Tuck the elder practiced law in New York City for over twenty years before being nominated by President Cleveland as a judge on the International Court of First Instance in Egypt, a court comprised of judges "who regulated the privileges and status of foreigners domiciled within the dominions of the Turkish sultan." This appointment was later upheld by the Khedive of Egypt, and Tuck sat on this international bench until 1908, when he advanced to the International Court of Appeals at Cairo, Egypt. Tuck continued his service in Egypt until his retirement in 1920, and three years later died and was buried in France.

   As the son of an internationally known jurist, S. Pinkney Tuck was afforded the luxury of attending preparatory schools in Switzerland and Germany, as well as in Ridgefield, Connecticut. He later enrolled at Dartmouth University, and, following his graduation in 1913, decided to follow his father's path and serve abroad. After passing the foreign service exam in 1913 Tuck was appointed as deputy consul at Alexandria, Egypt that September and in May 1914 became vice-consul. By 1919 he had advanced to Consul of class seven and remained in Egypt until January 1920, when he was transferred to the U.S. Consulate in Samsoun, Anatolia, Turkey. 

  Between 1920 and 1938 S. Pinkney Tuck rabbited around the globe, being detailed as a diplomat to over a dozen different areas. The following is a list of positions Tuck occupied abroad between the aforementioned dates:

• 1921--Member of the staff of the U.S. High Commissioner in Constantinople, Turkey.
• 1922--Detailed consul to the diplomatic agency in Cairo, Egypt. Named as U.S. Consul in Vladivostok, Siberia that same year, serving until 1923.
• 1923--Served at the State Department until 1924.
• 1924--Appointed as U.S. Consul at Geneva, Switzerland, serving until 1928. This period of service saw Tuck attend sessions of the League of Nations advisory commission on opium in 1925, 1926, and 1927; American delegate to the Conference for the Limitation for Naval Disarmament, 1927.
• 1928--First Secretary of the American Embassy in Cairo, Egypt (serving until 1929.)
• 1929--First Secretary of the American legation at Budapest, Hungary (serving until 1931.)
• 1932--Appointed as U.S. Charge d'Affaires at Prague.
• 1933--Appointed as First Secretary of the American legation at Paris, France.
• 1937--Designated counselor of Embassy at Brussels, Belgium, and Luxembourg.
• 1938--Counselor of Embassy at Buenos Aires, Argentina (serving until 1941.)

From the Foreign Service Journal's 1936 photo supplement.

   In 1941 Tuck entered into one of his most important diplomatic assignments, that of U.S. Charge d'Affaires to Vichy, France. Several months prior to his arrival in France, the French parliament had voted to end the Third Republic and begin a French State, headed by Marshal Henri Petain (1856-1951). With the de facto capital of France now located at Vichy, Petain and his cabinet signed an armistice agreement with Nazi Germany in June 1940, becoming collaborators with the Nazi government. This period saw S. Pinkney Tuck have a front-line view of rising anti-Semitism against French Jews, their internment in camps in Vichy, and the forced separation of Jewish children from their parents. These collections and deportations reached their apex in July 1942 when nearly 13,000 Jews (including 4,500 children) were arrested in Paris and relocated to a stadium to be deported.  

   Justifiably concerned, S. Pinkney Tuck cabled Secretary of State Cordell Hull in September 1942, informing him of "the fate of Jewish children in the unoccupied zone who have been and are still being separated from their parents." At Hull's suggestion, an idea was hatched to allow "as many children as the United States would be willing to accept" to emigrate from France. After substantial capital was raised to put the plan into action, as well as contributions from the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee and Quakers, Tuck received a cable from Hull, with directions to ask then Vichy head of state Pierre Laval for exit visas for the children. Following pressure from Tuck, Laval agreed, and with further consultation with the German envoy in Vichy, allowed for five hundred visas to be given out. With these five hundred visas, further plans were laid to relocate thousands of more children out of France, with Canada, Argentina, and the Dominican Republic offering to accept vast numbers.

  This first group of 500 children would leave France for Lisbon, Portugal in November 1942, and, despite a bright start to an ambitious plan, further good fortune was curtailed with the landing of American troops in North Africa that November. Because of this action, Vichy, France took retribution by severing diplomatic channels with the United States and canceled all further exit visas, dashing the hopes of rescuing further children.

Mr. and Mrs. S. Pinkney Tuck, from the May 1944 Foreign Service Journal.

  With relations between Vichy and the United States further deteriorating, S Pinkney Tuck, his wife and other members of the American legation (including staff of other French consulates) were detained by the Germans for two months at hotels in Lourdes, France before being relocated for internment at the Brenners Park Hotel in Baden-Baden, Germany. Tuck and his wife remained in Baden-Baden until being released in March 1944 and would return to the United States aboard the MS Gripsholm.

  Just a short period after his return to the United States, S. Pinkney Tuck would be called once again to diplomatic service, being appointed by President Franklin Roosevelt as Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Egypt in April 1944. Following confirmation by the senate, Tuck returned to Egypt and in September 1946 achieved the rank of Ambassador. He retired from diplomatic service in May 1948 and a few months following his retirement gained further distinction when he was named to the board of directors of the Suez Canal Company, becoming the first American to be so honored. He would serve on that board until the Egyptian government "nationalized the waterway" in 1956, and in the twilight of his life resided with his wife in Geneva, Switzerland, and Paris, France. He died at a Paris hospital on April 22, 1967, and was survived by his wife Katherine Whitney (Demme) Tuck (1897-1981), who he had married in 1936. He was later interred at the St. Barnabas Church Cemetery in Upper Marlboro, Maryland.

Tuck during his time as Ambassador to Egypt.

Hooker Austin Doolittle (1889-1966)

From the Foreign Service Journal's 1936 photographic supplement.

  While the word "hooker" most likely conjures up images of ladies of the night plying their trade in the big city, you probably would have never figured on an American public official with it as a first name! Career diplomat Hooker Austin Doolittle was an Empire State native who went on to represent the United States as Vice Consul and Consul General in locations in Russia, Spain, France, Canada, North Africa, and Pakistan. During the latter portion of his career abroad Doolittle would develop a special fondness for Tangier in Morocco, and, following his retirement from the foreign service continued to reside in that country until his death in 1966. The son of Frank Hooker and Minnie Katherine (Schall) Doolittle, Hooker Austin Doolittle was born in Mohawk, New York on January 27, 1889.

  A student at the Utica Free Academy, Doolittle continued his studies at Cornell University, graduating with his A.B. degree in 1911. Following graduation, he was engaged in clerical work in Rahway, New Jersey until 1913, and in the next year resettled in Atlanta, Georgia, where he worked in the auto accessories business. Doolittle's residency in the south later saw him employed with the Retail Credit Co. of Atlanta and New Orleans. By 1916 he had returned to New York, where he took his first steps into international affairs, working as a commercial agent with the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce. After deciding upon a career in the foreign service, Doolittle passed an examination and in January 1917 was named to his first diplomatic post, that of Vice Consul in Tiflis (now known as Tbilisi), the capital of Russian Georgia.

From the Canajoharie, New York Courier.

   Entering into his duties in February 1917, Doolittle's time in Georgia extended until 1921, and would "organize the evacuation of American citizens from Russia" that year. Doolittle would meet his future wife, Veronica Bergmann (1893-1976) during this time, and following their marriage in Batum, Russia in March 1921 had two daughters, Katherine Elena (1922-2003) and Natalia Marie Louise Doolittle. 

  In April 1921 Doolittle was transferred to the U.S. Consulate in Madras, India, and in addition to serving as vice-consul in that area later held the post of acting consul in Calcutta. In December 1921 Doolittle was attacked and bitten by a rabid dog while serving in Calcutta, an incident that was written up in several American newspapers. The Utica Herald-Dispatch relates that Doolittle underwent "the Pasteur treatment" for his injuries, and in 1923 left India to take on the Vice Consulship in Marseilles, France.

  Through the 1920s and early 1930s, Doolittle continued to advance through the diplomatic ranks, moving from foreign service office class seven to class five by 1930. This period saw him stationed as Consul at Bilbao, Spain from 1926-32 and Consul in Sarnia, Ontario from 1932-33. In the last-named year, he was transferred to Tangier, Morocco, beginning a long period of service in that country. His time in Tangier saw him designated as the first secretary of ligation in 1937 and in that year briefly held the acting consulship in Seville, Spain. Doolittle would remain in North Africa through the 1940s, and in 1941 was transferred from Tangier to Tunis, Tunisia. 

   As U.S. Consul General in Tunis, Doolittle had a front-row seat to the existing conflict between the French and native Tunisians (Tunisia then being a protectorate of France.) Among Doolittle's contacts in Tunis was Habib Bourguiba (1903-2000), a lawyer and independence activist who had been imprisoned by the French on two occasions in the 1930s. Following his return to his native country in 1943, Bourguiba made his first contact with Doolittle, in the hope that he and the United States would be of aid in the struggle for Tunisia's freedom from French occupation. Still viewed as a threat by French colonial administrators, Bourguiba was aided by Doolittle in his relocation to Egypt in March 1945, and with Doolittle's later role as U.S. Consul General in Alexandria, further aided him with a U.S. Visa so that Bourguiba could travel to the United States to attend the opening session of the General Assembly of the United Nations in New York City. Tunisia would finally win independence in 1956, with Bourguiba serving as its president from 1957-1987. Grateful for Doolittle's input in the struggle for Tunisian independence, Bourguiba later acknowledged him as "my great friend Hooker, who saved my life" during trips abroad to the United States.

Doolittle as he appeared late in his diplomatic career.

  While serving in Tunis Hooker Doolittle served as acting Consul in Morocco's capital of Rabat in 1943 and in April 1944 succeeded to the post of Consul General in Alexandria, Egypt. He remained here until 1947 when he was designated Consul General in Lahore, Pakistan, which had achieved independence from Great Britain that year. Doolittle's final years in the diplomatic service saw him as the United States representative on the United Nations Committee to Indonesia in 1950, and, following his resignation from that body retired from the foreign service in December 1950.

  Doolittle and his wife later returned to Tangier, Morocco where they would reside for the remainder of their lives. This period of Doolittle's life saw him as the director of the Tangier Gazette (a city newspaper), serve as the first president of the American School of Tangier, and until 1956 sat as a member of the legislative assembly of the International Zone of Morocco. Doolittle died in Tangier on November 30, 1966, aged 77, and later was interred at the St. Andrew's  Church Cemetery in that city.

Hooker Doolittle in Tangier.

From the Foreign Service Journal, January 1967.