Spiderlegs --
A little more work and I've found enough that I think that we can
qualify an answer to your question. In fact, after failing to find
William Phillips' 1968 obituary in the New York Times, I found a
reference to it at the Washington Post page (you can purchase the
article there for $2.95) -- then went back and searched the NY Times
manually.
I only just read your comments. Note that Harvard would be a good
place to start, if tracking family members. As you'll see below,
there's strong reason to believe that Christopher is alive and living
either in the Boston area or in the Washington, DC area.
WILLIAM PHILLIPS
================
William was born May 30, 1878 in Massachusetts, then spent a long
career in the U.S. Foreign Service. Though a Republican, he met and
married Caroline Aster Drayton, who was both a granddaughter of
William Astor and a second cousin to Franklin D. Roosevelt. The
couple grew close to Roosevelt and supported him in 1932.
William and Caroline had six children, five of whom survived his death
in Sarasota, FL on Feb. 23, 1968. They were:
1. William Phillips, Jr., then of Ridgefield, CT
2. Drayton Phillips, then of Wenham, MA
3. Christopher Hallowell Phillips
4. Mrs. Elliott B. Strauss, then of Geneva
5. Mrs. John W. Bryant, then of Beverly Farms
There were 13 grandchildren and one great-grandchild at the time of
his death. Willliam and his wife lived in Beverely, MA. She died in
1965.
Phillips' career was amazing, encompassing the following events:
? Assistant secretary of state under Woodrow Wilson, 1917-1920
? Ambassador to Italy from 1936-1941, where he tried to dissuade
Mussolini from entering World War II against the U.S. He resigned
after failing.
? Ambassador to India from 1942-1944, where he was sharply critical of
British colonial government. When his letters to Pres. Roosevelt were
leaked, it caused numerous diplomatic problems.
? In 1946 he served on the Anglo-American Committee on Palestine,
which recommended a 10-point plan for creation of a Palestinian state
that would be neither Jewish nor Arab.
? In retirement he wrote a book, "Ventures in Diplomacy," Beacon Press, 1952.
He was closely associated with the Houghton Library at Harvard. His
wife's diaries are at Schlesinger Library at Harvard. He also was an
active member of the Massachusetts Historical Society.
CHRISTOPHER H. PHILLIPS
========================
Son Christopher also served in the U.S. State Department. He was
ambassador to Brunei, 1989-1991; head of the National Council for
U.S.-China Trade; and was Deputy Permanent U.S. Representative to the
United Nations from 1969-1973.
In November, 1997 he married Sydney Watkins Osborne in Ipswich, MA.
The NY Times wedding announcement notes that Phillips was a trustee
with the American Institute in Taiwan and that he was based at the AIT
headquarters in Arlington, VA.
You'll see him quoted in this 2004 advertising circular for France Magazine:
France Magazine
"Editorial Profile" (2004)
http://www.francemagazine.org/images/pdf/mediakit_en.pdf
And I'm pretty sure that this is our guy, adjusting his glasses in the
picture on p. 5 of this association newsletter:
Association For Diplomatic Studies and Training
Newsletter, Spring 2002
http://www.adst.org/newsletters/adstspring02.pdf
Google search strategy:
? Biography Resource Center, a Thomson-Gale database available at many
public libraries
? NY Times search via Proquest Historical newspapers. You can also
search the NY Times (or Washington Post) sites yourself and articles
are available for purchase. The Boston Globe, which certainly would
have carried a detailed obituary as well, is only available online
since 1979.
? "Christopher H. Phillips" is the reference used for him most-often
and is an effective search strategy. I also did searches for
Christopher at several sites related to his U.S. State Department
career:
State Department
Christopher H. Phillips
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ho/po/com/10397.htm
Diplomatic and Consular Officers, Retired
Christopher H. Phillips
http://www.dacorbacon.org/DACOR/Drinking%20Cups_Hurley_Picture_Silver.htm
Best regards,
Omnivorous-GA |
Clarification of Answer by
omnivorous-ga
on
02 Jun 2004 15:04 PDT
Spiderlegs --
I can't find any pictures of Beatrice Phillips Strauss, though they
certainly exist in old newspaper or magazine archives of the time. Her
debut in Boston society is noted in the NY Times on Oct. 7, 1933 when
her father was Undersecretary of State.
Beatrice went with him to Italy in 1936, preceding even her mother.
An article on her in March, 1940 notes that she's 26 and is studying
to be a chauffeur for Anne Morgan's Friends of France, a relief group.
To get her chauffeur's license, she completed a course in Washington,
DC on auto mechanics. The group stayed active in France after the
German invasion of that country in 1940.
The NY Times notes the marriages of three of Ambassador Phillips
children during World War II:
* Evelyn Gardiner, of Boston, to Drayton, Dec. 1, 1940
* Barbara Holbrook to William, Jr. on Oct. 26, 1941
* Ame Phillips to Lt. John W. Bryant, June 16, 1942
Sorry, I don't have any information on the Phillips Collection.
Best regards,
Omnivorous-GA
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