House, Edward M(andell)

born July 26, 1858, Houston, Texas, U.S.

died March 28, 1938, New York, N.Y.

U.S. diplomat.

An independently wealthy businessman, he served as an adviser to Texas governors (1892–1904), one of whom gave him the honorary title of colonel. He was active in the presidential campaign of Woodrow Wilson, later becoming his adviser (1912–19). He was the president's chief liaison with the Allies during World War I, and he helped draft the Fourteen Points, which Wilson proposed as the basis for peace at the end of the war. He was a member of the U.S. delegation to the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, and he worked closely with Wilson in drafting the covenant of the League of Nations.

House, 1920

By courtesy of the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

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