William Cameron Forbes

William Cameron Forbes ( born May 21, 1870 in Milton, Massachusetts, † December 24, 1959 ) was an American diplomat, writer, investment banker and Governor General of the Philippines.

Family and early professional activities

Forbes, who was one of the wealthiest families in Boston, was the grandson of the mother of the American writer Ralph Waldo Emerson and joined after graduating from Harvard University in 1892 in the commercial house of his paternal grandfather in Boston one. There he became partner in 1899.

Activities in the Philippines

In 1904 he was appointed by U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt in the Philippine Commission, where he held several administrative positions in the following years. Initially he was Gouvernementsekretär of Trade and police and then vice governor before he was appointed as successor to James Francis Smith Governor General of the Philippines on 11 November 1909. This office he held until his replacement by Newton W. Gilbert on September 1, 1913.

In his honor, the Forbes Park in Makati / Manila was named, live in the area today, the wealthiest Filipinos. During his tenure, he advocated for the development of transport links and the engine (especially to Baguio in the north of the main island of Luzon ). In Baguio, he created " The Mansion House " a summer residence, which was modeled on that of his family. During his tenure Baguio thus became the " summer capital " of the Philippines, the climate in the 1500 meters above the sea level, Baguio was much milder than in Manila. This property also served the later President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos in particular as a summer residence.

Moreover, initiated Forbes, who was from 1911 to 1913 president of the " Philippine amateur athletes association ," the Asian Games, the first time in 1913 took place in the Philippines and since then practically represent the Olympics in East Asia.

In 1921 he returned as a member of members appointed by U.S. President Warren G. Harding " Wood -Forbes Commission" to the Philippines back.

Scientific activities

1914-1920 worked Forbes as overseers ( " Overseer ") of Harvard University, from which he had in 1912 received a "Doctor honoris causa ". Subsequently, he was from 1920 to 1955 one of the trustees and curators of the Carnegie Institution.

Diplomatic activities

In 1930 he became chairman of a committee to assess the situation in Haiti. Yet on September 25th of the same year, he was Ambassador of the United States of America in Japan. After his return from Japan on 22 March 1932, he received his doctorate nor the Doctor of Laws ' ( LL.D. ) at Bates College. In 1935, he was head of a business delegation in East Asia.

Publications

• As to Polo, 1919.
• The Romance of Business, 1921.
• A Survey of Developments in the Philippine Movement for Independence, 1932-1936.
• Fuddlehead by Fuddlehead, 1935. ( Autobiography)
• American Policies in the Far East, 1939.

The manuscripts and written documents pertaining located since 2009 in the Houghton Library at Harvard.