When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
Up for sale aRARE! "Ambassador to Mexico" Henry Lane Wilson Clipped Signature.This item is certified authentic by ToddMueller sales and comes with their Certificate of Authenticity.
ES-4310
Henry Lane Wilson(November3, 1857 – December 22, 1932) was an American attorney who was appointed to thepost ofUnited States Ambassadorto Mexicoin 1910. He was born inCrawfordsville, Indiana,to CongressmanJames Wilsonand hiswife, Emma Ingersoll. In 1866, his father was appointed to the positionofMinister ResidenttoVenezuelaby PresidentAndrew Johnsonand served in that role until his deathinCaracas, Venezuela, on August 8, 1867. Henry Lane Wilson was alaw graduate ofWabash Collegeandpracticed law and published a newspaper inLafayette, Indiana. Hemarried Alice Vajen in 1885,and moved toSpokane, Washington, wherehe was in business until he was wiped out financially in thePanic of 1893. Wilson served in the US Foreign Service duringthe presidencies ofWilliam McKinley(1897–1901),Theodore Roosevelt(1901–1909)andWilliam Howard Taft(1909–1913).He was appointed Minister toChilein 1897, remaining in thatcapacity until 1904, when he was made Minister toBelgium, serving inBrusselsduring the height of theCongo Free Statecontroversy. Wilson was appointedambassador toMexicoin 1910, where he instrumented the fall of thefirst democratic Mexican government ofFrancisco I. Madero, andwas a key actor in bringing to power military dictator Victoriano Huerta,prolonging theMexican Revolution. Wilsonwas appointed Ambassador to Mexico by President Taft on December 21, 1909 andpresented his credentials to President Diaz on March 5, 1910. Wilson wasordered byWilliam Howard Tafttoremain neutral and to not make the USA responsible for the outcome of therebellions occurring in Mexico at the time.He became personallyacquainted with some of the most important figures of the Revolution, suchasÁlvaro Obregón,Venustiano Carranza,Pancho Villa, andFrancisco I. Madero.AsTaft'sAmbassadorto Mexico, fearing the leftist tendencies of the new Maderogovernment upon the ouster of Diaz (not to mention the fact that he consideredMadero a 'lunatic'),he assumed the role of catalyst forthe plot of GeneralVictoriano Huerta,Felix Díaz, andGeneralBernardo ReyesagainstPresident Madero,andwas purported to have assisted in arranging the murder of Madero, Madero'sbrother,Gustavo A. Madero, and hisvice-president,José María Pino Suárez,duringLa decena trágica(TheTen Tragic Days) in February 1913, a point that was later disputed by Wilson.After his inauguration in March ofthat year, PresidentWoodrow Wilsonwasinformed of events in Mexico by a special agent,William Bayard Hale, andwas appalled by Henry Lane Wilson's role in the Huertacoup d'étatagainst Madero. Hale reported that"Madero would never have been assassinated had the American Ambassadormade it thoroughly understood that the plot must stop short of murder",and accused Henry Lane Wilson of "treason, perfidy and assassination in anassault on constitutional government".The President supplanted HenryLane Wilson by sending to Mexico as his personal envoyJohn Lind, the formergovernor ofMinnesota. On 17 July 1913,the President dismissed AmbassadorWilson. DuringtheFirst World War, Wilson served on theCommission for Relief inBelgiumand, in 1915, accepted the chairmanship of the IndianaState Chapter of theLeague to Enforce Peace, aposition he held until his resignation over US involvement in theLeague of Nationsafter the close of the war. Wilson wasa member ofSons of the AmericanRevolution,Society of Colonial WarsandtheLoyal LegionHe published his memoir in 1927,and died inIndianapolisin 1932.He is buried inCrown Hill Cemetery,Indianapolis.
