John V.A. MacMurray

John Van Antwerp MacMurray was the third U.S. Minister to the Baltic States of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia. (Photo from John van Antwerp MacMurray Papers. Public Policy Papers. Department of Rare Books and Special Collections. Princeton University Library.)

John Van Antwerp MacMurray was born in Schenectady, New York on October 6, 1881. His parents were Junius Wilson MacMurray (a professor of military history at Cornell University) and Henrietta Van Antwerp. He attended Lawrenceville School and received degrees from both Princeton University (B.A. 1902 and M.A. 1907) and Columbia University's Law School (LL. B. 1906). He was admitted to the New York Bar in 1906. In 1907, MacMurray joined the U.S. Foreign Service and was appointed as Secretary of the U.S. Legation and U.S. Consul General in Bangkok, Thailand. He then served as Secretary of the U.S. Embassy in St. Petersburg, Russia and Secretary of U.S. Legation in Peking (Beijing), China.

In December 1912, MacMurray was appointed Chief of the Division of Near Eastern Affairs. In 1916, he married Lois Goodnow, with whom he later had three children: Frank, Joan, and Lois. In November 1917, the Department of State assigned MacMurray as the Consul General of the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo, Japan. The next year, he served for a time as the Chargé d'Affaires in Peking before returning to Tokyo. In 1919, he became the Chief of the Division of Far Eastern Affairs. While Division Chief, he served as an expert assistant on Pacific and Far Eastern affairs to the U.S. commissioners attending the Conference on the Limitation of Armaments. MacMurray was also designated the principal U.S. observer at the talks between China and Japan with regard to the Shantung question from 1921-22. MacMurray became Assistant Secretary of State in November 1924, but left the position six months later (April 1925) when he was appointed U.S. Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to China. While serving as the U.S. Minister to China, MacMurray served the Chairman of the U.S. delegation at the Special Conference on Chinese Customs Tariffs in Peking which dealt with the issue of Chinese tariff autonomy.

MacMurray resigned from the Department of State in November 1929 in order to pursue an academic career. He became Director of the Walter Hines Page School of International Relations at Johns Hopkins University. Although formally holding that position until 1935, MacMurray left Johns Hopkins University in 1933 when he was appointed to as the U.S. Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the three Baltic States on August 28, 1933. He presented his credentials in Tallinn on January 4, 1934. MacMurray received the Order of the Cross of the Eagle 1st Class for his services to Estonia in 1936. While the U.S. Minister to the three Baltic states, MacMurray concurrently served as the U.S. representative on the International Wheat Advisory Committee (1933-1938). Resident in Riga, MacMurray departed post on February 12, 1936.

In March 1936, MacMurray became the U.S. Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Turkey, replacing Ambassador Skinner who had served as the U.S. Minister to the three Baltic states before him. In 1937, he went on to serve as Chairman of the Joint Preparatory Committee on Philippine Affairs. After the United States entered the Second World War, MacMurray became the Special Assistant to the Secretary of State in 1942. He retired from the U.S. Foreign Service in 1944. MacMurray died on September 25, 1960 at his home in Norfolk, Connecticut.


John V.A. MacMurray presents his credentials to President Päts in Tallinn on January 4, 1934. John V.A. MacMurray is sitting in the front row on the left. U.S. Consul Harry E. Carlson is standing second from the left. (Eesti Filmiarhiiv)