Edwin H. Conger

Edwin H. Conger


United States Ambassador to Mexico
In office March 8, 1905 - August 3, 1905
President	Theodore Roosevelt
Preceded by	Powell Clayton
Succeeded by	David E. Thompson
United States Ambassador to China
In office January 19, 1898 - April 4, 1905
President	William McKinley Theodore Roosevelt
Preceded by	Charles H. Denby
Succeeded by	William W. Rockhill
United States Minister to Brazil
In office August 9, 1897 – February 6, 1898
President	William McKinley
Preceded by	Thomas Larkin Thompson
Succeeded by	Charles Page Bryan
In office September 27, 1890 – September 9, 1893
President	Benjamin Harrison Grover Cleveland
Preceded by	Robert Adams, Jr.
Succeeded by	Thomas Larkin Thompson
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Iowa's 7th congressional district.
In office March 4, 1885 – October 3, 1890
Preceded by	Hiram Y. Smith
Succeeded by	Edward R. Hays
Personal details
Born	March 7, 1843 Knox County, Illinois
Died	May 18, 1907 (age 64) Pasadena, California
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Sarah J. Conger nee Pike
Profession	Politician, Lawyer

Edwin Hurd Conger (March 7, 1843 – May 18, 1907) was an American Civil War soldier, lawyer, banker, Iowa congressman, and United States diplomat. As the United States' minister to China during the Boxer Rebellion, Conger, his family, and other western diplomatic legations were under siege in Beijing until rescued by the China Relief Expedition.

Personal background and war service

Born in Knox County, Illinois, Conger graduated from Lombard College in 1862. During the Civil War, he enlisted as a private in Company I of the 102nd Illinois Volunteer Infantry Regiment. He was promoted to captain and brevetted major.

At the close of the war, he studied law. He graduated from Albany Law School in 1866 and was admitted to the bar, commencing practice in Galesburg, Illinois. Conger moved to Dexter, Iowa, in south-central Iowa, in 1868 and engaged in banking, livestock, and agricultural pursuits. Conger was married to Sarah Pike, also from Iowa, an author, a Christian Scientist, and a leader of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union who accompanied him to China, and would be later known for befriending China's Empress Dowager Cixi.^[1]

Political activity

After winning two terms as treasurer of Dallas County, Iowa in 1877 and 1879, he was elected Iowa State Treasurer in 1880, and reelected in 1882.

In 1884, the incumbent Republican U.S. Representative of Iowa's 7th congressional district, John A. Kasson, declined to seek re-election. Conger won the Republican nomination to succeed him, and the general election (although Kasson's early resignation to accept an ambassadorship, and the election of Hiram Y. Smith to serve out Kasson's term, caused Conger to succeed Smith instead). Conger was re-elected twice (in 1886 and 1888). In Congress, he served as chairman of the Committee on Coinage, Weights, and Measures from 1889 to 1890. In 1890, he entered the race for a fourth term in Congress.

Conger (on left) and staff in the American legation, Beijing, circa 1901

Conger and family in foreground, with 9th Infantry Regiment lined up before the Meridian Gate, Forbidden City, Beijing, circa 1901

Foreign service

In September 1890, less than two months before the general election, Conger resigned his Congressional seat and abandoned his re-election campaign, in order to accept appointment by President Benjamin Harrison as U.S. Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Brazil (a post that today would be called the United States Ambassador). He served until September 1893, when he was replaced by an appointee of incoming Democratic President Grover Cleveland. He returned to that position in 1897 following the election of the next Republican president, William McKinley, serving from August 9, 1897 to February 6, 1898.

In 1898, President McKinley appointed Conger as Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to China, where he served as the United States' ambassador to the Great Qing Empire. McKinley had initially nominated Charles Page Bryan for the China post, but when Bryan's lack of relevant experience prompted objections in Congress, McKinley chose Conger for China and nominated Bryan for Conger's former position in Brazil.^[2] Conger's arrival in China in July 1898 coincided with the emergence of a violent anti-foreign, anti-Christian movement, the Society of Righteous and Harmonious Fists in China (known as "Boxers" in English). In June 1900, Boxer fighters gathered in Beijing to besiege the foreign embassies, in what became known outside of China as the Boxer Rebellion.

Sensationalist American newspapers initially reported, in screaming headlines, that Conger was "undoubtedly dead," together with his staff consisting of H. G. Squires, William E. Bainbridge and Fleming D. Cheshire as well as all other foreigners in Beijing.^[3] Americans and other westerners retreated to the Beijing Legation Quarter, where they were under siege for fifty-five days (see. Siege of the International Legations) until the Eight-Nation Alliance brought 20,000 troops to their rescue. After receiving a heroes' welcome on return to the United States in 1901,^[4] Conger resumed his duties in China for several more years, serving until 1905. His wife became a friend of Cixi, the Empress Dowager, and an outspoken critic of Western encroachments on Chinese sovereignty and interference in its internal affairs.^[5]

In 1905, Conger was appointed by President Theodore Roosevelt as Ambassador to Mexico. His service in that position was brief; it began on June 15 and ended on August 3, 1905, when President Roosevelt chose Conger for a different post. Roosevelt appointed him to perform a special mission to China made necessary when the United States' interpretation of the Chinese Exclusion Act, and failure to build the Hankow railroad, prompted a boycott of American goods in China.^[6] However, a week later, Conger declined the appointment, and resigned his appointment in Mexico effective two months later.^[7]

He died in Pasadena, California on May 18, 1907, and was interred in Mountain View Cemetery in Altadena, California. His death was attributed to a disease contracted in China.^[8]

References

↑ Thompson, Larry Clinton, William Scott Ament and the Boxer Rebellion. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2009, 29, 218.
↑ "Federal Offices Filled," New York Times, 1898-01-13 at p. 3.
↑ "Americans in Peking Massacred - Minister Conger Among the Slain". The New York Evening World,. p. 1. Retrieved 2010-07-09.
↑ "Mr. Conger in Iowa," New York Times, 1901-05-02 at p. 9.
↑ Thompson, 218-219.
↑ "Conger to go to China: Effort to End Boycott," New York Times, 1905-08-18 at p. 1.
↑ "Ambassador Conger Quits," New York Times, 1905-08-23 at p. 1.
↑ "Ex-Minister Conger Dead," New York Times, 1907-05-19 at p. 7.

External links

Edwin H. Conger at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress Retrieved on 2008-02-14
"Edwin H. Conger". Find a Grave. Retrieved 2008-02-14.

United States House of Representatives
Preceded by Hiram Y. Smith	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Iowa's 7th congressional district March 4, 1885–October 3, 1890	Succeeded by Edward R. Hays
Diplomatic posts
Preceded by Robert Adams, Jr.	United States Minister to Brazil September 27, 1890–September 9, 1893	Succeeded by Thomas Larkin Thompson
Preceded by Thomas Larkin Thompson	United States Minister to Brazil August 9, 1897–February 6, 1898	Succeeded by Charles Page Bryan
Preceded by Charles H. Denby	United States Ambassador to China January 19, 1898–April 4, 1905	Succeeded by William W. Rockhill
Preceded by Powell Clayton	United States Ambassador to Mexico March 8, 1905–August 3, 1905	Succeeded by David E. Thompson

United States Ambassadors to Brazil

Chargé d'affaires	Raguet Tudor Brown Hunter

Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary	Hunter Proffit Wise Tod Schenck Trousdale Meade Webb Monroe (Chargé d'Affaires ad interim) Blow Partridge Hilliard Osborn Jarvis Adams Conger TThompson Conger Bryan DThompson

Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary	DThompson Griscom Dudley Morgan Gibson Caffery Berle Pawley Johnson Kemper Dunn Briggs Luce Cabot Gordon Tuthill Elbrick Rountree Crimmins Sayre Motley Asencio Shlaudman Melton Levitsky Harrington Orozco (Chargé d'Affaires ad interim) Hrinak Danilovich Chicola (Chargé d'Affaires ad interim) Sobel Shannon Ayalde

United States Ambassadors to Mexico

Minister	Shaler John H. Robinson Wilkinson Poinsett Butler Slacum Ellis Greenhow Ellis Lawrence Thompson Beach Thompson Shannon Slidell Conner Clifford Letcher Greenhow Goss Slacum Smith Conkling Cooper Ward Gadsden Spofford Forsyth Churchwell Mordecai Green Porter McLane de la Reintrie Weller Corwin Shufelt Campbell Otterbourg Rosecrans Nelson Foster Morgan Jackson Manning Bragg Ryan Gray Ransom Clayton

Ambassador	Clayton Conger Thompson Wilson Fletcher Warren Sheffield Morrow Clark Daniels Messersmith Thurston O'Dwyer White Hill Mann Freeman McBride Jova Lucey Nava Gavin Pilliod Negroponte Jones Davidow Garza Pascual Wayne

United States Ambassadors to China

Envoys to the Qing Empire 1843–1858	Caleb Cushing 1843–44 Alexander Hill Everett 1845–47 John Wesley Davis 1848–50 Humphrey Marshall 1852–54 Robert Milligan McLane 1853–54 Peter Parker 1855–57

Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plentipotentiary to the Qing Empire 1858–1913	William Bradford Reed 1857–58 John Elliott Ward 1858–60 Anson Burlingame 1861–67 John Ross Browne 1868–69 Frederick F. Low 1869–73 Benjamin Avery 1874–75 George Seward 1876–80 James Burrill Angell 1880–81 John Russell Young 1882–85 Charles Harvey Denby 1885–98 Edwin H. Conger 1898–1905 William Woodville Rockhill 1905–09 William James Calhoun 1909–13

Envoy to the Republic of China 1913–1929	Paul Samuel Reinsch 1913–19 Charles Richard Crane 1920–21 Jacob Gould Schurman 1921–25 John Van Antwerp MacMurray 1925–29

Ambassador to the Republic of China 1929–1949	Nelson T. Johnson 1929–41 Clarence E. Gauss 1941–44 Patrick J. Hurley 1944–45 John Leighton Stuart 1946–49 Embassy in Taipei 1949–pres.

Chiefs of the U.S. Liaison Office in Beijing 1973–79	David K. E. Bruce 1973–74 George H. W. Bush 1974–75 Thomas S. Gates, Jr. 1976–77 Leonard Woodcock 1977–79

Ambassador to the People's Republic of China 1979–present	Leonard Woodcock 1979–81 Arthur W. Hummel, Jr. 1981–85 Winston Lord 1985–89 James R. Lilley 1989–91 J. Stapleton Roy 1991–95 Jim Sasser 1996–99 Joseph Prueher 1999–2001 Clark T. Randt, Jr. 2001–09 Jon Huntsman, Jr. 2009–11 Gary Locke 2011–14 Max Baucus 2014–pres.

Members of the U.S. House of Representatives from Iowa

1st	W. Thompson Miller Henn A. Hall S. Curtis J. F. Wilson McCrary Stone McCoid B. Hall Gear Seerley Gear S. Clark Hedge Kennedy Kopp Eicher Martin Schwengel Schmidhauser Schwengel Mezvinsky Leach Nussle Braley Blum

2nd	Leffler L. Clark J. P. Cook Thorington Davis Vandever Price Smyth W. Wolf Cotton Tufts Price Farwell Murphy Hayes G. Curtis Lane Rumple Wade Dawson Pepper Vollmer Hull Letts B. Jacobsen W. Jacobsen Talle L. Wolf Bromwell Culver Blouin Tauke Nussle Leach Loebsack

3rd	Allison Donnan Ainsworth Burdick Updegraff Henderson Birdsall Pickett Connolly Sweet Robinson Willford Gwynne Gross Grassley Evans Nagle Lightfoot Boswell Latham Young

4th	Grinnell Loughridge Walden Pratt Deering Weller Fuller Sweney Butler Updegraff Haugen Biermann Talle Le Compte Carter Kyl Bandstra Kyl N. Smith Ganske Latham King

5th	Kasson G. Dodge Palmer J. Wilson R. Clark W. G. Thompson J. Wilson Frederick Kerr J. Hamilton Cousins Good Cole Thruston Le Compte Cunningham N. Smith Scherle Harkin Lightfoot Grandy Latham King

6th	A. Hubbard Pomeroy Orr Loughridge Sampson Weaver Cutts J. C. Cook Cutts J. C. Cook Weaver Lacey White Lacey D. Hamilton Kendall Kirkpatrick Ramseyer Dowell Utterback Dowell Goodwin Cunningham Gilchrist J. I. Dolliver Coad Hoeven Greigg Mayne Bedell Grandy

7th	Kasson Cummings E. Gillette Kasson H. Smith Conger Hays Hull Prouty Dowell Wearin Jensen Hansen Scherle

8th	McDill Sapp Hepburn Anderson Flick Hepburn Jamieson Towner Evans Thurston Gilchrist Hoeven

9th	Orr Oliver Carpenter Pusey Lyman Reed Bowman Hager McPherson W. Smith Green Vincent Swanson G. Gillette Harrington Narey

10th	Holmes J. P. Dolliver Conner Woods Dickinson Gilchrist

11th	Struble Perkins Thomas E. Hubbard Scott Steele Scott Boies Campbell

AL	Hastings and Leffler

Terr	Chapman A. Dodge

Authority control	WorldCat VIAF: 11892444 LCCN: no95043580 US Congress: C000675

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