McCormick, Robert Sanderson, 1849-1919
Dates
- Existence: 1849 - 1919
Biography
Robert Sanderson McCormick was born July 26, 1849 at Walnut Grove, the McCormick family farm in Rockbridge County, Virginia. The same year, his father William Sanderson McCormick moved with his family to Chicago and it was in that city that Robert Sanderson McCormick grew up. In 1876 he married Katharine Van Etta Medill (1853-1932), daughter of Joseph Medill. Two sons were born of the marriage: Joseph Medill McCormick (1877-1925) and Robert Rutherford McCormick (1880-1955).
Robert Sanderson McCormick's business career in Chicago and St. Louis (1871-1889) was largely unsuccessful, and he was forced to liquidate his grain business in 1889, the year he succeeded in getting his first appointment in the foreign service, the career for which he is chiefly remembered. This appointment as second secretary to the American Legation in London ended in 1892 when he became official representative of the World's Columbian Exposition in London through the year 1893, after which he returned to Chicago. It was not until March 1901 that he succeeded in obtaining another diplomatic post, this time as minister (later ambassador) to Austria-Hungary (until December 1902). From January 1903 until April 1905 he was American ambassador to Russia, and from May 1905 to March 1907, when ill-health forced his retirement, he served as ambassador to France. McCormick died in Chicago on April 16, 1919.