By Hope Lourie Killcoyne

The Morgenthau family is one of robustly august American lineage. Officially Robert Pattridge Morgenthau, Bob Morgenthau is a busy man. Principal at Spears Abacus Advisors, director of Davis Funds and board chairman for the Foundation for Child Development, he is also a trustee of the Museum of Jewish Heritage.
 

Bob’s father Robert M. Morgenthau was born on July 31, 1919 in New York City and served as a district attorney in Manhattan from 1975 until he retired in 2009. With nearly 35 years of service, he presently ranks as the third longest-serving district attorney in United States history. 

Bob’s grandfather, Henry Morgenthau Jr., was the U.S. Secretary of Treasury serving chiefly during the Franklin Delano Roosevelt administration. Henry Morgenthau, who had a keen interest in farming as well as helping other farmers, is best remembered for having designed the key fiscal elements of three economic and political landmarks: the New Deal, the Lend Lease program and Social Security. 

The Morgenthau family name, however, was weaved into the fabric of history by Bob’s great-grandfather Henry Morgenthau Sr., who was appointed by President Woodrow Wilson to serve as the American ambassador to the Ottoman Empire. The courageous manner in which Henry Morgenthau Sr. stood up for Armenians is truly inspirational. 

Up in smoke: from silk, to cigars, to New York City 

The ninth of 11 children, Henry Morgenthau was born on April 26, 1856 in Mannheim, southwestern Germany. Henry’s father Lazarus had launched his career as a peddler with a special niche market: buying used silk dresses, cutting the material into neckties, and selling them on the street. This venture was so successful that he was able to begin another, hugely profitable business: cigars. 

Purchasing a factory in Ludwigshafen, just across the river Rhine from Mannheim, Lazarus Morgenthau became a prosperous manufacturer and merchant, buying tobacco from the United Stages and selling it back in the form of cigars. Civil War began in the United States five years after his son Henry was born. The war had a disastrous effect on Lazarus’s business: in 1862, due to the American embargo on tobacco, German cigar exports ceased. 

With their business effectively extinguished, in 1865 the Morgenthaus decided to move to New York, where there was already a substantial and well-established German Jewish community. They lived on Second Avenue in what is now called Midtown, at the spot where a cable car connects Manhattan and Roosevelt Island. 

Real estate, typewriters and fitting in 

At first, says Bob, life was tough: “My great-great-grandfather never adapted to life in the United States. He never really found work. He had a bunch of hair-brained schemes, including inventing the tongue scraper. Never made any money on it.” 

As for Henry, upon arrival he spoke no English, but he was so motivated that by the age of 18 he had already graduated with a Bachelor’s degree from City College and from Columbia Law School two years later. In 1882, when he was 26, he married Josephine Sykes, with whom he had four children. “He went into real estate,” says Bob, “and made quite a lot of money. First he developed property along 125th Street, which became very valuable when what we now call the Metro North train station went in.”  He also developed parts of the Bronx, along the Grand Concourse.

As the years passed Henry Morgenthau also took control of some manufacturing businesses. Continues Bob: “He became chairman of the board of the Underwood Typewriter Company, which made what has been described as ‘the first truly modern typewriter.’ He was pretty prosperous.” His next goal was to become truly American. “He desperately wanted to be mainstream American society. He insisted that his name be pronounced Morgenthaw, not Morgenthow, the latter being the German way. He and his family vacationed in Bar Harbor because that’s where the WASPs went,” says Bob. 

In 1911, by the time he was in his mid-50s, Henry decided to leave the business world and enter public service by working for the government. His first mission was to raise money for the Democratic Party. That money funded what was a successful presidential election campaign for Woodrow Wilson, who took office in 1912. Though Wilson’s dislike of Jews and other minorities was no secret, Bob sounds a pragmatic note regarding his great-grandfather’s alliance with Wilson: “If you wanted to be involved in American politics, you didn’t have much in the way of choices,” he says.

Further, continues Bob, his great-grandfather “Felt that he deserved and certainly hoped that he would get a plum ambassadorship. And he got the Ottoman Empire, which was sort of the ‘Jewish’ position.” Because there were only nine U.S. ambassadorships at the time, Bob affirms that it was “a big deal,” but that his great-grandfather wasn’t happy with the offer. “He was bitter about being relegated to what he considered not a top-tier choice. And somebody, like Rabbi Stephen Wise, said, ‘Schmuck; take it.’ So he did.”

Is anyone there? 

Being an ambassador in 1913 was quite difficult, if only because of communications — or lack thereof. “You were on your own,” notes Bob. “You couldn’t just text the White House and say, ‘What do I do?’ It would take weeks and weeks for a communication to go back and forth.”

Of course, one could write, if only initially for oneself. “He wrote a book,” says Bob, referring to the one titled “Ambassador Morgenthau’s Story.” “And it’s really fascinating because of the interplay. The main players were, of course, the Turks, but also the German ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, Hans Freiherr von Wangenheim. Germany was very influential in what was going on in Turkey. The Germans wanted the Turks on their side in World War I (which hadn’t yet begun). The Germans really wanted war, to expand their territory, and they thought it would be simple to roll over their opposition and end up with the much-larger Austro-Hungarian Empire. Reaching into Egypt was also important to them.”

“At that point, the Prussians were trying to fight the Brits, who were much more powerful in those days. The United States was not involved. So the German ambassador kept thinking that he would be able to draw in the United States as an ally to Germany. He tried to get my great-grandfather to bring in the Americans on the German side.” Bob pauses. “Didn’t happen.”

“I will do everything I can to stop you.” 

The Armenian Genocide began with the killing of hundreds of Armenian intellectuals and community leaders on April 24, 1915. “My great-grandfather was there and he was absolutely appalled. He did a sort of shuttle diplomacy between the German ambassador and the Turkish leaders. And they said to him, ‘Why do you care? You’re Jewish. These are Christians.’ 

And he said, ‘Well. I am the ambassador to the United States, which is 90 to 95 percent Christian. So when I talk to you right now, I’m 90 percent Christian. But the other point is that what you’re doing is wrong. And you’re not going to get away with it. And you shouldn’t get away with it. So I will do everything I can to stop you’.”

However, Henry Morgenthau was indeed a lone American voice. President Wilson would not interfere; America wasn’t part of the war. Morgenthau was incredibly frustrated. He eventually left the ambassadorship — either because of his own deep disappointment in the lack of presidential support, or because having kicked up such a storm at home did not win him much political favor — Bob isn’t sure which. But he does know what his great-grandfather did next.

“We need to help.” 

“He reached out to his friends, one of whom was Cleveland Dodge,” says Bob. A businessman and philanthropist who owned a big copper-mining company called Phelps Dodge, Cleveland had previously helped fund Robert College in Istanbul, Turkey. 

Morgenthau wrote to Dodge: “Armenians are being massacred. The United States won’t help. We need to help.”

“Dodge brought together a group of American businessmen and they started the Near East Foundation. It was initially the American Committee for Armenian and Syrian Relief: ACASR. They started a big, very sophisticated advertising program, and raised an astonishingly large amount of money to bring relief to the displaced Armenians. Part of the effort was chartering boats to move people and help them escape,” says Bob. 

To this day The Near East Foundation (NEF), still in existence, does quite a lot for Armenians, but it also helps other displaced communities as well. The vice chairman of NEF is now Johnson Garrett, a great-grandson of Cleveland Dodge. 

Bob himself displays knowledge of and dedication to the Armenian world. He closely monitors the efforts to aid Armenians, such as those of the Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU), which Bob applauds for “working hard to get the world to recognize the Genocide, and also to help Armenians living in Armenia.” At the Museum of Jewish Heritage, where Bob is actively involved as a trustee, they commemorated the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide and had a group of Armenian clerics give speeches.

A trip to Yerevan

Bob—and about a dozen other Morgenthaus—flew to Yerevan in April 2015 for the anniversary of what is regarded as the start of the Genocide. He had made two connections in New York who made a world of difference during that trip. “I met a guy, Armen Verdian. He’s French, lives in Paris. Comes here a lot. He’s an investment banker. But he started this organization that gives cows to Armenian families in the countryside. He set it up so that there are certain responsibilities: the family can’t kill the cow and eat it; the cow has to produce milk and produce offspring. It’s designed to help the families feed themselves.”

Bob also met Hayk Piloyan, who “Is by himself a fantastic story. Hayk grew up in Yerevan and decided that he wanted to go to school in America. Without telling his parents, he studied for the SATs, which he then took. He told Bob, ‘I didn’t really speak English that well, so I didn’t do that well on the verbal part, but I did really well on the math.’ So well that he was admitted to Tufts University. After Tufts he went to the Harvard Business School. Armen was Hayk’s best friend growing up.” 

Welcome to our school

These two men took Bob everywhere. One special moment is caught in a photo Bob took at the Henry Morgenthau School in Yerevan. “It’s a really interesting school,” says Bob. “Kindergarten through eighth grade — it takes all comers. And this kid dressed up in a suit comes up to me and says, ‘Welcome to our school! My name is Henry Morgenthau.’ What a delightful little guy!”

Bob himself is one of 11 children, and family certainly takes time. However, when it comes to Armenia and the legacy of his great grandfather, he freely gives his time. He is all about generosity, as his great-grandfather would undoubtedly be quite pleased to know.

Cover image: Bob Morgenthau in the mountains of Armenia during his visit for the Centennial of the Armenian genocide. Photo by Armen Verdian.