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Henry Morgenthau (; April 26 , 1856 - November 25 , 1946 ) was a businessman and United States Ambassador , most famous as the American ambassador to the Ottoman Empire during the First World War . He was father of the politician Henry Morgenthau, Jr. and the grandfather of Robert M. Morgenthau , the current District Attorney of New York County , and historian Barbara Tuchman . BIOGRAPHY He was born in Mannheim , Germany , in 1856 into a Bavaria n Jewish Family of 14 children, the son of Lazarus Morgenthau , who emigrated to the US in 1866. His father was an unsuccessful inventor. Henry Morgenthau graduated from Columbia Law School and made a fortune in real estate. He married Josephine Sykes in 1882 and had four children, Helen, Alma, Henry Jr. and Ruth. His son, Henry Morgenthau, Jr. , later became famous as Secretary Of The Treasury , served in that post for an almost unprecedented eleven years, and was the proposer of the controversial Morgenthau Plan in the 1940s. His daughter, Alma Wertheim , was the mother of historian Barbara Tuchman . Morgenthau's career enabled him to contribute handsomely to President Woodrow Wilson 's election campaign in 1912; he was made financial chairman of the United States Democratic Party in 1912 and again in 1916. He was appointed as U.S. Ambassador To The Ottoman Empire from 1913-1916; he had hoped for a cabinet post, but was not successful in gaining one. After the outbreak of war, the American embassy - and by extension Morgenthau - also represented many of the Allies in Constantinople , as they had withdrawn their diplomatic missions due to the hostilities. After the War he attended the . He published several books, most notably ''Ambassador Morgenthau's Story'' (1919) on the Armenian Genocide , drawing on his experiences as the Ambassador during this period of Turkish history.The Ghostwriter of ''Ambassador Morgenthau's Story'' for Henry Morgenthau was Burton J. Hendrick .''Secrets of the Bosphorus'' (1918) also covers this period, whilst ''I was sent to Athens'' (1929) deals with his time working with Greek refugees. The Library Of Congress holds some 30,000 documents from his personal papers. He had connections with many intellectuals in the Vienna Circle and the Berlin Circle but when asked for help in leaving Europe after the Nazis' rise to power, he refused. Documentation can be found in the book TURKEY'S MODERNIZATION: Refugees from Nazism and Ataturk's Vision by Arnold Reisman {Link without Title} He died in 1946 following a Cerebral Hemorrhage , in New York City, and was buried in Hawthorne, NY . ARMENIA AND ''AMBASSADOR MORGENTHAU'S STORY'' The first major work on the Armenian Genocide in the West was ''Ambassador Morgenthau's Story'', still an important primary source, which discusses Turkish atrocities against the Armenians. CRITIQUES OF ''AMBASSADOR MORGENTHAU'S STORY'' Henry Morgenthau was the originator of one of the most celebrated anti-German propaganda myths of WWI,the Crown Council story.When investigated after the war this incident was found to be completetly false. {Link without Title} . In 1920s ''Ambassador Morgenthau’s Story'' subjected to criticism by two prominent American historians. Sidney Bradshaw Fay, an authority on European diplomatic history,a recognised American authority on the question of war guilt and the writer of ''The Origins of the World War''. In the journal ''Kriegschuldfrage'', May, 1925 criticised the sixth chapter of the ambassador's book, on the delay of German war initiation for two weeks or legend of the Potsdam Crown Council of July 5th and commented:
Harry Elmer Barnes , in his ''The Genesis of the World War; an Introduction to the Problem of War Guilt'' (New York: Knopf, 1926), pp. 241-247) which largely consist of a Sidney Bradshaw Fay quote concludes: {Link without Title} . On the other hand, from the Princeton University, Department of Near Eastern Studies, historian Heath W. Lowry in his ''The Story Behind Ambassador Morgenthau's Story'', (ISIS Press, Istanbul,1990) describes the ambassador's attitude as follows:
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