Whitelaw Reid Collection
Whitelaw Reid, born near Cedarville, Ohio, on October 27, 1837, was a newspaper editor and American politician, as well as the author of a history of Ohio in the Civil War, among other works. Following his graduation from Miami University in 1856, he worked as a journalist and later as an editor on a newspaper in Xenia, Ohio, from 1858 to1859. During the Civil War, he was an acclaimed correspondent for the Cincinnati Gazette, and in 1868, he joined the New York Tribune editorial staff. He assumed control of that paper in 1872. In 1881 he married Elizabeth Mills. Reid was active in Republican Party politics and served as Benjamin Harrison's ambassador to France (1889-1892). He ran for vice-president in 1892 with President Benjamin Harrison, who lost his bid for re-election, and he served as a member of the commission to negotiate a treaty with Spain following the Spanish-American War. Reid also served as United States ambassador to Great Britain (1905-1912). In 1905, Reid assisted Cedarville College (now University) in obtaining a donation from Andrew Carnegie for the construction of a new library for the College and the community, which opened in 1908. He also donated funds to the Reformed Presbyterian Church in Cedarville, Ohio, built in 1902, to purchase a Tiffany stained glass window in memory of his father, Robert Charlton Reid. Whitelaw Reid died in London in 1912.
Centennial Library Collection Catalog Record
