Theodore Brentano – The first American minister for Hungary, 1922–1927

The history of American-Hungarian relations has enjoyed renewed interest in the past thirty years. Despite this fact, there are still many uncovered or poorly documented episodes and persons concerning this academic territory. This article wishes to shed some light on one such character and period. It was in 1922 that the United States and Hungary established official diplomatic relations for the first time. Consequently the two countries exchanged ministers; thus, a long line of American ministers began to come and reside in Hungary. The very first of them was Theodore Brentano, who served five years in Budapest, between 1922 and 1927, but who seems to have disappeared from historical memory in both countries. Since 2022 marks the centenary of establishing diplomatic relations between the two countries, this article will introduce Theodore Brentano, the first American minister for Hungary and his work there. Brentano's years coincided with momentous events in Hungary in the post-Trianon era and were a time of relatively active relations between Washington and Budapest. Using primary and secondary sources alike, this article will hopefully illustrate a sorely missed part of the history of American-Hungarian history and rekindle interest in what took place a century ago.

The polyphonic pastor

The current study draws on insights from research on reported speech, or more accurately what Tannen (2007) calls “constructed dialogue” to elucidate its role as an argumentative device as observed in a journalistic interview with a prominent American minister. I explore diverse techniques the minister uses to marshal a multiplicity of respected voices – an impressive Bakhtinian polyphony – to defend faith. An important contribution of this study lies in its integration of what Gumperz (1977, 1982) calls “contextualization cues”, paralinguistic signaling mechanisms (stress, pitch, speech rate, etc.), and constructed dialogue as phenomena which function together. The study reveals how various contextualization cues embedded within constructed dialogue contribute to framing knowledge claims as reliable.

Ministering, 1844–1848

Chapter 5 traces a period of extended separation between Buchanan and King, from 1844 to 1848. During the administration of President James Polk each man turned his attention to foreign policy concerns, with Buchanan as secretary of state and King as American minister to France. Their relationship had now been transformed from an intimate boardinghouse friendship into one of political superior (Buchanan) to subordinate (King). But their continued collaboration proved critical as the nation navigated first the Oregon territorial crisis and then the War with Mexico, both of which required careful diplomacy to avoid entanglements with European powers. The end of their respective terms of ministerial service found each man considering retirement, but each tried and failed once more for their party’s presidential and vice presidential nominations.

Running, 1848–1853

Chapter 6 considers the presidential election of 1848, the Compromise of 1850, and the election of 1852. During these years the friendship of Buchanan and King first intensified, then cooled, as each man took a separate path to political power. In 1852 the Democratic Party refused to place Buchanan and King on the same ticket, because the pair had become too closely associated together to balance its growing sectional and ideological divisions. Instead, the Democracy chose the dark horse Franklin Pierce for president and then selected King as his running mate to pacify Buchanan and his supporters. King’s precipitous decline in health, followed by his death in April 1853, ended the decades-long political and personal friendship with Buchanan. In response, Buchanan prepared for another round of exile abroad, this time as American minister to England.

Presiding, 1853–1868

Chapter 7 considers select aspects of Buchanan’s life after King’s death: his time as American minister to England, presidential nomination and election, presidency, retirement years, and the legacy of his friendship with King. In the election of 1856, the Democrats promoted Buchanan’s friendship with King and other Southerners to suggest his pro-southern principles as president. Buchanan was the last presidential candidate elected to run as a “northern man with southern principles.” As president Buchanan sustained pro-southern policies, administered an active social calendar aided by First Lady Harriet Lane, attended a commencement address at the University of North Carolina (the alma mater of William Rufus King), and failed to keep together the Union through the secession winter of 1860 to 1861. During the Civil War and into Reconstruction, Buchanan continued to invoke King and took special care to reconnect with Catherine Margaret Ellis.

Hardening, 1820–1834

Chapter 2 turns to how Buchanan and King established themselves within the Democratic Party of Andrew Jackson. In both cases, the chapter stresses the roles of intimate male friendships and the Washington boardinghouse, or mess, in developing a cross-sectional, though partisan, approach to their politics. Equally, it looks at important moments of conflict in each man’s life: King’s factional fighting with Democrats in his adopted state of Alabama, where he established a plantation called Chestnut Hill near Selma, and Buchanan’s struggles against the various elements of the Democratic Party of Pennsylvania. It also recounts Buchanan’s experience as the American minister to Russia, highlighting the ways in which his foreign exile connected him to King and prepared him for his future role as senator and secretary of state. These formative experiences served to harden their future political convictions and bespoke the continued need for intimate male friendships in their future endeavors.

Wooing, 1840–1844

Chapter 4 examines the crucial four-year period from the rise of the Whig Party to national power in 1840 to the dissolution of the bachelor’s mess of Buchanan and King in 1844. During this period of intense partisanship, the friendship of Buchanan and King grew increasingly intimate. First in 1840 and again in 1844, each man aspired for his party’s presidential and vice presidential nominations, respectively. The struggle occasioned a great deal of personal gossip from their political enemies, including Sarah Childress Polk, wife of future president James Polk. In April 1844, King’s appointment as the American minister to France ended his mess with Buchanan. Nevertheless, the separation brought on a regular, if one-sided correspondence. The chapter devotes special attention to the surviving letters from this critical period of their relationship, including an especially revealing post from Buchanan in which he complains of his failure to woo new members to join him in his solitary congressional mess. Ultimately, Buchanan’s failure to attract new messmates paralleled the earlier failed efforts to obtain the Democratic presidential and vice presidential nominations in 1840 and 1844.