Laurits Selmer Swenson (aka Selmer) (June 12, 1865–November 4, 1947) was an American diplomat who served as Ambassador (called Minister at the time) to Norway, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Denmark.
Background Laurits Selmer Swenson was born in New Sweden, Minnesota to Norwegian immigrant parents. His father, Swen Swenson was a Minnesota State Representative. He graduated from Iowa's Luther College with bachelor's (1886) and master's (1889) degrees and became Principal of Lutheran Academy in Albert Lea, where he worked from 1888 to 1897.Luther College, Luther College Through Sixty Years, 1861-1921, 1922, page 424Minnesota Historical Society, Collections of the Minnesota Historical Society, Volume 14, page 763 From 1895 to 1897 Swenson served on the University of Minnesota Board of Regents.James Terry White, The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography, Volume 12, 1904, page 108 Swenson also pursued a business career, serving as vice president of Union State Bank and president of the Wiprud Land & Colonization Company, an effort to attract European immigrants to settle in Minnesota.Albert Nelson Marquis, The Book of Minnesotans, 1907, page 503
Diplomatic career In 1897, Swenson started a diplomatic career when he was appointed Minister to Denmark.New York Times, Presidential Appointments: Prof. Laurits S. Swenson for Minister to Denmark, October 6, 1897 He served in Copenhagen until 1905.Hartford Courant, , June 26, 1905 In this post, Swenson negotiated the terms for the sale of the Danish West Indies (now the U.S. Virgin Islands).New York Times, The danish West Indies: Report From Copenhagen of Agreement for Their Sale, December 13, 1901
In 1909, he was appointed Minister to Switzerland, where he served until 1911.New York Times, No Serious Fight on Bacon for Envoy: Taft's Whole List of Diplomatic Appointments Recommended for Senate Approval, December 21, 1909Los Angeles Times, , May 13, 1913
Swenson served as Minister to Norway from 1911 to 1913.Christian Science Monitor, , April 24, 1911Spokane Daily Chronicle, To Invite Swenson: Former Minister to Norway Will be Asked for the Seventeenth of May, March 18, 1914 In 1921 Swenson was again appointed Minister to Norway, and he held this position until 1930.Baltimore Sun, , October 7, 1921New York Times, Philip is Appointed Minister to Norway: Veteran of Foreign Service Is Chosen by Hoover to Succeed Swenson, July 14, 1930. Swenson was a popular diplomat, particularly in Norway, maybe due to his Norwegian ancestry. In 1929 Time Magazine wrote: "Europeans have always marveled that the diplomatic and consular representatives of the U. S. are so often of the same strain as the people to whom they are accredited".Time Magazine, FRANCE: Paris Uber Alles, February 11, 1929
In 1925, Swenson received the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, on behalf of the US vice president Charles Gates Dawes. The prize was shared with the British secretary of state Austen Chamberlain.
In 1931, Swenson was named Ambassador to the Netherlands, where he served until 1934.Boston Globe, , February 27, 1931New York Times, Emmet is Named Envoy to Hague, December 31, 1933 He then retired and moved back to Norway where his only daughter lived.
Swenson died in Oslo on November 4, 1947.American Foreign Service Association, The American Foreign Service Journal, Volume 24, 1947, page 44
See also List of United States political families (S)
References
External resources Laurits Selmer Swenson biography, Office of the Historian, U.S. Department of State, accessed December 13, 2012