Herbert Adams Gibbons (April 8, 1880 – August 7, 1934) was an American missionary and journalist who wrote about international politics and European colonialism during the early 20th century.
He is best known for his books, The New Map of Asia, The New Map of Africa, and The New Map of Europe. He is also known for his seminal study, The Foundation of the Ottoman Empire, which he wrote in Istanbul during the early 20th century.
Between 1908 and 1934, Gibbons was a foreign correspondent for several large New York newspapers."Herbert A. Gibbons, Noted Writer, Dies, The New York Times, Aug. 8, 1934, at 17; Edward Levenson, "This Was Doylestown: 1923," Doylestown-Buckingham-New Britain Patch, Jan. 26, 2012; Princeton University Library Website, describing the papers of Herbert Adams Gibbons, He was stationed in Greece, Spain, Turkey, Africa and China. His writings were syndicated in eighty newspapers in the United States.Edward Levenson, "This Was Doylestown: 1923," Doylestown-Buckingham-New Britain Patch, Jan. 26, 2012.
Both Gibbons and his wife saw the effects of the pre-World War I Armenian genocide and Greek genocide events and are credited with saving many lives.
During the course of his career, Gibbons wrote more than two dozen books on international affairs and the shifting borders of the early 20th century. He lectured frequently about international politics, and was widely quoted in the media."Herbert A. Gibbons, Noted Writer, Dies, The New York Times, Aug. 8, 1934, at 17. Several of Gibbons' books are still in print today. He also wrote a comprehensive, two-volume biography of merchant-prince John Wanamaker.
Career
Gibbons was born in Annapolis, Maryland. He attended the William Penn Charter School and the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. In 1907 and 1913, he earned M.A. and Ph. D. degrees at Princeton University."Herbert Adams Gibbons, LL. D.", The Pennsylvania Gazette, February 27, 1920. In 1908, he received a Bachelor of Divinity degree from the Princeton Theological Seminary.
Gibbons initially visited Turkey as a missionary."Days of Horror Described: American Missionary an Eyewitness of Murder and Rapine," The New York Times, April 28, 1909, at 3. He married author Helen Davenport Gibbons in 1908; she survived him and died in 1960."Helen Davenport Gibbons, Journalist, Authorist, and Lecturer", ArmenianHouse.org (includes information from her 1960 obituary, "Helen Davenport Gibbons Dies; Author and Lecturer Was 77", in The New York Times).
Gibbons spent his early career in Turkey, which was then part of the Ottoman Empire. From 1908 to 1918, he was a correspondent for the New York Herald. During this period, he filed dispatches from Turkey, Egypt, the Balkan States, and France."Speakers to Discuss Imperialism in East: Dr. Gibbons, Syud Hossain and Dr. Shatara Speak on Campus Today," Columbia Daily Spectator, Dec. 17, 1925, at 1.
In April 1909, Gibbons and his wife, Helen, personally observed the Turkish attacks on Armenians, in what is today modern Turkey."Days of Horror Described: American Missionary an Eyewitness of Murder and Rapine,"The New York Times, April 28, 1909, at 3; "Hero of Adana in Paris: The Rev. Mr. Gibbons Says Civil War Is In Store for Turkey."The New York Times, June 20, 1909.
From 1910 to 1913, while he was in Turkey, Gibbons served as the Professor of History and Political Economy at Robert College in Istanbul."Herbert A. Gibbons, Noted Writer, Dies," New York Times, August 8, 1934, at 17.
Between 1917 and 1918, Gibbons served with the American Expeditionary Forces in France. During this time, he was still reporting for the New York Herald. In 1918, he wrote a book called Songs from the Trenches: The Soul of the A.E.F.
From 1918 to 1921, Gibbons was staff correspondent for Century Magazine.
Between 1920 and 1931, he was a correspondent for various American magazines, sending dispatches from Europe, Asia, and Africa.Princeton University Library Website, describing the papers of Herbert Adams Gibbons http://findingaids.princeton.edu/collections/MC062 These publications included the Christian Science Monitor. While working at the Christian Science Monitor, Gibbons reported on the Greek genocide, in early 1922.Herbert Adams Gibbons, "Greek Massacres by the Turks Continue: Ruthless Policy of Extermination Continues - Evidence of Americans Living in Anatolia," Christian Science Monitor, May 31, 1922.
Gibbons lectured widely during the course of his career. Shortly after World War I, he became a professor in the History Department at Princeton University. He was also Honorary Associate Professor at the Army War College, in Washington, D.C. During the 1920s, he gave an annual series of lectures at the War College."Dr. Gibbons Favors 'Spiritual Zionism,'" New York Times, October 27, 1930, at 11.
In 1930, the New York Times named Gibbons as its special correspondent in China and Manchuria.
In 1931, as part of a world tour, Gibbons was the first person to cross the continent of Africa, from the Indian Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean, by means of rail While in the Belgian Congo, Gibbons learned that a new rail line had just opened through Portuguese Angola. Gibbons was told that he was the first traveler to make the through trip."Dr. Gibbons Claims a Record in Africa: Explorer Says in Paris He was the First to Cross Continent by Rail," New York Times, Aug. 29, 1931, at 4. Gibbons made the complete trip across Africa – 3,500 miles – in nine days."Sees Start of African Rail Line," New York Times, Aug. 23, 1931, at 57.
A political progressive in the mold of Woodrow Wilson, he was noted for his opposition to nativism and his belief in cultural assimilation for ethnic minorities, and for his concomitant opposition to Zionism, which he thought would lead to an increase in anti-Semitism.Joseph W. Bendersky, The "Jewish Threat": Anti-Semitic Politics of the U.S. Army (Basic Books, 2008), , pp. 175, 184–185. Excerpts available at Google Books.
Gibbons died on August 7, 1934, in Grundlsee, Austria, at the age of 54."Herbert A. Gibbons, Noted Writer, Dies: Minister, Who Was Traveler, Educator and Lecturer, Seccumbs in Austria," New York Times, Aug. 8, 1934, at 17.
Observation of Armenian genocide
Gibbons spent his early career in the Ottoman Empire and worked on his doctoral thesis and lectured at Robert College, in Istanbul. In 1909, as a missionary for the American Board of Foreign Missions, Gibbons and his wife, Helen Davenport Gibbons, witnessed the massacre of Armenians at Adana and Tarsus, located in modern-day Turkey."Days of Horror Described. American Missionary an eyewitness of murder and rapine," New York Times, Apr. 28, 1909.
The massacre was part of the Armenian genocide during which the Ottoman government systematically killed over 1.5 million Armenians.Kevorkian, Raymond (2011). The Armenian Genocide: A Complete History. I.B.Tauris. p. 710. .
In 1916 Gibbons wrote a book, The Blackest Page of Modern History: Events in Armenia in 1915, in which he described the massacres.Herbert Adams Gibbons, The Blackest Page of Modern History: Events in Armenia in 1915, The Facts and Responsibilities (1917); Merrill D. Peterson, "Starving Armenians": America and the Armenian Genocide, 1915-1930 and After (University of Virginia Press, 2004), , p. 44. Excerpts available at Google Books. In 1917, Gibbons' wife wrote a book, The Red Rugs of Tarsus, in which she too described her experiences during the massacres.
Observation of Greek genocide
A few years later, Gibbons documented massacres involving the Greek population of Anatolia, in modern Turkey.
Gibbons described the massacres in a series of articles that he wrote for the Christian Science Monitor between May and July 1922. One article, dated May 24, 1922, described the massacre of the Greeks of Pontus, located along the Black Sea, in the northeast of modern Turkey. In the article, Gibbons compared the Ottomans' treatment of the Greeks to the earlier massacre of Armenians: "The massacres and deportations of the Greeks [are] more horrible even than those of the Armenians during the World War, and these crimes continue unabated." "Two years ago there were 25,000 Greeks here. Today, between the ages of 80 and 14, the male population numbers 6 priests and 10 civilians."
The massacres documented by Gibbons were part of the Greek genocide during which the Ottoman government systematically killed approximately 500,000 Greeks who lived in Anatolia. The remainder of the Greek population later fled the region.Adam Jones, Genocide: A Comprehensive Introduction. Routledge (2010). pp. 154-55, 163. . Matthew J. Gibney, Randall Hansen. (2005). Immigration and Asylum: from 1900 to the Present, Volume 3. ABC-CLIO. p. 377. . The total number of Christians who fled to Greece was probably in the region of 1.2 million, with the main wave occurring in 1922.
Views on World War I
Gibbons served as a foreign correspondent for several American publications during World War I.
He wrote about the war in his 1916 book, The New Map of Africa, while the war was still being fought. In the book, Gibbons correctly predicted that Germany would fight a second war to regain its colonial empire, if Germany lost the war. Gibbons concluded that a second war could be avoided if the Allies were to give Germany a reasonable amount of territory to colonize in Africa. If they did not, he accurately predicted that Germany would dominate Poland and the Balkans, which happened in the early days of the Second World War.
Following World War I, Gibbons opposed the Allies' efforts to blame Germany for the war. In a speech in New York in 1922, Gibbons explained that the war was caused by countries competing for trade interests. If Germany had not existed, the war would still have happened: "human nature," rather than "German nature," had caused the war."Finds Excuse for Germany: Princeton Professor Says Human Nature Caused the War," New York Times, Oct. 30, 1922, at 5.
Views on colonialism
Gibbons had a conflicted attitude towards the colonial system, under which the European powers and the United States gained control over large portions of the globe in the late 19th century. When Gibbons was writing, the British Empire controlled 23% of the world's populationAngus Maddison, The World Economy: A Millennial Perspective (2001). Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. . Retrieved 22 July 2009. and covered 24% of the Earth's total land area.Rein Taagepera (September 1997). "Expansion and Contraction Patterns of Large Polities: Context for Russia". International Studies Quarterly. 41 (3): 502. doi:10.1111/0020-8833.00053. Retrieved 25 August 2016. The issue of colonialism was therefore of the utmost importance in international politics and world trade.
Early in his career, in 1919, Gibbons threw his support behind Woodrow Wilson's famous "Fourteen Points," which called for a League of Nations and self-determination for all people subject to colonial occupation.Herbert Adams Gibbons, The New Map of Asia (1919), at 550-51. In his book, The New Map of Asia, written that year, Gibbons wrote the following about colonialism, which he called "European eminent domain":
However, later in his career, Gibbons was reluctant to criticize the colonial system in some of his newspaper writing. For example, Gibbons opposed the United States giving the Philippines independence. He believed that doing so would undermine the international colonial system, and would threaten the position of the French in Indo China, the Dutch in the East Indies and the British in Malaysia.Herbert Adams Gibbons, "Our Action in the Philippines is Watched All Over the World," New York Times, Apr. 10, 1932. Gibbons also believed that an American withdrawal from the Philippines would threaten America's commercial interests in the Far East, because the United States would not have a convenient place to keep an army and navy in the area.Id.