Background

William Morgan Shuster was born on Feburary 23, 1877 in Washington, D. C. , the son of William Morgan Shuster and Caroline H. von Tagen.

Education

He was educated in the Washington public schools and attended Columbian College and Law School, but was awarded no degree.

Career

He apparently read law and was admitted to the bar, but in 1898 he worked for the War Department as a stenographer in Cuba and then accepted a post as customs collector in the newly created Republic of Cuba (1899 - 1901).

Next he was assigned to the Philippine Islands, where he reorganized customs and was collector from 1901 to 1906. His conduct in office led to his appointment to the Philippine Commission (the supreme governing agency) while he served as secretary of public instruction (1906 - 1909).

Shuster left the Philippines to practice law in Washington, where, owing to his experience in Manila, he was on good terms with President William Howard Taft, who had been the first American governor of the Philippines.

His knowledge of international finance led him into difficult assignment in Persia (now Iran) in 1911. A reform government sought neutral counsel in 1910 after Great Britain and Russia had agreed to respect Persian sovereignty while establishing "spheres of influence" where the two powers would hold extraterritorial rights. The Persian leaders, faced with a nearly empty treasury, turned to the United States for advice in selecting a team of experts who could restore some order to the fiscal system.

Taft and Shuster conferred, and Shuster was appointed treasurer general by the Persian reformers, who hailed his arrival in Teheran (May 1911) as a portent of better times. After investigating the staggering number of problems that had brought Persian finances to a crisis state, Shuster asked the national assembly to grant him almost dictatorial powers.

To avoid involvement with other outsiders, he virtually ignored the Teheran diplomatic corps, ignored extraterritorial rights, and openly quarreled with the Belgian who ran the Persian customs service. The Russian diplomats, resentful of Shuster's selection, were critical of his brusqueness and took affront when he gave command of a special treasury police force to a British military attache whose hostility toward the Russians was well known.

When Shuster directed the Persian police to seize the property of the ousted shah's brother, the Russian consulate blocked the action by sending a small cossack detachment to intervene (on the pretext that the Persian prince had defaulted on a Russian loan).

Shuster countered with a larger treasury police force, and in the ensuing confrontation Russia claimed that two of its diplomats had been threatened by Persian sentries. A Russian ultimatum followed, with demands for an apology for the alleged insult. When the Persian national assembly apologized, the Russians followed with a second ultimatum demanding Shuster's ouster. The assembly rejected this note, and Russian troops were attacked by Persian nationalists in two northern towns.

In reprisal several prominent Persians were hanged by the Russians, who then began to advance on Teheran.

A Persian commission was appointed to answer the ultimatum, and Shuster was the subject of debate in the House of Commons, where the British foreign secretary, Sir Edward Grey, conceded that Russia had demanded Shuster's dismissal and "the British Government had no objections to the Moscow demand. "

Grey said that the Anglo-Russian agreement should not be threatened, nor the two great powers "embroiled by the action of an individual, no matter how good his intentions were. " Shuster's resignation was soon demanded. On Christmas Day of 1911, Schuster was officially dismissed by the Persian cabinet, and in January he left Teheran much embittered by the experience, as his book The Strangling of Persia (1912) attested. In this book Shuster showed a broad knowledge of Persian history and politics, described the Russians and their friends as the real source of his problems, and lamented that his reform efforts to join Persian traditions with an honest and efficient modern nation had failed.

In fact, Shuster had impressed many observers in Teheran, who admired his energy and integrity. Shuster might have succeeded had he not tried to ignore the realities of the Anglo-Russian agreement. His public appeal in the midst of the crisis, through a letter to the London Times, "was an entreaty in the name of truth and justice over the heads of the British government to the people" that backfired because it "outraged the diplomats' sense of decency. "

He left behind a reservoir of goodwill, as was proved by his being invited back to Persia in 1921 to complete the task he had barely begun. Shuster had already found a new career. The success of his book and a series of articles in Century magazine brought him to the attention of the executives of the Century Company.

In 1915, Shuster was invited to serve as president of Century, and he spent the remainder of his life in book publishing. When Century merged with Appleton and Company in 1933, Shuster became president of the resulting Appleton-Century organization. Fifteen years later he presided over the absorption of the F. S. Crofts Company and was president of Appleton-Century-Crofts until 1952, when he became chairman of the board. He held that position until his death. He died in New York City.

Achievements

• He is best known as the treasurer-general of Persia by appointment of the Iranian parliament, or Majles, from May to December 1911.

Works

More photos

• book

  • The strangling of Persia; a record of European diplomacy and oriental intrigue

    (This book was originally published prior to 1923, and rep...)

  • The strangling of Persia; story of the European diplomacy and oriental intrigue that resulted in the denationalization of twelve million Mohammedans, a personal narrative

    (This book was originally published prior to 1923, and rep...)

  • The Strangling of Persia: A Story of the European Diplomacy and Oriental Intrigue That Resulted in the Denationalization of Twelve Million Mohammedans, a Personal Narrative

    (This book was originally published prior to 1923, and rep...)

  • The Strangling of Persia; A Record of European Diplomacy and Oriental Intrigue

    ( This work has been selected by scholars as being cultur...)

  • The Strangling of Persia; Story of the European Diplomacy and Oriental Intrigue That Resulted in the Denationalization of Twelve Million Mohammedans, a Personal Narrative

    ( This work has been selected by scholars as being cultur...)

  • The Strangling Of Persia: A Story Of The European Diplomacy And Oriental Intrigue That Resulted In The Denationalization Of Twelve Million Mohammedans : A Personal Narrative

    (This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. T...)

Connections

Shuster married Pearl B. Trigg on April 20, 1904; she died in 1942. He later married Katherine Kane; they had two daughters.

Father:

William Morgan Shuster

Mother:

Caroline H. von Tagen

Spouse:

Pearl B. Trigg

Spouse:

Katherine Kane