John Randolph Clay by George Irvin Oeste - 9781512805154

John Randolph ClayAmerica's First Career Diplomat\nAuthor(s): George Irvin Oeste\nFormat: Hardback\nPublisher: University of Pennsylvania Press, United States\nImprint: University of Pennsylvania Press\nISBN-13: 9781512805154, 978-1512805154\nSynopsis\nThis is the biography of a nineteenth-century gentleman whose career in the diplomatic service of his country contributed greatly to the worldwide expansion of American trade and commerce. John Randolph Clay [tel], son of a Philadelphia Congressman, was named in honor of John Randolph, his father's friend and political associate, with whom he lived after his father's death. In 1830, John Randolph, appointed Minister to Russia, secured the appointment of Clay as Secretary of Legation. Randolph soon returned home, seriously ill, leaving Clay as Charge d'Affaires. Although youthful and inexperienced, Clay acquitted himself well, continuing in diplomatic posts in Russia and Austria for seventeen years.\n From 1847 to 1860, Clay was the dip.