The Foreign Service Journal, October 2009

Thomas Jefferson Foundation (www. monticello.org) . Son of the “Squirearchy” Short’s forefather, also named William, immigrated to Virginia in 1635 as an indentured servant. He eventually became a landowner, and his grandson, the third William Short of Virginia, had by 1741 ascended to the “squirearchy,” with 40 slaves and a grist mill. The sixth William Short of Virginia, our subject, was born in 1759. He had a classical education (Latin, Greek, math and philosophy) at Wil- liam&Mary, where he was a founding member of Phi Beta Kappa in 1777, becoming its second president the fol- lowing year. He was also a member of the Virginia militia, but there is no ev- idence that he participated in any com- bat during the American Revolution. After graduation in 1779, he stayed on in Williamsburg to study law under George Wythe. (John Marshall was a fellow student.) He passed the bar in 1781 — Jefferson was one of his ex- aminers —and moved to the new cap- ital, Richmond, to practice law. With Jefferson’s help, Short was elected to the prestigious Virginia Ex- ecutive Council of State in 1783, a po- sition that often led to the governor’s office — both Madison and Monroe were members of the council early in their careers. He soon became disillu- sioned with politics, however, and after Jefferson’s 1784 appointment as a “treaty commissioner” in Paris, Short was delighted to accept an invitation to become his private secretary. Jefferson’s Secretary Jefferson replaced John Jay as one of three treaty commissioners, along with Ben Franklin and John Adams. The Treaty of Paris between the United States and Britain, ending the Revolutionary War and securing U.S. independence, had been signed on Sept. 3, 1783. However, several issues remained unresolved, and there were ongoing negotiations with the French, Spanish and Dutch to conduct. So the U.S. treaty commissioners remained in place for two more years. Franklin was concurrently minister to France, and Adams was concur- rently minister to Great Britain, so in their ministerial capacities they were each authorized an official secretary. Jefferson, however, was not authorized a secretary as treaty commissioner, so he had to hire Short with his own funds (at an annual salary of $1,000 plus room and board). Because Short did not speak French well, Jefferson first sent him to live for six months with a French family in a rural village, where he became fluent. Franklin returned to the United States in 1785, and Jefferson replaced him as minister to France. Thus Short’s official diplomatic career began that October when Congress approved his appointment as Jefferson’s secre- tary. He remained in this capacity until 1789, when Jefferson departed and left Short in charge of the mission. After Jefferson became Secretary of State in 1790, he secured Short’s com- mission as permanent chargé d’af- faires, the first chargé appointed by the U.S. government. He was 31. His new position was nonetheless a setback for Short, as he had hoped to be desig- nated minister. Diplomat Meets Duchess At this time Paris was a crucially im- portant diplomatic post for the United States, and this put Short, as secretary and then chargé, at the heart of Amer- ican diplomacy. He was especially suc- cessful in helping to open markets to U.S. exports, and also reported ably on the upheavals of the French Revolu- tion, predicting accurately that mob rule would be replaced by a despot. Soon after he joined Jefferson in Paris in 1785, following his language training, Short met the woman who became the love of his life: Rosalie, the Duchesse de la Rochefoucauld. Beau- tiful, charming, well-educated and 23 years old, she was in an unhappy mar- riage of convenience to her 53-year-old uncle, Duc Louis Alexandre de la Rochefoucauld. When she met the 26- year-old Short at a house party at her country chateau, the two were imme- diately attracted to one another. They became dancing partners and friends; friendship developed into romance; and before long they were lovers. Extramarital affairs were not un- usual among the French aristocracy of that era, and the duke was willing to tolerate the relationship between his wife and Short so long as they were dis- creet, which they were. Rosalie’s let- ters, which Short preserved, as well as his seven-year quest (after the duke’s death) to make her his wife, indicate their love was strong. U.S. Fiscal Agent When Short was appointed chargé in Paris, he was simultaneously named by Treasury Secretary Alexander Ham- ilton (on President George Washing- ton’s instruction, no doubt as recom- mended by Jefferson) as the sole U.S. fiscal agent in Europe. It was in that capacity that he rendered his greatest service to his country: negotiating sev- eral critical loans at favorable rates, mainly from Dutch bankers (then the most important moneylenders in the world). The loans were used both for domestic investment and to pay off higher-interest loans from France and 60 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / O C T O B E R 2 0 0 9 At 25, William Short had no international experience and, in fact, had never been outside his native Virginia.