William Franklin Sands Papers

William Franklin Sands (July 29, 1874 to June 17, 1946) was an American diplomat that played a pivotal role in multiple sections of the U. S. sphere of influence at the height of U. S. American “new imperialism.”

Sands was born in Washington, D. C. to Rear Admiral James Hoban Sands and Mary Elizabeth [Meade] Sands, and was the grandson of decorated Rear Admiral Benjamin Franklin Sands and Henrietta [French] Sands. Sands was educated in Fribourg, Switzerland and in Feldkirch, Austria, and later attended Georgetown University (1896) and the Georgetown University Law College (1896).

Immediately after graduating from Georgetown University, Sands was appointed by President Grover Cleveland, a personal friend of the family, to the role of second secretary of the American Legation at Tokyo, Japan under Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary (E. E. M. P.) Edwin Dun. Sands was quickly promoted to first secretary of the American Legation at Seoul, Korea under E. E. M. P. Horace Newton Allen the following year and remained in the position until 1900. He briefly paused his direct work for the United States Foreign Service from 1900-1904, during which time he served as advisor to Emperor Gojong of a burgeoning independent Korea. It is largely these experiences that are recorded in Sands’ 1930 memoir, Undiplomatic Memories. Drafts of this and other papers on East Asia can be found in the Written and Collected Works series of the collection.

Sands’ time in East Asia ended in 1904 (though he remained a point of contact for scholars and diplomats in Korea, China, and Japan until his death), when he was sent by Secretary of State John Hay and President Theodore Roosevelt to Panama to serve as first secretary of the American Legation at Panama, under E. E. M. P. Charles E. Magoon. Sands arrived shortly after Panama’s independence from Colombia and during the construction of the Panama Canal. He thus witnessed the newly independent and industrializing country’s growing pains. Material on Panama, the Panama Canal, and the Isthmian Canal Commission are located in the Written and Collected Works series and Correspondence series.

Secretary of State Elihu Root had Sands transferred to Guatemala in 1906 to serve as first secretary of the American Legation there under E. E. M. P. Leslie Combs (succeeded by Joseph J. W. Lee in 1907) until 1908, and then to Mexico in the same role under E. E. M. P. David Eugene Johnson. In 1909, he was promoted by President William Howard Taft and Secretary of State Philander C. Knox to the role of Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Guatemala until 1910. It was these experiences that inspired his 1944 second major manuscript, Our Jungle Diplomacy, in collaboration with Joseph Lally.

In 1911, Sands ended his official career within the United States Foreign Service, but remained in Ecuador, South America to represent James Speyer & Co., an American banking firm, during the construction of the Guayaquil waterworks project. He worked with George McFadden & Co. on international shipment issues from 1915 to 1916 in London, England. In 1917, close friend Basil Miles asked Sands to work with him in Russian affairs, of which Miles was the head of for the State Department. Sands’ experience of the October Revolution and rise to power of Vladimir Lenin and the Bolsheviks led to multiple papers and essays on the subject.

William Franklin Sands was faithfully and impassionedly Catholic, and partook in spirited philosophical conversations among Catholic scholars and clergy. He involved himself with the creation of Catholic boys schools in the 1920s and 1930s, going as far as to serve as headmaster at one and on the board of directors for others. The collection features papers on the construction of these schools and philosophical discussion between prominent Catholic leadership at the time. During this time, Sands’ educational career continued on to include Georgetown University’s new School of Foreign Service, where he taught seminars on American and world history.

Sands, throughout the length of his career, was prolific in his publication of articles in various journals and magazines, such as The Commonweal, on his career expertise subjects: East Asia, Latin America, and Catholicism.

He married Edith Gertrude [Keating] Sands in 1909, and had four sons: James Sands (1913), William F. Sands, Jr (1915), Robert Sands (1917-1988), and John Keating Sands (1922-2011). Correspondence between the family is located in the Correspondence series and Biographical series.