Lawyer and diplomat, born in Salem, Massachusetts, USA. President of many clubs and cultural organizations in New York, he argued landmark anti-trust, libel, admiralty, and income tax cases over a 55-year legal career. He achieved major success as ambassador to Britain (18991905) and as a leader at the Second Hague Conference (1907).
Joseph Hodges Choate (January 24, 1832 - 1917), was an American lawyer and diplomat.
He was born at Salem, Massachusetts, the son of noted physician George Choate, the brother of George C. Choate, and nephew to Rufus Choate. After graduating from Harvard College in 1852 and Harvard University Law School in 1854, he was admitted first to the Massachusetts (1855) and then (1856) to the New York bar, and entered the law office of Scudder &
His success in his profession was immediate, and in 1860 he became junior partner in the firm of Evarts, Southmayd & Choate, the senior partner in which was William M Evarts. This firm and its successor, that of Evarts, Choate & Beaman, remained for many years among the leading law firms of New York and of the country, the activities of both being national rather than local.
During these busy years Mr Choate was associated with many of the most famous litigations in American legal history, including the Tilden, AT Stewart, and Stanford will cases, the Kansas prohibition cases, the Chinese exclusion cases, the Maynard election returns case, and the Income Tax Suit.
His greatest reputation was won perhaps in cross-examination.
He was appointed, by President McKinley, ambassador to Britain to succeed John Hay in 1899, and remained in this position until the spring of 1905.
Several of his notable public addresses have been published. The Choate Story Book (New York, 1903) contains a few of his addresses and after-dinner speeches, and is prefaced by a brief biographical sketch.
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