The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Leishman, John G. A.

LEISHMAN, John G. A., American diplomat and iron manufacturer: b. Pittsburgh, Pa., 28 March 1857. He was orphaned at an early age and entered the steel industry at Pittsburgh, learning the business in all its intricacies. He succeeded in accumulating a considerable fortune, was senior member of the steel-brokerage firm Leishman and Snyder in 1881-86, and vice-president of Carnegie Brothers and Company from 1887 until 1897, when he became president of the firm in its reorganized form as the Carnegie Steel Company. He shortly afterward retired from business. He accepted the appointment as Minister to Switzerland from President McKinley in 1897, where he remained until his transfer to Turkey in 1900. He particularly distinguished himself for diplomatic tact and dexterity in his negotiations with Turkey for full rights for American citizens and schools in that country, and in his pressing with equal success his insistence that the American Minister should have access to the Sultan. His office was elevated to the rank of Extraordinary Ambassador and Plenipotentiary in 1906 and he continued service in Turkey until President Taft appointed him to the Embassy in Italy in 1909. From 12 Aug. 1911 to 4 Oct. 1913 he was Ambassador to Germany.