J. Reuben Clark - Government Service and Law Career

Government Service and Law Career

Clark began his government service in 1906, when he was appointed Assistant Solicitor to the State Department. During their tenure in Washington, the Clark family (consisting of Clark, his wife and four children) was in the wake of the controversy over the Reed Smoot hearings in the US Senate.

In his position as Assistant Solicitor and then as Solicitor in the State Department, Clark was often confronted with critical issues of international consequence. For example, when the Mexican Revolution erupted in 1911, he was called upon to make crucial decisions and recommend courses of action to the secretary of state and Howard Taft. Of particular concern to Clark was the plight of the Latter-day Saints who lived in Mexican colonies, who were often caught in the middle of the conflict and whose presence in Mexico was resented by the revolutionaries.

After resigning from the State Department in 1913 following the election of Woodrow Wilson, Clark turned his attention to the practice of law. His family returned to Utah, and he opened law offices in Washington, D.C., New York City, and Salt Lake, and specialized in international and corporate law. One of his first major clients was the Japanese government, who enlisted his services to combat anti-Japanese discrimination in California. Officials in the Japanese government extended an offer for him to become their permanent counsel in Tokyo and reside in the Imperial Palace. Clark declined the offer, partly on the advice of Joseph F. Smith.

When the United States entered World War I, Clark was commissioned as a major in the Judge Advocate General Officer Reserve Corps (Army) and later asked to become Special Counsel to Judge Advocate General. Also during World War I, Clark worked in the Attorney General's office. He also participated in creating the regulations for the Selective Service.

In 1926, Clark was called back into government service as tensions with Mexico flared. His past experience in Mexican affairs as Solicitor and his experience in diplomacy were called upon as the President appointed him to the Mexican and American Mixed Claims Commission. The Commission, established by treaty in 1924 to settle monetary disputes between the two countries, was thought to be the best means of avoiding war with Mexico. Other positions of national prominence followed, such as appointments to Special Counsel for the United States before the American-British Claim Arbitration, and Agent for the United States on the US-Mexico General and Special Claims commissions. Later, Clark took a position as personal legal adviser to US Ambassador to Mexico Dwight Morrow, who had been impressed with Clark's work in the State Department.

In 1928, as Under Secretary of State to Secretary of State Frank Kellogg in the Calvin Coolidge Administration, Clark wrote the "Clark Memorandum on the Monroe Doctrine", which repudiated the idea that the United States could arbitrarily use military force in Latin America. The Memorandum was a 238-page treatise exploring every nuance of America’s philosophy of Western Hemispherical guardianship. The “Clark Memorandum” was published as an official State Department document and partially reprinted in textbooks for years.

When Dwight Morrow resigned as ambassador to serve in the US Senate, Clark was recommended as his replacement. Herbert Hoover appointed Clark as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States to Mexico on October 3, 1930. The Mexican ambassadorship was a key post in US foreign relations and earned him instant prestige. Clark served as US ambassador to Mexico from 1930–1933.

While Clark was serving in the First Presidency of the LDS Church, he was summoned to the White House by Franklin D. Roosevelt who asked him to be a delegate to the Pan-American Conference at Montevideo, Uruguay. Again, in 1933, Roosevelt tapped Clark, this time to serve on the newly formed Foreign Bondholders’ Protective Council.