Joseph Grew

Joseph Grew

Joseph Clark Grew (May 27, 1880 – May 25, 1965) was an American career diplomat and Foreign Service officer. Early in his career, he was the chargé d'affaires at the American Embassy in Vienna when the Austro-Hungarian Empire severed diplomatic relations with the United States on April 9, 1917.

Later, Grew was the Ambassador to Denmark (1920 – 21) and Ambassador to Switzerland (1921 – 24). In 1924, Grew became the Under Secretary of State, and in this position he oversaw the establishment of the U.S. Foreign Service. Grew was the Ambassador to Turkey (1927 – 32) and the Ambassador to Japan beginning in 1932. He was the American ambassador in Tokyo at the time of the Japanese Attack on Pearl Harbor (December 7, 1941) and the opening of war between the United States and the Japanese Empire.

Ambassador Grew was interned for nine months by the Japanese government, but he was released to return to the United States on August, 1942.