Robert Wynne - Public Service

Public Service

In February 1893, Wynne became the private secretary to Secretary of the Treasury Charles Foster. After a change in presidential administrations in March 1893, he continued in the role for Secretary of the Treasury John G. Carlisle, but left public service in August 1893. He returned to journalism, this time working for the New York Press and the Cincinnati Tribune.

In 1902, President Theodore Roosevelt appointed Wynne to be First Assistant Postmaster General. He was not Roosevelt's first choice: That had been Indianapolis, Indiana, journalist Harry C. New, but New turned down the post. Wynne, too, was reluctant to take it, but Roosevelt pressured him and he accepted. In this role, Wynne uncovered extensive fraud in the department. He first became suspicious of illegal activity as a reporter, and his investigation as First Assistant Postmaster General led to many departmental resignations and prison time for a few people. The incumbent Postmaster General, Henry Clay Payne, died on October 4, 1904. Wynne was appointed Acting Postmaster General the next day, and named Postmaster General on October 10. He served until March 5, 1905.

Wynne was appointed Consul General at the Embassy of the United States in London on January 11, 1905, while still serving as Postmaster General. Incoming President William Howard Taft reaffirmed his posting, and he went to London on April 1, 1905. He resigned in May 1909. He remained in London for the next 19 months, representing various American businesses. In January 1910, Wynne was caught in the Stoats Nest railway disaster, in which eight people died.