Henry van Dyke was a Dutch American author, poet, academic, clergyman and diplomat. He was born in Germantown, Pennsylvania in 1852, attended Princeton University, from where he graduated in 1873. He then attended Princeton Theological Seminary, and graduated from it in 1877. It is not clear what he did following graduation from the seminary. But presumably he served as a minister in a Protestant church, most likely a Presbyterian church.
We do know that van Dyke became an academic in 1899, when he was appointed to be a Professor of English Literature at Princeton University. He served in that capacity until 1923. But apparently not in a full time capacity, because during that period he accepted a United States State Department diplomatic position.
In 1913, President Wilson appointed van Dyke to be the ambassador to the Netherlands and Luxembourg. He served in that capacity until 1917. Little is known about this period. His served in the position for four years, a fairly lengthy period for a foreign diplomatic appointment.
Van Dyke did become quite an active author. He wrote at least 12 books, most of them with religious titles, not surprising since he was a Presbyterian minister. The books were written over a 46 year time period. The first one, entitled “The Reality of Religion” was published in 1884. The last one, entitled “Gratitude” was published in 1930, three years before his death.
Van Dyke was born in Germantown, Pennsylvania on November 10, 1852, and he passed away in Princeton, New Jersey on April 10, 1933.
REFERENCES
Van Dyke, Henry, http://pabook.libraries.psu.edu/palitmap/bios/Van_Dyke_Henry.html
Henry van Dyke, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_van_Dyke
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ALLIED EUROPE CAMPAIGN—1944/1945: TACTICAL MISTAKES, 2017
THE SECOND WORLD WAR IN THE NETHERLANDS: MEMOIRS, 2017
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