John Cudahy

John Clarence Cudahy (CUD-ə-hey); December 10, 1887 – September 6, 1943) was an American real estate developer and diplomat. In the years leading up to World War II, Cudahy served as United States ambassador to Poland and Belgium, and as United States minister to Luxembourg and the Irish Free State.

Early life

Cudahy was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the son of Anna (Madden) and Patrick Cudahy, a meat packing industrialist. He graduated from Harvard University in 1910 and from the University of Wisconsin Law School in 1913.

Cudahy served during World War I as a lieutenant in Company B of the U.S. Army's 339th Infantry Regiment. This regiment was part of the Polar Bear Expedition, which was sent to north Russia to intervene on behalf of the anti-communist forces in the Russian Civil War. On November 14, 1918, Cudahy led a counter-attack that succeeded in breaking through and routing the 1,000 Bolshevik troops that on November 11 (Armistice Day) had encircled and attacked the 600 American, Canadian, and Royal Scots soldiers who were holding the village of Tulgas on the Northern Dvina. However, his eventual disillusionment with the campaign in north Russia led him to write (under a pseudonym) the book Archangel: The American War with Russia.

Back in the United States, Cudahy headed his family's real estate company, building the Cudahy Tower Apartments on the shore of Lake Michigan in Milwaukee.

Diplomatic service

Between 1933 and 1940, Cudahy served the United States as minister to several European nations.

From September 6, 1933, until April 23, 1937, Cudahy served as the American ambassador to Poland. His time in Poland was marked by a militarily backed government under Józef Piłsudski and continued tensions between Poland and Nazi Germany under Adolf Hitler.