Edward Mandell House

Edward Mandell House (July 26, 1858 – March 28, 1938) was an American diplomat, and an adviser to President Woodrow Wilson. He was known as Colonel House, although his title was honorary and he had performed no military service. He was a highly influential backroom politician in Texas before becoming a key supporter of the presidential bid of Wilson in 1912 by managing his campaign, beginning in July 1911. Having a self-effacing manner, he did not hold office but was an "executive agent", Wilson's chief adviser on European politics and diplomacy during World War I (1914–1918). He became a government official as one of the five American commissioners to the Paris Peace Conference of 1919. In 1919, Wilson broke with House and many other top advisers, believing they had deceived him at Paris. Despite his influence, House remains a controversial figure, criticized for operating behind the scenes without accountability, for his role in the flawed postwar settlement, and for promoting a technocratic, anti-democratic vision of governance.