Henry James

Who was Henry James?

Henry James was an American writer who won the Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography in 1931. He was the son of philosopher and psychologist William James, nephew of novelist Henry James.

Born in Boston, Massachusetts, James graduated with an A.B. from Harvard University in 1899 and a Bachelor of Laws from Harvard Law School in 1904. He practiced law in Boston until 1912, when he became business manager of the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research. During World War I he was a member of the Rockefeller Foundation's War Relief Commission, served as a private in the 89th Infantry Division, and was commissioned as a lieutenant. In 1917, he married Olivia Cutting, daughter of financier William Bayard Cutting. After their divorce, he married Dorothea Draper Bladgen in 1938.

James wrote Richard Olney and His Public Service, a biography of the United States Secretary of State, and Charles W. Eliot, President of Harvard University, 1869-1901, the biography which won him the Pulitzer, and edited The Letters of William James.