Foundation: Between Wars, Diplomacy, and New Markets > Federico De Onís
In 1923, the Romance Languages Department invited a corps of foreign professors to give a series of courses during the Summer Sessions. Standing (left to right): Profs. Federico de Onís, Raoul Blanchard, Edouard Le Roy, and J. L. Gerig. Seated (left to right): Profs. Joseph Bédier, Emile Bourgeois, Giuseppe Prezzolini, and Paul Hazard.
In the mid-10s, the demand for Spanish and Hispanic culture courses in the United States experienced exponential growth due to two main reasons. On the one hand, the incipient development of markets and industry in Latin America - marked by the opening of the Panama Canal - placed the continent as a new promise of commercial relations; on the other, the outbreak of World War I drastically reduced the demand for courses in other languages of European origins, especially German. Upon arriving in New York, De Onís saw in this emerging context an opportunity to combine Spain’s project of internationalization and cultural revitalization with the economic and political expansionism of the United States in Latin America.
In addition to his academic work at Columbia, Federico de Onís served as an official delegate of the Junta para Ampliación de Estudios of the Spanish Ministry of Public Instruction. His position as an official delegate of Spain in the United States made Federico de Onís an international agent who mediated and actively collaborated in the diplomatic interests of both countries.
De Onís describes the mission that the American embassy in Madrid entrusted him with when he left Spain. This consisted of coordinating communication between Americans and Spaniards for the sake of reinforcing American propaganda in Spain
In this letter written months after the United States entered World War I, De Onís describes the mission that the United States Embassy in Madrid entrusted him with upon leaving his country, which consisted of coordinating communication between both nations in order to strengthen the United States propaganda in Spain. To this end, De Onís not only describes and evaluates the propaganda projects of the allies in his country, but also those that Germany was deploying at the same time.
Article on De Onís' at Columbia and as a representative of Spain in the United States
As this New York Herald Tribune article shows, De Onís' relationship with the United States begins a century before his arrival at Columbia University. Don Luis de Onís, his great-grandfather, was the plenipotentiary minister of Spain in Washington who negotiated the cession of Florida to the United States in 1819.