George T. Summerlin

Who was George T. Summerlin?

George Thomas Summerlin was an American army officer and diplomat from Louisiana.

He was born in Rayville, Louisiana and studied at private schools there. In 1888, he began college at Louisiana State University, before transferring two years later to the United States Military Academy. He graduated from the latter in 1896, and was chosen aide-de-camp to General Theodore Schwan at the outbreak of the Spanish-American War. He rose to the rank of Captain in the U.S. Army before resigning in 1903. After a few years in business in Pittsburgh, he entered the State Department as a clerk. After rising through the ranks and serving in Japan, China, Mexico and Italy, he was appointed Minister to Honduras in 1924. In 1929, he was transferred to Venezuela, and in 1934 to Panama.

In 1937, President Roosevelt appointed Summerlin Chief of Protocol. He retained that position until 1946, when he retired for health reasons. He died at the Navy Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland.

Summerlin was married in 1899 to Virginia Loomis, a granddaughter of Jacob Jay Vandergrift.