May History Fact of the Month

Barristers' Lodge No. 48

​Bro. Sec. Amb. Gen. Patrick J. Hurley was elected for dual membership in Barristers’ Lodge No. 48 in May 1945, while serving as US Ambassador to China. Bro. Hurley was born in 1883 in present day Oklahoma, where he began practicing law in 1908. He served as a colonel in WWI, and later became active in the Republican Party. President Hoover appointed him as Secretary of War, and he served Bro. President Franklin D. Roosevelt in various high level diplomatic posts during WWII, including Ambassador to China. As Ambassador, Bro. Hurley’s mission was to reconcile the Nationalists, under Chiang Kai-Shek, and Communists, under Mao Zedong. His mission was ultimately a failure, and he resigned his post in November 1945. Subsequently, he addressed Barristers’ Lodge as a guest speaker, and life member, in January 1946, May 1949, and February 1954. Bro. Hurley was also a member of Olive Branch Lodge #114 in Leesburg, Virginia. He passed away at the age of 80 in July 1963 in Santa Fe, NM.