Donald Paige Frary was a noted American professor and author.

Frary was born in Charlemont, Massachusetts

Charlemont, Massachusetts

Charlemont is a town in Franklin County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 1,358 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area.- History :...

 on 9 August 1893 to Edward Sanderson and Caroline Louisa (Paige) Frary. Frary was a graduate of Yale University

Yale University

Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...

 and would serve as a professor there, specializing in International Affairs. During his tenure at Yale Frary completed two books that established him as one of the pre-eminent scholars on the subject of Eastern Europe

Eastern Europe

Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...

. His third book, "How the World Votes," co-authored with fellow Yale professor Charles Seymour

Charles Seymour

Charles Seymour was an American academic, historian and President of Yale University from 1937 to 1951.-Early life:...

, garnered considerably more critical praise, so much so that nearly a century later it is still considered one of the best books on the electoral process.

Frary's expertise on the subject of Eastern Europe caught the attention of the Wilson Administration and he was asked to serve as a secretary to Colonel Edward M. House

Edward M. House

Edward Mandell House was an American diplomat, politician, and presidential advisor. Commonly known by the title of Colonel House, although he had no military experience, he had enormous personal influence with U.S...

, President Woodrow Wilson

Woodrow Wilson

Thomas Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States, from 1913 to 1921. A leader of the Progressive Movement, he served as President of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913...

's closest advisor, on the American Commission to Negotiate Peace

American Commission to Negotiate Peace

The American Commission to Negotiate Peace, successor to The Inquiry, participated in the peace negotiations at the Treaty of Versailles, January 18 — December 9, 1919. Frank Lyon Polk headed the commission in 1919...

 following the end of World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

. Frary travelled with the American delegation to negotiate peace at the Paris Peace Conference, 1919

Paris Peace Conference, 1919

The Paris Peace Conference was the meeting of the Allied victors following the end of World War I to set the peace terms for the defeated Central Powers following the armistices of 1918. It took place in Paris in 1919 and involved diplomats from more than 32 countries and nationalities...

. While attending the Peace Conference Frary fell ill with pneumonia

Pneumonia

Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...

 and would die in Paris on April 8, 1919.

Books Authored by Donald Paige Frary

• Elections and Democracy in Russia, 1917
• Magyars and Jugoslavs, 1918
• How the World Votes: The Story of Democratic Development in Elections, 1918 (co-authored with Charles Seymour
  Charles Seymour
  Charles Seymour was an American academic, historian and President of Yale University from 1937 to 1951.-Early life:...
  
  )

Primary Sources

• The Frary Family in America: 1637-1980, by Margaret Murphy and Anne Frary Lepak, The Frary Family Association, 1980.
• The Frary Family in America: A Continuation, by Anne Frary Lepak, The Frary Family Association, 1985.