Edith O'Shaughnessy
Encyclopedia
Edith O'Shaughnessy was a journalist, biographer, film screenwriter and, as the wife of United States Chargé de Affairs in Mexico, Nelson O'Shaughnessy, during the early years of the Mexican Revolution
she was both a witness and a participant in Mexican political affairs during the presidency of Francisco I. Madero
and Victoriano Huerta
.
Born Edith Louise Couts, in 1870, into an upper-class Roman Catholic family in an overwhelmingly Protestant society, the future Mrs. O'Shaugnessy privately tutored before being sent to a convent school in Maryland.
A true “southern belle”, eminently secure in her belief in her racial and class superiority to the “lesser races,” after a careful convent education she was sent to Europe both for the experience, and in the hope of finding a suitable husband. She married Oxford-educated diplomat and lawyer Nelson O’Shaughnessy in 1901. From 1901 to 1915, Edith O’Shaughnessy was a diplomatic wife, serving her country (and tea) as a proper diplomatic hostess in Copenhagen, Berlin, St. Petersburg, Vienna, Bucharest, Mexico, and Rio de Janeiro. Her fame as a writer rests on her experiences in Mexico City during the Madero and Huerta Presidencies.
During Nelson O'Shaughnessy's diplomatic service in Mexico (1911–1914). Edith wrote A Diplomat's Wife in Mexico (1916) and Diplomatic Days (1917). Both consist of a series of letters written to the author's mother. Diplomatic Days covers the fall of the long regime headed by Porfirio Diaz
and the revolution which brought the "democratic" government of Francisco Madero to power. A Diplomat's Wife in Mexico covers events in 1913 and 1914, when Madero was overthrown in a violent coup (the "Ten Tragic Days") by Victoriano Huerta
on February 13, 1913 and murdered by the new regime.
In A Diplomat's Wife, O’Shaugnessy has no illusions about Huerta’s alcoholism and bloody-mindedness, sometimes displaying a condescending attitude based mostly on the racial background of the indigenous Huerta. However, she defends him as "a necessarily iron-fisted leader, doing his best to control an unruly populace."
A third book, Intimate Pages of Mexican History, a "Social Life in Mexico City Since the Brief and Tragic Glory of Maximilian and Carlota" was published in 1920.
Because of their too close personal relationship with Huerta, the O'Shaunessys fled Mexico City with the fall of the dictator in July 1914. Nelson O'Shaunessy was later posted to several embassies in Europe, providing Edith with material for travel books on northern France. She also wrote a biography of Marie Adelaide, the Grand Duchess of Luxembourg
, and a novel, Viennese Medley, based on her screenplay The Greater Glory which tells the story of former aristocrats at loose ends in Vienna
after the end of the First World War and the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
O'Shaughnessy also contributed articles to many periodicals, including Harper's Magazine and Review of Reviews. She died in New York City on February 18, 1939.
Mexican Revolution
The Mexican Revolution was a major armed struggle that started in 1910, with an uprising led by Francisco I. Madero against longtime autocrat Porfirio Díaz. The Revolution was characterized by several socialist, liberal, anarchist, populist, and agrarianist movements. Over time the Revolution...
she was both a witness and a participant in Mexican political affairs during the presidency of Francisco I. Madero
Francisco I. Madero
Francisco Ignacio Madero González was a politician, writer and revolutionary who served as President of Mexico from 1911 to 1913. As a respectable upper-class politician, he supplied a center around which opposition to the dictatorship of Porfirio Díaz could coalesce...
and Victoriano Huerta
Victoriano Huerta
José Victoriano Huerta Márquez was a Mexican military officer and president of Mexico. Huerta's supporters were known as Huertistas during the Mexican Revolution...
.
Born Edith Louise Couts, in 1870, into an upper-class Roman Catholic family in an overwhelmingly Protestant society, the future Mrs. O'Shaugnessy privately tutored before being sent to a convent school in Maryland.
A true “southern belle”, eminently secure in her belief in her racial and class superiority to the “lesser races,” after a careful convent education she was sent to Europe both for the experience, and in the hope of finding a suitable husband. She married Oxford-educated diplomat and lawyer Nelson O’Shaughnessy in 1901. From 1901 to 1915, Edith O’Shaughnessy was a diplomatic wife, serving her country (and tea) as a proper diplomatic hostess in Copenhagen, Berlin, St. Petersburg, Vienna, Bucharest, Mexico, and Rio de Janeiro. Her fame as a writer rests on her experiences in Mexico City during the Madero and Huerta Presidencies.
During Nelson O'Shaughnessy's diplomatic service in Mexico (1911–1914). Edith wrote A Diplomat's Wife in Mexico (1916) and Diplomatic Days (1917). Both consist of a series of letters written to the author's mother. Diplomatic Days covers the fall of the long regime headed by Porfirio Diaz
Porfirio Díaz
José de la Cruz Porfirio Díaz Mori was a Mexican-American War volunteer and French intervention hero, an accomplished general and the President of Mexico continuously from 1876 to 1911, with the exception of a brief term in 1876 when he left Juan N...
and the revolution which brought the "democratic" government of Francisco Madero to power. A Diplomat's Wife in Mexico covers events in 1913 and 1914, when Madero was overthrown in a violent coup (the "Ten Tragic Days") by Victoriano Huerta
Victoriano Huerta
José Victoriano Huerta Márquez was a Mexican military officer and president of Mexico. Huerta's supporters were known as Huertistas during the Mexican Revolution...
on February 13, 1913 and murdered by the new regime.
In A Diplomat's Wife, O’Shaugnessy has no illusions about Huerta’s alcoholism and bloody-mindedness, sometimes displaying a condescending attitude based mostly on the racial background of the indigenous Huerta. However, she defends him as "a necessarily iron-fisted leader, doing his best to control an unruly populace."
A third book, Intimate Pages of Mexican History, a "Social Life in Mexico City Since the Brief and Tragic Glory of Maximilian and Carlota" was published in 1920.
Because of their too close personal relationship with Huerta, the O'Shaunessys fled Mexico City with the fall of the dictator in July 1914. Nelson O'Shaunessy was later posted to several embassies in Europe, providing Edith with material for travel books on northern France. She also wrote a biography of Marie Adelaide, the Grand Duchess of Luxembourg
Luxembourg
Luxembourg , officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg , is a landlocked country in western Europe, bordered by Belgium, France, and Germany. It has two principal regions: the Oesling in the North as part of the Ardennes massif, and the Gutland in the south...
, and a novel, Viennese Medley, based on her screenplay The Greater Glory which tells the story of former aristocrats at loose ends in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
after the end of the First World War and the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
O'Shaughnessy also contributed articles to many periodicals, including Harper's Magazine and Review of Reviews. She died in New York City on February 18, 1939.