Hoosier Author as Diplomat
Meredith Nicholson in Latin America, 1933–1941

RALPH D. GRAY

Meredith Nicholson (1866–1947) was an important figure in Indiana's "Golden Age" of literature, which extended roughly from 1880 to 1920. One of the "Big Four" writers—with James Whitcomb Riley, George Ade, and Booth Tarkington—Nicholson authored twenty-eight books, all but two of which were published between 1903 and 1929, a period in which he wrote full time. Most of these works were best-selling novels, but he also produced a history, a book of short stories, four collections of essays, two books of poetry, and a co-authored play. His third novel, The House of a Thousand Candles (1905), a thrilling adventure/mystery story set in northern Indiana, was by far his most popular and most successful book. Translated into five languages and still in print today, it has sold more than half a million copies.1	1
Meredith Nicholson and James Whitcomb Riley, 1914 Popular writers Nicholson and Riley, with George Ade and Booth Tarkington, made up the group known as Indiana's "Big Four" authors. Courtesy Indiana Historical Society, Indianapolis-Marion County Public Library Riley Collection
In 1929, however, Nicholson's writing stopped, apparently as a result of the financial devastation experienced by the family in the stock market collapse. Soon afterwards, Nicholson suffered an even greater loss in the death of his beautiful and talented wife, Eugenie, who had been his inspiration and helpmeet throughout his writing years.2 Jobless, nearly destitute, and forced in 1931 to give up his home on North Meridian Street, Nicholson's prospects at the outset of the Great Depression seemed dim indeed.	2
A lifelong Democrat who had been active behind the scenes in the campaigns of others, Nicholson turned for help to his political friends who came into power at that time. Nicholson's longtime friend and personal physician, Dr. Carleton B. McCulloch—who was also a former gubernatorial candidate and current chairman of the Democratic state committee—became his chief promoter. McCulloch enlisted the help of their mutual friend, future governor Paul V. McNutt. In 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who knew Nicholson only by reputation, responded to their entreaties with the offer of a diplomatic appointment to Paraguay.3 As a result, at the age of 66, Nicholson began a new career as a diplomat. Although surprisingly successful, his years abroad would prove star-crossed. After a transfer to a more favorable post in Venezuela in 1935, Nicholson found the rising path of his new career suddenly veering downward under mysterious circumstances in 1938 with his demotion to Nicaragua. It was there, in 1941, that he decided to end his service abroad.	3
Nicholson's nearly eight years as an American diplomat began in October 1933. No known record explains his selection for the Paraguayan mission: he seemed to be both a deserving and qualified candidate for this remote and low-profile position. A month of "instruction" at the State Department provided the new diplomat with general details of the situation in Paraguay and taught him the basic protocols for a minister of his rank. Then, literally on the eve of his departure, Nicholson married his secretary, Dorothy Wolfe Lannon, of Marion, Indiana. This action proved fateful, both in terms of Nicholson's initial success in dealing with Latin Americans and, more ominously, in terms of his subsequent demotion.	. . .