# Mason Sears > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Mason_Sears > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Mason_Sears.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mason_Sears > Source revision: 1347659820 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|American politician (1899–1973)}} {{Infobox officeholder | image = Philip Mason Sears 1924.jpg | caption = Sears in 1924 | name = Mason Sears | birth_date = {{birth date|1899|12|29}} | birth_place = [Boston](/source/Boston), [Massachusetts](/source/Massachusetts), U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|1973|12|13|1899|12|29}} | death_place = [Faulkner Hospital](/source/Faulkner_Hospital), Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. | resting_place = | occupation = {{ubl|Salesman|Politician}} | party = [Republican](/source/Republican_Party_(United_States)) | spouse = Zilla MacDougall | children = Philip Mason Sears | alma_mater = [Harvard College](/source/Harvard_College) | title = Member of the [Massachusetts Senate](/source/Massachusetts_Senate) from the 2nd Norfolk District | term_start = 1947 | term_end = 1949 | predecessor = [James Austin Peckham](/source/James_Austin_Peckham) | successor = [Leslie Bradley Cutler](/source/Leslie_Bradley_Cutler) | title2 = Member of the [Massachusetts Senate](/source/Massachusetts_Senate) from the Norfolk and Middlesex District | term_start2 = 1939 | term_end2 = 1942 | predecessor2 = [Samuel H. Wragg](/source/Samuel_H._Wragg) | successor2 = James Austin Peckham }} '''Philip Mason Sears''' (born December 29, 1899 — December 13, 1973) was an American politician and diplomat who served as an ambassador, member of the [Massachusetts General Court](/source/Massachusetts_General_Court), and the chairman of the [Massachusetts Republican Party](/source/Massachusetts_Republican_Party). ==Personal life== Sears was born on December 29, 1899, to [Philip Shelton Sears](/source/Philip_Shelton_Sears), a sculptor, and Mary Cabot (Higginson) Sears. He attended [St. Mark's School](/source/St._Mark's_School_(Massachusetts)) and graduated from [Harvard College](/source/Harvard_College) in 1922.{{cite book|title=Sears and MacDougall family papers}}{{full citation needed|date=July 2022}} On December 29, 1924, he married Zilla MacDougall, the daughter of Admiral [William D. MacDougall](/source/William_Dugald_MacDougall). He had a son, Philip Mason Sears, and two grandchildren. He lived in [Dedham, Massachusetts](/source/Dedham%2C_Massachusetts) and died at the [Faulkner Hospital](/source/Faulkner_Hospital). ==Naval career== Sears served in the [United States Navy](/source/United_States_Navy), where he was an attaché to the [United States State Department](/source/United_States_State_Department) delegation in [Peking, China](/source/Beijing).{{cite book|title=Defiant diplomacy: Henrik Kauffmann, Denmark, and the United States in World War II and the Cold War, 1939–1958|year=2003|publisher=P. Lang|isbn= 9780820468198|author=Bo Lidegaard & W. Glyn Jones}} Here he met Danish ambassador [Henrik Kauffmann](/source/Henrik_Kauffmann), who would become his friend and later marry Sears' sister-in-law Charlotte MacDougall. Sears also served in the Navy during World War II. ==Political career== Sears was a Member of the [Massachusetts House of Representatives](/source/Massachusetts_House_of_Representatives) from 1935 to 1937 and the [Massachusetts Senate](/source/Massachusetts_Senate) from 1939 to 1943 and again from 1947 to 1949.{{cite book |title=1947–1948 Public Officers of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts | url=https://archive.org/stream/publicofficersof19471948bost#page/72/mode/2up }} Sears was Massachusetts Republican State Chair from 1949 to 1950 and was delegate to [1948](/source/1948_Republican_National_Convention) and [1952 Republican National Convention](/source/1952_Republican_National_Convention)s from Massachusetts. He stepped down as chairman of the State Committee after his attempt to liberalize the party failed to gain traction with other party leaders. Sears worked on the [United States Senate](/source/United_States_Senate) campaigns of [Henry Cabot Lodge Jr.](/source/Henry_Cabot_Lodge_Jr.), a colleague of his in the state legislature and the husband of his second cousin.{{cite book|last=Miller|first=William Johnson|title=Henry Cabot Lodge: A Biography|url=https://archive.org/details/henrycabotlodgeb00mill|url-access=registration|year=1967|publisher=Heineman}} ==Diplomatic career== He was nominated by President Dwight Eisenhower and served from 1953 to 1960 as the United States representative to [United Nations Trusteeship Council](/source/United_Nations_Trusteeship_Council). In 1960, he was ambassador and chairman of the United Nations Visiting Mission to East Africa. Sears was United States' delegate to [Ethiopian](/source/Ethiopian) Emperor [Haile Selassie](/source/Haile_Selassie)'s silver jubilee in 1955. Two years later, in 1957, he accompanied then-Vice President Richard Nixon as the United States' delegate to the independence celebration of Ghana. Sears also served as special Ambassador to Cameroon' independence celebration. He wrote a book, ''Years of High Purpose'', about U.S. foreign policy towards Africa under [John Foster Dulles](/source/John_Foster_Dulles). ==Popular culture== *[W. Douglas Burden](/source/W._Douglas_Burden) wrote of his hunting trips with Mason Sears, to [Inner Mongolia](/source/Inner_Mongolia) and [Indo-China](/source/Indo-China) in 1922 and 1923, after they both graduated from college. The relevant chapters are "On the Sino-Mongolian Frontier" and "Glimpses of the Jungle" in ''Look to the Wilderness''.{{cite book |last1=Burden |first1=W. Douglas |title=Look to the Wilderness |date=1956 |publisher=Little, Brown and Company |location=Boston |pages=87–143}} ==See also== * Massachusetts legislature: [1935–1936](/source/1935%E2%80%931936_Massachusetts_legislature), [1937–1938](/source/1937%E2%80%931938_Massachusetts_legislature), [1939](/source/1939_Massachusetts_legislature), [1941–1942](/source/1941%E2%80%931942_Massachusetts_legislature), [1947–1948](/source/1947%E2%80%931948_Massachusetts_legislature) ==References== {{Reflist|refs= {{cite web|title=Sears, Philip Mason (1899–1973|url=http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/sears.html#666.89.93|work=PoliticalGraveyard.com|publisher=Lawrence Kestenbaum|access-date=2 December 2011}} {{cite news | url = https://www.nytimes.com/1973/12/15/archives/mason-sears-dead-exus-aide-at-un.html | title = MASON SEARS DEAD; EX‐U.S. AIDE AT U.N. | date = December 15, 1973 | access-date = October 26, 2018 | newspaper = The New York Times }} }} {{S-start}} {{S-ppo}} {{succession box | before = [Lloyd B. Waring](/source/Lloyd_B._Waring) | title = Chairman of the [Massachusetts Republican Party](/source/Massachusetts_Republican_Party) | years=1949–1950 | after =[Daniel Tyler Jr.](/source/Daniel_Tyler_Jr.)| }} {{S-end}} {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Sears, Mason}} Category:1899 births Category:1973 deaths Category:Harvard College alumni Category:Massachusetts Republican Party chairs Category:Massachusetts state senators Category:Members of the Massachusetts House of Representatives Category:St. Mark's School (Massachusetts) alumni Category:Politicians from Dedham, Massachusetts Category:20th-century members of the Massachusetts General Court --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Mason Sears](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mason_Sears) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mason_Sears?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.