The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001-07.
Francis, David Rowland
1850–1927, U.S. Secretary of the Interior (1896–97), b. Richmond, Ky. He established a large grain business in St. Louis, entered politics, and served (1885–89) as mayor in a reform administration and later (1889–93) as governor of Missouri. As a member of President Cleveland’s cabinet, he obtained a presidential proclamation setting aside millions of acres as forest reserves. Francis was a leading promoter and official of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition of 1903–4. He became ambassador to Russia in 1916 and remained at his post after the Russian Revolution in efforts to keep Russia united with the Allies. He wrote Russia from the American Embassy (1921, repr. 1970); his memoirs and letters were published in 1928.
