John H. Spencer

Dr. John H. Spencer (1907—August 25 2005) was a American historian. He attended Grinnell College in Iowa and Harvard College in Massachusetts. During the Italian occupation of Ethiopia and the Second Italo-Abyssinian War he served as a legal advisor to Emperor Haile Selassie and accompanied him to the League of Nations on June 30 1936 to ask for assistance. Spencer continued to work as Ethiopias legal advisor until the late 1940s and published his work Ethiopia at Bay: A Personal Account of the Haile Selassie Years. He married in 1949 and had a daughter who survived him.

jhon h spncer Introduction

jhon h spencer (1905-2005) an American lawyer, he dedicated his young life in advising the imperial Ethiopian government. Dr Spencer he did his B.A. from Grinnell College, M.A. from Harvard College, Doctor of Law from the University of Paris, L.L.B from Harvard who knows the culture and the tradition of Europe and America.

    Politics 
      Dr. John H. Spencer at the age of 28 in 1935 in Paris he was offered a job to represent and advice the Ethiopian government in the international legal matters during the second Ethio Italia war. No one was sure that Dr John Spencer would accept the position during that time because the position has an imminent risks and fierce challenge. 
    Dr Spencer did experience how the Italians were cruel and their air raids On January 17, 1936, in Dessie together with the courageous Lorenzo Taezaz of Ethiopia, will they were discussing about the next diplomatic and legal move that should be taken to avert the Italian aggression. Dr Spencer stayed in Ethiopia and he witnessed the fall of Addis Ababa and then left for Geneva to join the Ethiopian delegation that presented the full case to the League of Nations. Dr. John Spencer was the mastermind of the Ethiopian case at the league of nation and Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie historic speech on June 30 1936. 

"I ask the 52 nations who have given the Ethiopian people a promise to help them in their resistance to the aggressor; what are they willing to do for Ethiopia? And the great Powers who have promised the guarantee of collective security to small states on whom weighs the threat that they may one day suffer the fate of Ethiopia; I ask, what measure do you intend to take?"

      In mid-1937, Dr. John Spencer along with the famous and the first Ethiopian physician educated in the U.S.A Dr. Melaku Bayen   he did traveled to the United States. In October 1937, Dr. Spencer discussed exhaustively the legal aspect of the Italy-Ethiopian conflict from 1934 to 1937, which appeared in the American Journal of International Law (Volume 31, 1937).  
       Dr Spencer left his international legal advisor position at the imperial Ethiopian government in august 1936. Between the years of 1936 and 1943 Dr Spencer he did serve the united stats navy, the Department of State and the Department of Justice. After the Italian defeated by East Africans and Britain in 1941 and the re-entrance of Emperor Haile Selassie from the exile to the capital Addis Ababa on May 5th 1941 The United Kingdom, emerged as a victorious ally, became the principal administrator of Ethiopia up to 1943. Dr John Spencer, who served the United States Navy, the Department of State and the Department of Justice between 1936 and 1943, He was recalled by Emperor Haile Selassie to serve the Ethiopian Government as an international legal adviser. He accepted the offer and arrived in Ethiopia in the latter part of 1943. 
    The most challenging task for Dr Spencer and for Ethiopia during that time was finding the easy way out from Britain administration, which had literally taken responsibility for the administration of Ethiopia since 1941. Negotiation of the agreement of December 19, 1944, was not an easy task but it was brought to a successful conclusion Dr Spencer along with Ethiopians elite did play a major role and provides his unmatched legal advice. Other  negotiations and international conference in which Dr Spencer took an active role include: the Paris Peace Conference, where Ethiopia had some  territorial claims about Ogden( the eastern part of Ethiopia which had a proximate with Somalia)   and the present day of Eritrea ; the San Francisco Conference assembled to establish a United Nations, a prominent forum that deliberated for months and successfully created the new organization to succeed the old League of Nations; and later the negotiations that took place in Washington for the establishment of the Ethiopian Airlines.  Dr. John Spencer served in the capacity of senior international legal adviser with vigor and vitality. This is to be greatly appreciated and upheld by both present and future Ethiopian generations. 
    Dr Spencer attachment to Ethiopian had continued even after the Emperor regime is Haile Selassie deposed by the military junta like many great friends of Ethiopia, Dr. Spencer never forgot Ethiopia and Ethiopians he did participate in various Ethiopian occasions.  He published various articles and monograph on different Ethiopian magazines (Ethiopian Review magazine) Dr. Spencer left his famous book for us, Ethiopia at Bay: a Personal Account of the Haile Selassie Years, to be used as an important reference material. It covers the war period in the 1930s between Ethiopia and Italy as well as the post-war era. He was a regular contributor for the international journal of Ethiopian studies.   Dr. John Spencer passed away in   August 25, 2005 at the age of 98.   He is survived by his daughter, Dr. Karin Spencer of Hempstead, NY; his daughter-in-law Dr. Marisa Hoheb; two grandchildren: Maris Hoheb and Eric Schulhous; and two sisters: Mary Warrington and Imogen Schaetzel; and several nieces and nephews. 

Contribution

Ethiopia at Bay: A Personal Account of the Haile Sellassie Years John h Spencer

 Pubns (January 1984)

Reference

   http://www.ethiomedia.com/fastpress/john_spencer.html 
   Ethiopia at Bay: A Personal Account of the Haile Sellassie Years    John h Spencer 
   Reference Pubns (January 1984)
   Haile Sellassie: The Formative Years, 1892-1936 Volume 1 by Harold G. Marcus 
   Red Sea Press, US (April 22, 1995)
   American Journal of International Law, (Volume 31, 1937).