Theodore Brentano

Theodore Brentano (March 29, 1854 – July 2, 1940) was an American attorney and judge and the first U.S. ambassador to Hungary (his full title was Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary). He was appointed to the position by Warren G. Harding.

Born in Kalamazoo, Michigan to Lorenzo Brentano and his wife Caroline, Theodore Brentano was educated in Chicago, Dresden and Zurich. He studied law at National University Law School (which later became George Washington University Law School). Brentano married Minnie Claussenius on May 17, 1887. He was admitted to the bar in 1882, became an assistant city attorney in 1888, and by 1890 was a judge on the Superior Court of Cook County in Cook County, Illinois and would go on to become the court's chief justice. Brentano remained on the bench for thirty-one years.

In 1899 Brentano became the new treasurer and president of the Illinois Staats-Zeitung, the newspaper of which his father was editor during the Civil War, when the majority stockholders appointed a new board of directors and ousted former treasurer Charles Francis Pietsch.

Brentano was appointed as minister to Hungary on February 10, 1922, arrived in Budapest on May 10, presented his credentials on May 16, and served until May 6, 1927.