Robert John Wynne (November 18, 1851 – March 11, 1922) was an American who served as United States Postmaster General from 1904 to 1905, and as Consul General at the American embassy in the United Kingdom from 1905 to 1910. He was also a distinguished and popular journalist for a number of newspapers and magazines in the late 1800s. Early life Wynne was born in New York City, New York, in 1851. His father was a veteran of the Mexican–American War. He was educated in the city's public schools, but also had a number of private tutors. He was just 10 years old when the American Civil War broke out. He wanted to enlist, but was too young. His father served in the Civil War, however, and young Robert accompanied him to the front and saw several battles. In 1870, Wynne became a telegraph operator for the Cincinnati Gazette, living part-time in Washington, D.C. He was hired at the request of General Henry V. Boynton, who led the paper's staff in D.C. and who wanted the very best telegraph operator he could find. That was Wynne. Wynne also lived part-time in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he worked for the American Press Association. He also worked for the Pacific and Atlantic Telegraph Company, and became its chief telegrapher. Boynton was so impressed with Wynne's work as a reporter that he encouraged him to abandon telegraphy and become a journalist full-time. In 1880, Wynne joined the Gazette as a full-time journalist. Boynton syndicated Wynne's work to a wide range of newspapers, including the St. Louis Democrat, Chicago Tribune, Pittsburgh Commercial, and Philadelphia Inquirer. Public service In February 1893, Wynne became the private secretary to Secretary of the Treasury Charles Foster. After a change in presidential administrations in March 1893, he continued in the role for Secretary of the Treasury John G. Carlisle, but left public service in August 1893. He returned to journalism, this time working for the New York Press and the Cincinnati Tribune. In 1902, President Theodore Roosevelt appointed Wynne to be First Assistant Postmaster General. He was not Roosevelt's first choice: That had been Indianapolis, Indiana, journalist Harry C. New, but New turned down the post. Wynne, too, was reluctant to take it, but Roosevelt pressured him and he accepted. In this role, Wynne uncovered extensive fraud in the department. He first became suspicious of illegal activity as a reporter,