Henry Prather Fletcher (April 10, 1873 – July 10, 1959) was an American diplomat who served under six presidents. Early life Fletcher was born in Greencastle, Pennsylvania, in 1873 to Louis Henry Fletcher (1839–1927) and Martha Ellen (née Rowe) Fletcher (1840–1896). His siblings included James Gilmore Fletcher (1875–1960), David Watson Fletcher (1880–1957) and Florence Fletcher (1883–1957). He was the fourth cousin once removed of William McKinley. Fletcher planned to attend Princeton University, but his family could not afford to send him, therefore, he studied law and shorthand in his uncle's law office. Shortly after beginning to practice law, the Spanish–American War broke out and the United States declared war on Spain in 1898. Fletcher joined Theodore Roosevelt's Rough Riders as a private in Troop K. He served in the U.S. Army, both in Cuba and in the Philippines for two years. Career After returning from the Philippines, he entered the diplomatic service under President Roosevelt's administration as secondary secretary of the United States legation in Havana, Cuba. In 1903, he was transferred to Peiping and then, in 1905, as secretary to the legation in Lisbon, Portugal. In 1907, he returned to China and negotiated an agreement whereby US capital was allowed to participate on equal terms with European capital for the first time. As a reward, President William Howard Taft named him US Minister to Chile in 1909. He was in that position until 1914, by which time the mission had been raised to the status of an Embassy, making him the first United States Ambassador to Chile. He served in that role until March 9, 1916. In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson appointed him United States Ambassador to Mexico, his term coinciding with the height of World War I. On January 19, 1917, the German Secretary of State, Arthur Zimmermann, sent a message to Mexico promising Texas, New Mexico and Arizona to Mexico if it entered the War on German's side. The note was intercepted in Washington and made public and is considered one of the immediate causes for the United States entering the war six weeks later. He presented his credentials on March 3, 1917, and served as ambassador in Mexico until January 25, 1919, when he returned to the United States. In 1920, after directing the State Department's Latin American affairs for a year, he resigned and was appointed Under Secretary of State by President Warren G. Harding,