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Hugh Simons Gibson (1883 - 1954) was an American diplomat. He was born in Los Angeles, California on 16 August 1883, the son of Frank A. Gibson and Mary G. Gibson. On February 27, 1922, he married Ynés Marie Marcelle Reyntiens. Gibson died on 12 December 1954 in Geneva, Switzerland.[1] Gibson was in Brussels,Belgium as secretary to the American Legation from 1914-1916 and in 1917 published a book, A Journal from Our Legation in Belgium, about his experiences there which gives insight into life in Belgium at the start of World War I. In 1915 he unsuccessfully tried to prevent the execution of British nurse Edith Cavell. He was assigned to the American Embassy in London in May, 1916. While there he fell in love with Elizabeth Asquith, the daughter of the British Prime Minister, Herbert Henry Asquith, who was 19 years old at the time. Margot Asquith, her mother, was bitterly opposed to the relationship and may have had a hand in having Gibson reassigned to the Department of State in Washington early in 1917. She accused him of being "alien, aged and lame." He was 33 years old at the time and, apparently, the only evidence of his lameness was that he didn't play tennis. The engagement had been announced to the Asquith family in early December 1916 and the reassignment to Washington was conveniently made in January 1917. However, Gibson was back in Paris as First Secretary to the American Embassy in March 1918 and the relationship with Elizabeth, which had effectively languished after a year of absence, sparked again. The engagement was re-announced only to be quashed 10 days later when his doctor told him that he had only a year to live. It was, once again, necessary to end the relationship. Afterwards, cynics pondered that he seemed to have recovered from this life-threatening "disease" surprisingly quickly. In 1922 he married Ynés Reyntiens (who died in 1950) and continued in good health till 1954. Meanwhile, on the rebound, Elizabeth Asquith found a more "suitable" partner in the Romanian Prince Antoine Bibesco and married him in 1919. He continued his career as a Foreign Service officer as U.S. Minister to Poland, 1919-24, Switzerland, 1924-27, Luxembourg, 1927-33, 1937-38 and as U.S. Ambassador to Belgium from 1927-33, 1937-38 and to Brazil from 1933-36. Gibson was a friend of Herbert Hoover. Gibson was on the front cover of Time for the November 26, 1923 July 18, 1927 and the February 8, 1932 issues. Gibson died on 12 December 1954 in Geneva, Switzerland.
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