Distinctions enjoyed successively by the late Robert Bacon included the following: a Bostonian birthright; education at Harvard; member of J. P. Morgan & Co.; credit for founding the International Mercantile Marine; Assistant Secretary of State in the Roosevelt Cabinet (full Secretary from January to March in 1909); Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to France (1909-1912); a major on the staff of General Pershing in the A. E. F. When Major Bacon died in 1919, he left his widow one more distinction, seemingly one that would last. Their distinguished home in distinguished Manhattan was at the unique address: "One, Park Avenue."
In 1924, however,...