Baruch & Bagatelle: Part 4: 1935-1949

Herman's daughter Marina got engaged just before her twenty-first birthday, as announced by the New York Times on October 20, 1935.

With his wife passed away and his children out of the house, Herman must have felt he needed a new challenge.  His brother Bernard, with whom he had started Baruch Brothers, had entered into the political world during World War I.  Bernard served as the head of the War Production Board in WWI, and was often referred to as an "advisor to presidents." 

Perhaps as a result of Bernard's urging or recommendation, Herman joined his brother in a diplomatic role in 1943.  (Bernard had a particularly close relationship with FDR and there are some reports that Herman Baruch hosted FDR at his home, but this is unsubstantiated.)  

The New York Times announced that Herman Baruch was "appointed chief of the Board of Economic Warfare's representatives in Brazil, and will soon leave to take up his duties in that country… Appointment of Dr. Baruch is expected to put an end to reported inter-departmental bickering of many representatives in Brazil of the BEW and of the Rubber Development Corporation and other RFC corporations.  Foreign operations of all but the rubber-purchasing corporation passed under control of the BFW early last month…." 

Apparently Herman was very successful at his job because the New York Times reported that "with tact and skill, Dr. Baruch not only straightened these matters out but he also won over all of Brazil by his diplomacy," on August 10, 1943.  Herman continued working in this role until 1945 when he was nominated by President Roosevelt to be ambassador to Portugal. 

In 1947, the White House announced that Herman B. Baruch would be appointed ambassador to the Netherlands. The New York Times announced on March 13, 1947 that "the Senate tonight unanimously confirmed the nomination of Herman B. Baruch to be ambassador to the Netherlands.  A week later, they reported in the March 27, 1947 New York Times, "Dr. Herman B. Baruch… was among 140 passengers who sailed from Hoboken yesterday on the Holland-America motorship Westerdam, en route to Rotterdam and other continental ports." 

That sailing would prove fateful to Herman's future—it was on this passage that he met his future wife, Baronness Annamaria Mackay.  According to his stepson: "A romance began on the ship.  She was estranged from my father at the time, and they eventually divorced when she returned to the Netherlands." 

"On January 1, 1949, President Truman accepted Dr. Baruch's resignation from the Netherlands post.  This followed differences between the President and Bernard Baruch," explained the New York Times in his obituary on March 16, 1953.  His stepdaughter, on the other hand, explained that in order for Herman to marry her mother, Annamaria, she would have to be approved by Congress and he didn't want to go through all that so he resigned.  It was most likely a combination of all these things that led him to resign in 1949.

In August 1949, Herman left the Netherlands for the United States, as reported in the August 27, 1949 New York Times.  But he did not come alone.  According to his stepson, when Herman came back to the U.S., he brought Anna, Peter, and his sisters Susan and Johanna with him.  And so on October 22, 1949, Annamaria Mackay, 36, and Herman Baruch, 77, were married. 

There is some confusion as to where the marriage took place.  Peter, Herman's stepson, reported it was at his New York City apartment with a reception at Bagatelle, but the New York Times reported that the ceremony was performed at Bagatelle by the pastor of the Presbyterian Church in Islip with a reception following, in an article dated October 23, 1949.  Herman's son Robert was best man, and his daughter Marina served as maid of honor. 

The marriage caused quite a stir because of the age difference.  But Herman's stepson asserted that their was love between them, and his stepdaughter commented that she made a nice and happy life for him in the end.  An article in the Long Beach, CA Press Telegram dated December 28, 1949 discussed several weddings between couples with an age difference, and Herman and Annamaria were among them. 

The Los Angles Herald Express and the New York Mirror also did articles in October 1949 and made a point to describe: "The countess, whom Dr. Baruch calls 'Annina,' is a delicate looking blue-eyed beauty, whose femininity belies her courage, charm, and inner strength."  For their wedding was both international and society news, and so it was reported in several newspapers including: New York Sunday Mirror, New York Herald Tribune, New York World- Telegram, and of course Huntington's Long Islander.

Peter described Herman as "wonderful, the nicest man I can remember, a man's man, and the first real male influence in my life." (His father was still in Holland, and they had been separated during the war because Peter, with his mother, was held in a Japanese prison camp in Java, Indonesia).  Susan, his stepdaughter, also described him as "wonderful and interesting."

Peter also described his time at Bagatelle as "great" and fondly recollected Herman letting him drive the car, at the age of 8 or 9, down the road on the property and on the public road to Bagatelle Nursery.  There he remembers driving the tractor, "until his mother found out and was horrified." 

Peter lived in the tower on the property, over the room where Herman's first wife was treated, and where Herman had his office.  Though his mother ran the house, they had a full staff including cook, butlers and chauffeur; they and their families lived there. 

Peter remembers that Herman brought John van Bladel from the Netherlands to oversee the working farm at Bagatelle.

Peter said there was a cemetery on the property when they lived there.  Today, the have developed the cemetery and use it for themselves.

He recollected about Herman's brother, Bernard, who he saw often and felt took a real liking to him.  He talked about Bernard's daughter Belle, who was a pilot, and would fly the adults (his mother and step-siblings) down to Bernard's estate in South Carolina in her DC3.  Peter also recollected that Herman's son Robert lived in a house on the corner of Burr's Lane on a hill.

Come back next week for more on the story of Herman Baruch and his new wife!