Our Origin

In October 1919, the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University embarked upon its first full-fledged semester. The previous spring, the School had been given a trial run for a few months and the popularity it quickly achieved gave much promise for the future. Three students enrolled in the School in the fall of 1919: Alfred O. Arseneau, Wesley O. Ash and Samuel C. Bartlett. All three were lately returned from overseas military service and living together in Washington, D.C. in a rooming house at 10th and I Streets, NW. At first, the three had little in common besides   the bond of overseas experience; but gradually their interest in foreign service as a career drew them closer together. These three men had, first of all, a community idea. They believed that, if foreign trade had a future, the Georgetown School of Foreign Service also had a future and a foreign service fraternity, designed to promote the social and professional interests of foreign service men, likewise had a future. In October and November of 1919 they talked over among themselves this idea many times and became increasingly impressed with its possibilities. The Alpha chapter quickly began to spread across the country until finally, Horace W. Cutler of Beta came to Southern California the School of Commerce of the University of Southern California. Meetings were held at the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce and eventually a local group was organized known as the Seven Seas Club. Near the end of 1922 a petition was addressed to the Fraternity's National Board of Governors. The petition was approved and Delta Chapter was installed March 24, 1923 at the Hotel Clark. The installation team consisted of Bros. Horace Cutler (Beta), Richard Barnwell (Beta), Alfred Arseneau (Alpha), Francis O'Connor (Alpha), Eugene Cox (Alpha), John McDermott (Beta), and Gregory Creutz (Alpha). The charter members of Delta Chapter included: Dr. Rufus B. Von KleinSmid, the President of the University of Southern California, Professors Oliver J. Marston, Clayton D. Carus and John Eugene Harley; and Charles A. Carver, Walter S. Wheaton, Henry. G. Brady, Harry B. Brown, C. K. Brugman, Hugo E. Hihn, Kenneth Kennedy, George W. McCormick and James A. Simpson.