George Bancroft
![Bancroft {{circa}} 1860](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9b/George_Bancroft_United_States_Secretary_of_Navy_c._1860.jpg)
During his tenure as U.S. Secretary of the Navy, he established the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis. He was a senior American diplomat in Europe, leading diplomatic missions to Britain and Germany. Among his best-known writings is the magisterial series, ''History of the United States, from the Discovery of the American Continent''. Provided by Wikipedia