Hamilton Fish III: Longtime Residence of the Kalorama Triangle Neighborhood

Hamilton Stuyvesant Fish III was a longtime resident of Kalorama Triangle and made his home at 2319 Ashmead Place.

Hamilton Fish III.  Library of Congress. 
Hamilton Fish was from a long line of distinguished politicians. His grandfather, Hamilton Fish, served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New York, lieutenant governor and governor of New York, a senator, and the 26th Secretary of State under Ulysses S. Grant.  His father served as Speaker of the New York State Assembly and a also as a member of the United States House of Representatives.

Fish attended Harvard where he graduated in 1909 with a cum laude degree in history and government.  He turned down an offer to teach history there after his graduation, instead opting to sell insurance in New York City.

At the outset of the U.S. involvement in World War I, Fish was made a captain in the 369th U.S. Infantry Regiment, a unit composed of African American enlisted men that came to be famously known as the "Harlem Hellfighters." The 369th spent 191 days on the front lines, which was the longest of any American regiment, and was also the first Allied regiment to reach the Rhine River. Fish—as well as his sister Janet, who served as a nurse near the front lines—was later inducted into the French Legion of Honor for his wartime service.

Fish served as a Republican member of Congress from  New York between 1920 and 1945.  As a congressman, he was a strong anti-communist and an outspoken opponent of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Fish’s political career ended when he lost the Republican general election in 1944.  Fish's son, Hamilton Fish IV, was a thirteen-term U.S. representative from New York from 1969 to 1995.  Fish's grandson, Hamilton Fish V also ran for Congress, but was defeated.

2319-23 Ashmead Place.  The Fish residence is to the right of the photo (white shutters). Library of
Congress

The Fishes moved to their home on Ashmead Place in 1920, not long after the house had been built.  The twin townhouses were designed by and built for architect Thomas Fuller in 1918.  Fuller had mistakenly built his own house on the wrong lot in 1893.  After a lengthy lawsuit, Fuller  was able to keep his house at 2317 Ashmead Place and still owned the lots at 2319 and 2321 Ashmead Place, where he was supposed to build his house.

Fish made his acting debut in the 1977 documentary Men of Bronze, the story of the famous 369th combat regiment.  In 1981, Fish returned to the silver screen in the movie Reds about the life of John ("Jack") Reed, playing himself.  (Fish was a Harvard classmate of Reed's.)  In the film, Fish reflects almost amusingly on his strong anticommunist stance while in Congress.

In 1991, Fish published his autobiography entitled Hamilton Fish: Memoir of an American Patriot.

Hamilton Fish celebrated his 102nd birthday in 1990 and died a month later in January 1991. Throughout his life, Fish kept track of the men of the 369th U.S. Infantry Regiment. During his funeral at West Point, a group of veterans from the 369th arrived by bus from New York City. Upon being greeted by a family member and thanking them for being there for their service, one of the veterans said, “He [Fish] was always there when we needed him. We want to be here for him today.”