Phelps was born Phelps von Rottenburg on May 4, 1897 in Bonn, Germany, to Franz and Marian Phelps von Rottenburg. His mother came from a wealthy family, and his father, who died when Phelps was nine, worked as a lawyer, but came from a family of shippers. His grandfather was William Walter Phelps, a politician who served multiple terms in the United States House of Representatives out of New Jersey's 5th congressional district and as the United States ambassador to Austria-Hungary; his great-grandfathers were John Jay Phelps and Joseph Earl Sheffield. In 1899, his mother divorced his father and took the children to Teaneck, New Jersey, where they were raised with the help of their grandmother Ellen Maria. Shortly after arriving in New Jersey, Phelps' mother gave him her last name, and he became known as Phelps Phelps. He attended Yale University in 1916, but was dismissed from the school after paying another student to take his exams for him. He graduated from Williams College in 1922, and received his juris doctor from Fordham University School of Law in 1925.
After retiring from his two overseas posts, Phelps became a prolific writer of newspaper letters to the editor, including many to newspapers like the New York Times and Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, where he discussed a wide range of issues. For much of his later life, Phelps lived in Jersey City, New Jersey. He died on June 10, 1981 in Wildwood, New Jersey. He was buried July 3 of the same year at the Arlington National Cemetery.
Political career
From 1923 to 1924, Phelps held the post of Deputy Commissioner for Veterans Affairs for New York City. He served as a Republican member of the New York State Assembly from Greenwich Village in 1924, 1925, 1926, 1927 and 1928. In 1928, he ran for a nomination for the United States House of Representatives, but lost the primary to Ruth Baker Pratt, who would become the first congresswoman from New York. Following the 1932 Republican National Convention, Phelps became a Democrat, and travelled to the 1936, 1956, and 1960 Democratic National Conventions as a delegate. He was again a member of the State Assembly in 1937 and 1938; and a member of the New York State Senate from 1939 to 1942, sitting in the 162nd and 163rd New York State Legislatures. After leaving his diplomatic post in the Dominican Republic, Phelps served as commissioner for the Palisades Interstate Park Commission. He was a delegate to the New Jersey State Constitutional Convention in 1966. He hosted a long-standing radio program, where he commented on politics and current events. When Jimmy Carter became President, Phelps objected to the moral platforms the Democratic Party had chosen to take, and returned to the Republican Party.
Governorship
appointed Phelps to serve as Governor of American Samoa, making him the first civilian governor of the islands; the previous governors had been naval officers. He began his term on February 23, 1951. Phelps immediately needed to address the failing economy of American Samoa, caused largely by the withdrawal of the United States Navy from the islands with the final naval governor. Phelps attempted to replace the lost military revenue by selling oil from storage facilities to shipping enterprises, drawing in new airlines to Pago Pago International Airport, and encouraging larger copra crop yields. Phelps criticized the United States military for refusing to build recruitment centers in American Samoa, leaving natives who wanted to enlist the need to travel to Hawaii to do so. He attempted to fix a number of political problems with the island. This led him to fire his attorney general and take measures to improve the relations between inhabitants of the Tutuila and Manu'a islands.
Ambassadorship
Only days after leaving the governor's seat, Phelps received appointment as the United States Ambassador to the Dominican Republic, serving from June 27, 1952 to May 30, 1953. Dictator Rafael Trujillo was in charge of the Dominican Republic during Phelps' post. Among the issues he faced were accusations of numerous murders of Americans on United States soil ordered and funded by Trujillo. He also negotiated a land deal where Trujillo purchased an empty lot the United States owned in Ciudad Trujillo, now Santo Domingo. Phelps resigned on May 21, 1953, and was replaced by William T. Pheiffer nine days later.
Personal life
Phelps never married, but lived with four different women throughout his lifetime. He was a major baseball fan, and had personal friendships with numerous well-known players of the time. Phelps received much of the attention of his mother and grandmother during his childhood; this led to a strained relationship with his sister, who remained embittered towards him for the rest of her life. She left America in the 1920s, and never spoke with him again. He preferred to live in hotels and move from place to place, and never owned any real estate.