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Hiram Bingham was born on November 19, 1875 in Honolulu, Hawaii and was descended from Deacon Thomas Bingham, who had come to the American colonies in 1650 and settled in Connecticut. His grandfather lived from 1789-1869 and was the first Protestant missionary to go to the Hawaiian Islands. His father, who was also a missionary, is mostly remembered for his work in the Gilbert Islands and his translation of the Bible into Gilbertese.
Hiram had a good education and had many jobs throughout his life. He attended the Punahou School of Oahu College for 10 years and the Phillips Academy for 2 years before entering Yale University. He received his B.A. degree from Yale University in 1898 and for 8 months afterward served as a superintendent of a mission in Honolulu. For the next four months, he was a chemist with the American Sugar Company. He then went back to school, first at the University of California, then Harvard University for postgraduate study in history and political science. Bingham attained his Ph.D. from Harvard in 1905 and then spent one year as a Preceptor at Princeton University.
In November 1906 Bingham sailed to South America to follow the route Bolivar (an explorer Bingham had studied) had taken in 1819. He wrote about his travels and his writings were published under the title Journal of an Expedition Across Venezuela and Columbia. Next, he explored the old Spanish trade route from Buenos Aires, Argentina to Lima, Peru. His writings of that journey were published in 1911 and were entitled Across South America. In 1911, Bingham again set out for South America, this time as the Director of the Peruvian Expedition. On this expedition he located the site of the last Inca capital Vitcos.; He was the first to ascend the 21,763 ft. Mt. Coropuma. The following year Bingham made another discovery, perhaps his most important one, the discovery of Machu Picchu, the "lost city."
As World War I began, Bingham turned to politics and the military as a way of life. He attended the Republican National Convention as Connecticut's alternate and was chosen as an elector on the Hughes-Fairbanks ticket. Hiram served as an officer in various military roles, eventually being promoted to Lieutenant Colonel and serving as Commanding Officer at the Aviation International Center in France.
In the summer of 1920, he was again an alternate for the Republican National Convention and was marked for advancement. Two years later he was elected Lieutenant Governor. For two days he was the Governor of Connecticut but left his job for an opening in the U.S. Senate. Bingham was a U.S. Senator for eight years but lost his seat to Democrat Augustine Lonergan which ended his political career.
Later, Bingham had many other jobs. Some of those jobs were serving on the Board of the Washington Loan and Trust Company, Vice President of the Colmena Oil Company, writing two biographies, giving many lectures on the South Sea Islands at Naval Training stations, and Chairman of the Loyalty Review Board.
Hiram Bingham married Alfreda Mitchell on November 20, 1900 and had 7 sons. He later got divorced and in June 1937 Bingham married Suzanne Carroll Hill. Bingham was a member of the Royal Geographical Society and the National Geographical Society. Bingham was also a member of the Sigma Psi Fraternity.
