Born in New York City on November 18, 1851, Robert John Wynne went to Philadelphia to study telegraphy, becoming the chief operator at the Atlantic and Pacific Telegraph Company. He moved to Washington, D.C., to work for the Cincinnati Gazette, later becoming personal secretary to the secretary of the treasury, Charles Foster, in 1891. After returning to journalism for nine years, Wynne was named first assistant postmaster general in 1902. President Theodore Roosevelt tapped Wynne to succeed Postmaster General Henry Clay Payne upon the latter's death in 1904. Wynne remained on the job only through the end of the first Roosevelt administration. Following his time in the cabinet, Wynne served as U.S. Consular General to Great Britain for the entirety of Roosevelt's second administration (1905-1909). He died on March 11, 1922.