"Judge" (John Barton) Payne", as he was fondly known, was born in Virginia in 1855 and rose to become Secretary of State in President Woodrow Wilson's administration. Payne, a lawyer by training, also chaired the "Shipping Board" and the national railways in the United States.

He joined the American Red Cross and then became chairman of the League, which then had its secretariat in Paris. Payne played a leading role in the promotion of national health services worldwide, training community nurses, popular health instruction, preventive medicine and the Junior Red Cross.

In 1923, Payne chaired the First Pan-American Conference of the Red Cross in Buenos Aires, the second in Washington three years later. He also chaired a conference on the Far East and two international conferences of the International Red Cross.

In the early 1920s, shipping disasters were frequent and most merchant seamen did not have the medical or social support afforded today. In 1933, and to help rectify this, the League published a Manual for Merchant Seamen, in cooperation with the Norwegian Red Cross and the International Labour Office.

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