In 1907, Wright became a rancher in Wyoming. While living in Cody, Wyoming, he passed the foreign service examination on May 17, 1909, and became a career diplomat. His first posting was in Honduras. Wright later served in Belgium, Brazil, Russia and the United Kingdom.[1][3] In May 1916, he married Harriet R. Southerland, the daughter of retired Rear Admiral William H. H. Southerland, in Washington, D.C. Wright and his second wife had two daughters.[4][5]
Coolidge appointed Wright to serve as Envoy to Hungary in 1927. Herbert Hoover appointed Wright as Envoy to Uruguay in 1930, and Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed Wright as Envoy to Czechoslovakia in 1934, and afterwards as the U.S. Ambassador to Cuba from 1937 to 1939. During his stint as ambassador to Cuba, the SS St. Louis with its cargo of mostly GermanJewish refugees tried to land in Havana in 1939. This incident was the basis for the 1976 film Voyage of the Damned.
Wright, J. Butler; William Allison (2002). Witness to Revolution: The Russian Revolution Diary and Letters of J. Butler Wright. Westport, Conn.: Praeger. ISBN0-275-97474-X. OCLC48038358.