 Houghton's service in both Germany and England gave him a unique ability to address the issue of the war reparations Germany owed to its World War I opponents, England being one of them.Houghton laid some of the groundwork for the Dawes Plan, named after then U.S. Vice President Charles G. Dawes, who would be Houghton's successor as Ambassador to Great Britain.In 1928, Houghton ran for the U.S. Senate from New York against first-term incumbent Royal S. Copeland, a Democrat.