Edward Reilly Stettinius Jr.(October 22, 1900 – October 31, 1949) was an American businessman who served asUnited States Secretary of Stateunder PresidentsFranklin D. RooseveltandHarry S. Trumanfrom 1944 to 1945, and asU.S. Ambassador to the United Nationsin 1946.
Edward Stettinius Jr. | |
|---|---|
 Stettinius in 1939 | |
| 1stUnited States Ambassador to the United Nations | |
| In office January 17, 1946 – June 3, 1946 | |
| President | Harry S. Truman |
| Preceded by | Position established |
| Succeeded by | Warren Austin |
| 48thUnited States Secretary of State | |
| In office December 1, 1944 – June 27, 1945 | |
| President | Franklin D. Roosevelt Harry S. Truman |
| Preceded by | Cordell Hull |
| Succeeded by | James F. Byrnes |
| 12thUnited States Under Secretary of State | |
| In office October 4, 1943 – November 30, 1944 | |
| President | Franklin D. Roosevelt |
| Preceded by | Sumner Welles |
| Succeeded by | Joseph Grew |
| Administrator of theOffice of Lend-Lease Administration | |
| In office March 11, 1941 – September 25, 1943 | |
| President | Franklin D. Roosevelt |
| Preceded by | Position established |
| Succeeded by | Leo Crowley(Foreign Economic Administration) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Edward Reilly Stettinius Jr. October 22, 1900 Chicago,Illinois,U.S. |
| Died | October 31, 1949(aged 49) Greenwich, Connecticut,U.S. |
| Resting place | Locust Valley Cemetery |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse | Virginia Gordon |
| Children | 3 |
| Parent | Edward R. Stettinius |
| Education | University of Virginia |
Early life and education
editStettinius was born inChicago, Illinois,on October 22, 1900, the younger of two sons and third of four children ofEdward R. Stettiniusand Judith Carrington. His mother was aVirginianof colonial English ancestry. His father was of German descent and was a native ofSt. Louis, Missouri.[1]
The younger Stettinius grew up in a mansion on the family's estate onStaten Islandand graduated from thePomfret Schoolin 1920, after which he attended theUniversity of Virginiauntil 1924. He finished very few courses and never took a degree.[2]Instead he spent his time on charitable outreach to poor families. He became a member of the secretSeven Society.[3]
Career
editIn 1926, Stettinius began working atGeneral Motorsas a stock clerk, but his connections made for rapid advancement. He became assistant toJohn Lee Pratt,a friend of the family, and by 1931 he had become vice president of public and industrial relations. At General Motors, he worked to develop unemployment relief programs and came into contact with New York GovernorFranklin Roosevelt.
In the 1930s, Stettinius's work in the private sector alternated with public service. He served on the Industrial Advisory Board of theNational Recovery Administration(1933). In 1934 he returned to the private sector when he joinedU.S. Steel,the nation's largest corporation; he eventually become chairman in 1938.[4]
He then returned to public service, serving on the National Defense Advisory Commission, as chairman of the War Resources Board (1939) and administrator of theLend-LeaseProgram (1941).[5]He held the latter position until he became undersecretary of state in 1943. In January 1944,Macmillanpublished his book,Lend-Lease, Weapon for Victory.[6]
The poor health of Secretary of StateCordell Hullmade Stettinius the chair of the 1944Dumbarton Oaks Conferenceand, in December 1944, he succeeded Hull as Secretary of State.[7]
While Secretary of State, Stettinius composed in 1944 anairgramdescribingBulgaro-Yugoslavefforts at establishing an independent "Macedonian" state (i.e.,Vardarska) as "unjustifieddemagogueryrepresenting no ethnic or political reality "(implying that theMacedoniansareGreek), and "a possible cloak for aggressive intentions againstGreece":[8]
The Department has noted with considerable apprehension increasing propaganda rumors and semi-official statements in favor of an “autonomous Macedonia”, emanating principally from Bulgaria, but also from Yugoslav Partisan and other sources, with the implication that Greek territory would be included in the projected state. This Government considers talk of “Macedonian nation”, “Macedonia Fatherland”, or “Macedonian national consciousness” to be unjustified demagoguery representing no ethnic or political reality, and sees in its present revival a possible cloak for aggressive intentions against Greece. The approved policy of this Government is to oppose any revival of the Macedonian issue as related to Greece. The Greek section of Macedonia is largely inhabited by Greeks, and the Greek people are almost unanimously opposed to the creation of a “Macedonian state.” Allegations of serious Greek participation in any such agitation can be assumed to be false. This Government would regard as responsible any Government or Group of Governments tolerating or encouraging menacing or aggressive acts of “Macedonian forces” against Greece. The Department would appreciate any information pertinent to this subject which may come to your attention.
Stettinius was a member of the US delegation to the February 1945Yalta Conference.[9]
Truman thought Stettinius was too soft on communism, and had yielded too much to Moscow when he was Roosevelt's advisor at Yalta.[10][a]Truman had an old Senate friend in mind as a replacement,James F. Byrnes.Stettinius resigned as Secretary of State to accept the position of the firstUnited States Ambassador to the United Nations.He chaired the United States delegation to theUnited Nations Conference on International Organizationheld in San Francisco from April 25 to June 26, 1945, which brought together delegates from 50 Allied nations to create the United Nations.Charles W. Yost,who had been Under Secretary of State Stettinius' assistant in the State Department, was named Stettinius' Executive Secretary at the United Nations Conference.
Stettinius resigned in June 1946, as he became critical of what he saw as Truman's refusal to use the UN as a tool to resolve tensions with the Soviet Union.[14][15]For three years after his return to private life, Stettinius served as rector of the University of Virginia. In 1947, Stettinius and friendWilliam Tubman,the president ofLiberia,helped form the Liberia Company (nowInternational Registries), a partnership between the Liberian government and American financiers to provide funds for the development of the African nation.
Personal life
editOn May 15, 1926, Stettinius married Virginia Gordon Wallace, daughter of a prominent family ofRichmond, Virginia.They had three children: Edward Reilly III and twins Wallace and Joseph.[7]
During his retirement, Stettinius lived at his Virginia estate, The Horseshoe, on theRapidan River.[16]He died of a coronarythrombosison October 31, 1949, at the home of a sister inGreenwich, Connecticut,at the age of 49, and was buried in the family plot in Locust Valley Cemetery,Locust Valley, New York.
Archive
editStettinius's voluminous archive of more than 1,000 boxes resides at theAlbert and Shirley Small Special Collections Libraryat the University of Virginia.[17]
Notes
edit- ^Aleswas in Yalta, Moscow, Mexico City, and San Francisco when Stettinius and his Assistant Wilder Foote were.Aleswas associated with GRU information such as tank production and steel production.[11][12][13]After MoscowAlesattended a function with Colonel GeneralFyodor Fedotovich Kuznetsov,who was the head of GRU on Soviet Army's General Staff from March 1943 to September 1947, and ColonelMikhail Abramovich Milstein,who was a GRU officer active in the United States and Canada during the late 1930s, attended the Yalta conference and whose code name was “Mil’sky”.[11]WhileAleswas in Moscow, he was congratulated for his work for the Soviet Union.
References
edit- ^Chernow, Ron (1990).The House of Morgan: An American Banking Dynasty and the Rise of Modern Finance.New York: Grove Press. pp.188–189.ISBN978-0-8021-3829-3.
- ^"The Optimist".Time.November 7, 1949. Archived fromthe originalon April 1, 2008.RetrievedAugust 14,2008.
- ^Johnson, Bill (February 15, 1965). "Seven Society's Secret Still Secret".Washington Post.pp. C8.
- ^Herman, Arthur (2012).Freedom's Forge: How American Business Produced Victory in World War II.New York, NY: Random House. pp.80, 87–90.ISBN978-1-4000-6964-4.
- ^Herman, Arthur (2012).Freedom's Forge: How American Business Produced Victory in World War II.New York, NY: Random House. pp.70–1, 80, 87, 89, 125, 127, 150, 153, 155.ISBN978-1-4000-6964-4.
- ^Stettinius, Edward R.Lend-Lease, Weapon for Victory.New York: The Macmillan Company, 1944. OCLC 394271
- ^ab"U.S. At War: Mr. Secretary Stettinius".Time.December 11, 1944.ISSN0040-781X.RetrievedMarch 21,2022.
- ^Martēs, Nikolaos K.; Whitehouse (trans.), Deborah (2002).The Macedonians and their Contribution to Western Civilization.Athens: Diachronikes Ekdoseis. p. 32.ISBN9789608172050.
- ^Lafeber, Walter (1989).The American Age: United States Foreign Policy at Home and Abroad Since 1750.New York: W.W. Norton. pp.417–418.ISBN0-393-95611-3.
- ^Hammersmith, Jack L. (1992)."In Defense of Yalta: Edward R. Stettinius's Roosevelt and the Russians".The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography.100(3):429–454.ISSN0042-6636.JSTOR4249295.
- ^abBird, Kai;Chervonnaya, Svetlana(June 1, 2007)."The Mystery of Ales (Expanded Version): The argument that Alger Hiss was a WWII-era Soviet asset is flawed. New evidence points to someone else".The American Scholar.RetrievedJune 17,2021.
- ^Haynes, John Earl(June 7, 2007)."Ales: Hiss, Foote, Stettinius?".johnearlhaynes.org.RetrievedJune 17,2021.
- ^Lowenthal, John(2000)."The Alger Hiss Story: A Search for the Truth".The Times Literary Supplement.Archivedfrom the original on September 8, 2021.RetrievedSeptember 9,2021.
This is a reprint of "Venona and Alger Hiss" byJohn LowenthalinIntelligence and National Security,Volume 15, Number 3 (Autumn 2000) [ the-tls.co.uk/articles/private/venona-and-alger-hiss/]
- ^Michael J. Devine and Nathan Giles. "Stettinius, Edward Reilly, Jr."
- ^Truman, Harry."Letter Accepting Resignation of Edward R. Stettinius as U.S. Representative to the United Nations".The American Presidency Project.RetrievedMarch 21,2022.
- ^"Thomas & Talbot | Make the Virginia hunt country your own".thomasandtalbot.RetrievedAugust 9,2020.
- ^"A Guide to the Papers of Edward R. Stettinius, Jr., 1924, 1949–1950 Stettinius, Edward R., Jr., Papers 2723-z".ead.lib.virginia.edu.RetrievedMarch 21,2022.
Further reading
edit- Devine, Michael J. and Nathan Giles. "Stettinius, Edward Reilly, Jr.";American National Biography Online2000;Access Date: Jun 06 2017
- "Edward Reilly Stettinius".Dictionary of American Biography, Supplement 4: 1946-1950.American Council of Learned Societies, 1974.
- Hopkins, Michael F. "President Harry Truman's Secretaries of State: Stettinius, Byrnes, Marshall and Acheson."Journal of Transatlantic Studies6.3 (2008): 290–304.
- Johnson, Walter. "Edward R. Stettinius, Jr.," inAn Uncertain Tradition: American Secretaries of State in the Twentieth Century,ed. Norman A. Grabner (1961).
- Walker, Richard L. "E. R. Stettinius, Jr.," inThe American Secretaries of State and Their Diplomacy,vol. 14, (1965)online
Primary sources
edit- Edward Stettinius,Roosevelt and the Russians(New York, 1950) his memoirs of the Yalta Conference
- The Diaries of Edward R. Stettinius, Jr., 1943-1946,ed. Thomas M. Campbell and George C. Herring (New Viewpoints, 1975), ISBN 0531055701
External links
edit
Media related toEdward Stettinius, Jr.at Wikimedia Commons- Timecover
- Edward Stettinius,Eleanor Roosevelt National Historic Site
- Office of the Historian - Biographies of the Secretaries of State: Edward Reilly Stettinius Jr. (1900–1949)
