Edward Stettinius Jr.

For his father, president of Diamond Match Company and Assistant Secretary of War, see Edward R. Stettinius.

Edward Stettinius Jr.
File:Edward R. Stettinius, Chairman of U.S. Steel, testifying before Monopoly Committee LCCN2016875665 (Cropped).jpg Edward Stettinius Jr. (1939)
1st United 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
48th United 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
12th United 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 the Office 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. (1900-10-22)October 22, 1900 Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Died	Greenwich, Connecticut, U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Spouse(s)	Virginia Gordon
Children	3
Parents	Edward R. Stettinius
Education	University of Virginia

Edward Reilly Stettinius Jr. (October 22, 1900 – October 31, 1949) was an American businessman who served as United States Secretary of State under Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman from 1944 to 1945, and as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations from 1945 to 1946.

Early life and education

Stettinius was born in Chicago, Illinois, on October 22, 1900, the younger of two sons and third of four children of Edward R. Stettinius and Judith Carrington. His mother was a Virginian of colonial English ancestry. His father was of German descent and was a native of St. Louis, Missouri.

The younger Stettinius grew up in a mansion on the family's estate on Staten Island and graduated from the Pomfret School in 1920, after which he attended the University of Virginia until 1924. He finished very few courses and never took a degree. Instead he spent his time on charitable outreach to poor families. He became a member of the secret Seven Society.

Career

In 1926, Stettinius began working at General Motors as a stock clerk, but his connections made for rapid advancement. He became assistant to John 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 Governor Franklin Roosevelt.

In the 1930s, Stettinius's work in the private sector alternated with public service. He served on the Industrial Advisory Board of the National Recovery Administration (1933). In 1934 he returned to the private sector when he joined U.S. Steel, the nation's largest corporation; he eventually become chairman in 1938.

He then returned to public service, serving on the National Defense Advisory Commission, as chairman of the War Resources Board (1939) and administrator of the Lend-Lease Program (1941). He held the latter position until he became undersecretary of state in 1943. In January 1944, Macmillan published his book, Lend-Lease, Weapon for Victory.

The poor health of Secretary of State Cordell Hull made Stettinius the chair of the 1944 Dumbarton Oaks Conference and, in December 1944, he succeeded Hull as Secretary of State.

While Secretary of State, Stettinius composed in 1944 an airgram describing Bulgaro-Yugoslav efforts at establishing an independent "Macedonian" state (i.e., Vardarska) as "unjustified demagoguery representing no ethnic or political reality" (implying that the Macedonians are Greek), and "a possible cloak for aggressive intentions against Greece":

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, U.S. State Department, Foreign Relations Vol. VII, Washington, D.C. Circular Airgram (868.014/26 Dec.1944).

Stettinius was a member of the US delegation to the February 1945 Yalta Conference.

Truman thought Stettinius was too soft on communism, and had yielded too much to Moscow when he was Roosevelt's advisor at Yalta. 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 first United States Ambassador to the United Nations. He chaired the United States delegation to the United Nations Conference on International Organization held 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. For three years after his return to private life, Stettinius served as rector of the University of Virginia. In 1947, Stettinius and friend William Tubman, the president of Liberia, helped form the Liberia Company (now International Registries), a partnership between the Liberian government and American financiers to provide funds for the development of the African nation.

Personal life

On May 15, 1926, Stettinius married Virginia Gordon Wallace, daughter of a prominent family of Richmond, Virginia. They had three children: Edward Reilly III and twins Wallace and Joseph.

During his retirement, Stettinius lived at his Virginia estate, The Horseshoe, on the Rapidan River. He died of a coronary thrombosis on October 31, 1949, at the home of a sister in Greenwich, Connecticut, at the age of 49, and was buried in the family plot in Locust Valley Cemetery, Locust Valley, New York.

Archive

Stettinius's voluminous archive of more than 1,000 boxes resides at the Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library at the University of Virginia.

Further reading

• Devine, Michael J. and Nathan Giles. "Stettinius, Edward Reilly, Jr."; American National Biography Online 2000; 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 Studies 6.3 (2008): 290-304.
• Johnson, Walter. "Edward R. Stettinius, Jr.," in An Uncertain Tradition: American Secretaries of State in the Twentieth Century, ed. Norman A. Grabner (1961).
• McMeekin, Sean (2021). Stalin's War: A New History of World War II. New York: Basic Books.
• Walker, Richard L. "E. R. Stettinius, Jr.," in The American Secretaries of State and Their Diplomacy, vol. 14, (1965) online

Primary sources

• 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

• Media related to at Wikimedia Commons
• Time cover
• Edward Stettinius, Eleanor Roosevelt National Historic Site
• Office of the Historian - Biographies of the Secretaries of State: Edward Reilly Stettinius Jr. (1900–1949)

Business positions
Preceded by Myron C. Taylor	Chairman of the Board of U.S. Steel April 4, 1938 – June 4, 1940	Succeeded by Irving S. Olds
Government offices
New office	Administrator of the Office of Lend-Lease Administration 1941–1943	Succeeded by Leo Crowley as Administrator of the Foreign Economic Administration
Political offices
Preceded by Sumner Welles	United States Under Secretary of State 1943–1944	Succeeded by Joseph Grew
Preceded by Cordell Hull	United States Secretary of State 1944–1945	Succeeded by James F. Byrnes
Diplomatic posts
New office	United States Ambassador to the United Nations 1946	Succeeded by Herschel Johnson Acting