Henry
Stimson
Henry
L. Stimson (1867-1950) held cabinet level positions
under four presidents, including Herbert Hoover and
Harry S. Truman, during his long career of public
service. After receiving a law degree from Harvard
University in Cambridge, Stimson practiced law in
New York for several years. He entered public service
in 1906 when he became a federal district attorney
in New York. In 1911, he became the Secretary of War
under President William Howard Taft, a political move
designed to unify a divided Republican Party. Unfortunately
for Stimson and Taft, the Republican Party remained
divided which resulted in a lop-sided Democratic victory
in the presidential election of 1912.
Following his tenure as Secretary of War, Stimson
divided his time between his private law practice
and public service which included a brief enlistment
in the army during World War I and an appointment
as governor general of the Philippines in 1928. He
accepted his second cabinet post in 1929 when he became
the Secretary of State in the Hoover administration,
a position he held throughout Hoover's four years
in office. Stimson returned to his law practice following
Hoover's defeat in 1932.
In 1940, with war raging in Europe, President Franklin
D. Roosevelt made the surprise move of appointing
Stimson, a longtime Republican, as his new Secretary
of War. The appointment was a gesture towards national
unity as the United States prepared for the possibility
of entry into the war. Stimson would serve as Secretary
of War for the length of the conflict, first under
Roosevelt and then under President Truman.
After Roosevelt's death, Stimson was one of the first
in the Truman administration to advocate reaching
out to President Hoover for advice, particularly in
dealing with the looming food crisis in Europe. Having
served in Hoover's cabinet, Stimson was also one of
the few men in a position to initiate this contact.
Stimson approached both Truman and Hoover with this
idea in early May of 1945, which helped pave the way
for the first meeting between the two presidents on
May 28.
After a long career of serving his country and ready
for retirement, Stimson submitted his letter of resignation
on September 5, 1945, three days after the Japanese
signed the formal surrender document. For more information
see: American National Biography v.20 (1999) p. 787-90,
and David F. Schmitz's Henry L. Stimson: The First
Wise Man.
