Stettinius, Edward Reilly, Jr. [key], 1900–1949, American statesman and industrialist, b. Chicago. He held (1926–34) several executive posts in the General Motors Corp., and in 1938 he became chairman of the board of the U.S. Steel Corp. He resigned (1940) as a business executive to join the National Defense Advisory Commission. After serving as priorities director in the Office of Production Management and as lend-lease administrator (1941–43), he was (1943–44) Undersecretary of State and presided at the Dumbarton Oaks Conference (1944). Succeeding (Nov., 1944) Cordell Hull as Secretary of State, Stettinius attended the Yalta Conference and was chairman of the U.S. delegation to the San Francisco Conference. He resigned (June, 1945) his cabinet post and served (1945–46) as U.S. representative to the United Nations. He wrote Roosevelt and the Russians (1949).
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