Henry L. Stimson | |
---|---|
54th United States Secretary of War | |
In office July 10, 1940 – September 21, 1945 |
|
President |
Franklin D. Roosevelt Harry S. Truman |
Deputy |
Robert P. Patterson (1940) John J. McCloy (1941–1945) |
Preceded by | Harry Hines Woodring |
Succeeded by | Robert P. Patterson |
46th United States Secretary of State | |
In office March 28, 1929 – March 4, 1933 |
|
President | Herbert Hoover |
Deputy |
Joseph P. Cotton (1929–1931) William R. Castle, Jr. (1931–1933) |
Preceded by | Frank B. Kellogg |
Succeeded by | Cordell Hull |
Governor-General of the Philippines | |
In office December 27, 1927 – February 23, 1929 |
|
Appointed by | Calvin Coolidge |
Deputy | Eugene Allen Gilmore |
Preceded by |
Leonard Wood (acting) |
Succeeded by |
Eugene Allen Gilmore (acting) |
45th United States Secretary of War | |
In office May 22, 1911 – March 4, 1913 |
|
President | William Howard Taft |
Deputy | Robert Shaw Oliver |
Preceded by | Jacob M. Dickinson |
Succeeded by | Lindley M. Garrison |
United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York | |
In office January 1906 – April 8, 1909 |
|
President |
Theodore Roosevelt William Howard Taft |
Preceded by | Henry Lawrence Burnett |
Succeeded by | Henry Wise |
Personal details | |
Born |
Henry Lewis Stimson September 21, 1867 New York City, New York, United States |
Died | October 20, 1950 West Hills, New York, United States |
(aged 83)
Resting place | St. John Church, Cold Spring Harbor, New York, United States |
Political party | Republican |
Spouse(s) | Mabel Wellington White Stimson (1866 – 1950) |
Parents |
Lewis Atterbury Stimson (surgeon) Candace Wheeler Stimson |
Alma mater |
Yale College Harvard Law School |
Profession | Lawyer, Diplomat, Administrator |
Religion | Presbyterian |
Military service | |
Allegiance | United States |
Service/branch | United States Army |
Rank | Colonel |
Battles/wars | World War I |
Henry Lewis Stimson (September 21, 1867 – October 20, 1950) was an American statesman, lawyer and Republican Party politician and spokesman on foreign policy. He served as Secretary of War (1911–1913) under Republican William Howard Taft, and as Governor-General of the Philippines (1927–1929). As Secretary of State (1929–1933) under Republican President Herbert Hoover, he articulated the Stimson Doctrine which announced American opposition to Japanese expansion in Asia. He again served as Secretary of War (1940–1945) under Democrats Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman, and was a leading hawk calling for war against Germany. During World War II he took charge of raising and training 13 million soldiers and airmen, supervised the spending of a third of the nation's GDP on the Army and the Air Forces, helped formulate military strategy, and oversaw the Manhattan Project, which built the first atomic bombs, and the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Henry Lewis Stimson was born in New York City, the son of Lewis Atterbury Stimson, a prominent surgeon, and his wife, the former Candace Thurber Wheeler. When he was nine in 1876 his mother died of kidney failure, after which the boy was sent to boarding school; he spent summers with his grandmother Candace Wheeler at her Catskills country house, playing with his almost equally old nephew Dunham Wheeler in a corner nicknamed "the Armory." Roaming the Catskills mountains he became an ardent sportsman, growing to love the outdoors.