Henry Stimson

Henry Lewis Stimson (September 21, 1867 – October 20, 1950) served as United States Secretary of War under President's William Howard Taft, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman and Secretary of State under Herbert Hoover, previously serving as Governor-General of the Philippines.

Despite his work in Democrat administrations, he was a staunch conservative Republican. As Secretary of War during World War II - responsible for the Army and Air Force - he took an aggressive stance against Nazi Germany. He promoted the growth of military industries, and reorganize the War Department and expanded it to 12 million men and women.

Early Life

Child of a wealthy family from New York, Stimson was educated at Phillips Andover Academy, Yale College, and the Harvard Law School. In 1892, he became a parter prestigious Wall Street law firm. And in 1906 President Theodore Roosevelt appointed him U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. He unsuccessfully ran for Governor in 1910.

Presidential Appointments

Stimson's distinguished career began in the Taft administration when he appointed Secretary of War in 1911 and helped modernize the army's structure during World War I. He was asked by President Calvin Coolidge to impose a settlement in Nicaragua and in 1927 served as governor general of the Philippines. He was President Herbert Hoover's secretary of state and was involved with foreign policy matters such as London Naval Conference of 1930 which involved the agreements between the major powers on navy vessel numbers an the invasion of Manchuria.

In 1940 he was appointed Secretary of War again under Franklin D. Roosevelt. As War Secretary during World War II he expanded the army base to over 10,000,000 soldiers. As Secretary of War under Harry Truman he was a senior adviser to the Manhattan Project, which built the atomic bomb.

Stimson died in 1950 at the age of 83.