Cordell Hull

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Cordell Hull (October 2, 1871 – July 23, 1955) served as United States Secretary of State from 1933-1944 under Franklin Delano Roosevelt and received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1945.

Life and career

Born in Olympus, Pickett County, Tennessee, Hull attended a teachers' college from 1889 until 1890. At the age of 19, Hull became the elected chairman of the Clay County Democratic Party. In 1891, he graduated from Cumberland School of Law at Cumberland University and was admitted to the bar. He served in the Tennessee House of Representatives from 1893 to 1897. During the Spanish-American War, Hull served in Cuba as a captain in the Fourth Regiment of the Tennessee Volunteer Infantry.

From 1903 to 1907, Hull served as a local judge; later he was elected to the United States House of Representatives where he served 11 terms (1907 - 1921 and 1923 - 1931) totaling 22 years. After his defeat in 1920, he served as chairman of the Democratic National Committee. As a member of the powerful Ways and Means committee, he fought for low tariffs and claimed authorship of the federal income tax laws of 1913 and 1916 and the inheritance tax of 1916. He was elected to the Senate in 1930. In 1933, Roosevelt named him Secretary of State. Roosevelt often ignored Hull in making major foreign policy decisions, leaving the Secretary, in the opinion of most historians, to play the role of a highly popular empty suit. Hull did try to enlarge foreign trade and lower tariffs. In 1943, Hull served as United States delegate to the Moscow Conference.

Hull chaired the Advisory Committee of Postwar Foreign Policy, created in February 1942.

When the Free French Forces of Charles de Gaulle liberated the islands of Saint-Pierre and Miquelon (located south of Newfoundland) in December 1941, Hull lodged a very strong protest and even went as far as referring to the Gaullist naval forces as "the so called Free French." His request to have the Vichy governor reinstated was met with strong criticism in the American press. The islands remained part of the Free French movement until the end of World War II.

Hull was an ardent supporter of the United Nations. He pushed his staff to draft a suitable "Charter of the United Nations", which it accomplished by mid-1943.

Hull resigned in November 1944 because of failing health — Roosevelt portrayed Hull upon his departure as "the one person in all the world who has done his most to make this great plan for peace (the United Nations) an effective fact". The Norwegian Nobel Committee honored Hull with the Nobel Peace Prize in 1945 in recognition of his efforts for peace and understanding in the Western Hemisphere, his trade agreements, and his work to establish the United Nations. Hull served 11 years, nine months as Secretary of State, longer than anyone else.

Hull died in Washington, D.C. and is buried in the vault of the Chapel of St. Joseph of Arimathea in the Washington Cathedral. His memory is preserved by Cordell Hull Dam on the Cumberland River near Carthage, Tennessee. Hull was portrayed by veteran actor George Macready in the 1970 film Tora! Tora! Tora!.

A segment of Kentucky highway route 70, leading from Interstate 65 to Mammoth Cave National Park, is named "Cordell Hull Highway."

Sources

Primary

• Cordell Hull. Memoirs (1948).

Secondary

• Julius W. Pratt, Cordell Hull, 1933–44, 2 vol. (1964)
• [Biography from U.S. Congress biography page]
• Hull, Cordell by EB [link]

Multimedia

• [Video of Cordell Hull speaking in favour of the United Nations in 1943]

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