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Biography
Edward Reilly Stettinius Jr. (1900–1949) was born in Chicago, Illinois. He studied at the University of Virginia, then rose in the ranks at General Motors and U.S. Steel. During the 1930s he worked in defense-related agencies, and in the early 1940s served as director of Lend-Lease aid and special assistant to the president. In 1943 President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed Stettinius under secretary of state, and in 1944, secretary.
Stettinius accompanied President Roosevelt to the Yalta Conference in February 1945, where they met with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin to discuss the Pacific War with Japan and the future political status of Eastern Europe and Germany, following its expected surrender. Stettinius also chaired the U.S. delegation to the United Nations Conference, held in San Francisco in the spring of 1945, which brought together delegates from 50 Allied nations to create the United Nations.
Stettinius resigned his position in 1945 to become the first U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. The following year he was named rector of the University of Virginia.