| Biography | Edward Reilly Stettinius, Jr. (October 22, 1900 October 31, 1949) was United States Secretary of State under Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman, serving from 1944 to 1945.
Stettinius was born in Chicago, the younger of two sons and third of four children of Edward Reilly and Judith (Carrington) Stettinius. His mother was a Virginian of colonial English ancestry. His father, Edward R. Stettinius, Sr. (18651925), of German descent, was a native of St. Louis. A successful businessman, he became president of the Diamond Match Company (19091915) in Barberton, Ohio. He was retained by the banking house of J. P. Morgan and Company in 1915 to organize a department to finance sales of munitions to Britain and France during World War I. His success led to becoming full partner in 1916. He was described by his contemporaries as possessing a meticulous, almost obsessive, attention to detail and an almost terrifying sense of responsibility.
The younger Stettinius grew up in a mansion on the familys estate on Staten Island and graduated from the Pomfret School in 1920, after which he attended the University of Virginia until 1924, leaving without a degree; while at Virginia he became a member of the secret Seven Society. On May 15, 1926, he married Virginia Gordon Wallace, daughter of a prominent family of Richmond, Virginia. They had three children: Edward Reilly, and the twins Wallace and Joseph. |