Stettinius, << stuh TIHN ee uhs, >> Edward Riley, Jr. (1900-1949), was secretary of state under Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman. When the national defense program was set up in 1940, Stettinius held key posts. From 1941 to 1943, he was the Lend-Lease administrator (see Lend-Lease ). He became secretary of state in 1944 and participated in the Dumbarton Oaks Conference in 1944 and the Yalta Conference in 1945. He led the United States delegation to the 1945 San Francisco Conference, which organized the United Nations (UN). After the conference, Stettinius resigned as secretary of state so that Truman could appoint him head of the U.S. delegation to the UN. He became rector of the University of Virginia in 1946.
Stettinius was born in Chicago on Oct. 22, 1900, and attended the University of Virginia. In 1938, he took the post of chairman of the board of the United States Steel Corporation. He died on Oct. 31, 1949.
