Symington, Stuart (1901-1988), a Missouri Democrat, served as a United States senator from 1953 until he retired from office in 1976. He campaigned for the 1960 Democratic presidential nomination but failed to win it.
In the Senate, Symington sat on the Armed Services and Foreign Relations committees and specialized in military matters. In 1954, he charged that the Department of Defense had wasted millions of dollars on outdated weapons. He became a leading critic of U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War (1957-1975).
William Stuart Symington was born on June 26, 1901, in Amherst, Massachusetts. He served in the Army in 1918, during World War I. He studied at Yale University from 1919 to 1923. He then held executive positions in several companies. He was president of the Emerson Electric Manufacturing Company from 1938 to 1945. Symington became assistant secretary of war in 1946 and served as the first secretary of the U.S. Air Force from 1947 to 1950. He died on Dec. 14, 1988.
