Stuart Symington
1st United States Secretary of the Air Force
In office September 18, 1947 – April 24, 1950
President	Harry S. Truman
Succeeded by	Thomas K. Finletter
United States Senator from Missouri
In office January 3, 1953 – December 27, 1976
Preceded by	James Kem
Succeeded by	John Danforth
Born	June 26, 1901 Amherst, Massachusetts
Died	December 14, 1988 (age 87) New Canaan, Connecticut
Political party	Democrat
Profession	Business Executive

William Stuart Symington (June 26, 1901 – December 14, 1988) was a businessman and political figure from Missouri. The Secretary of the Air Force ( SECAF) is the civilian head of the United States Department of the Air Force, a component organization of the Department Events 96 - Nerva is proclaimed Roman Emperor after Domitian is assassinated Year 1947 ( MCMXLVII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full 1947 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Events 1479 BC - Thutmose III ascends to the throne of Egypt, although power effectively shifts to Hatshepsut (according to Year 1950 ( MCML) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Thomas Knight Finletter (1893–1980 was an American lawyer politician and statesman The United States Senate is the Upper house of the bicameral United States Congress, the Lower house being the House of Representatives Missouri ( or) is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee Events 1431 - Joan of Arc is handed over to the Bishop Pierre Cauchon. Year 1953 ( MCMLIII) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Events 537 - The Hagia Sophia is completed 1512 - The Spanish Crown issues the Laws of Burgos, governing the Year 1976 ( MCMLXXVI) was a Leap year starting on Thursday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. James Preston Kem ( April 2, 1890 &ndash February 24, 1965) represented Missouri in the United States Senate from 1947 John Claggett "Jack" Danforth (born September 5, 1936) is a former United States Ambassador to the United Nations and former Republican Events 363 - Roman Emperor Julian is killed during the retreat from the Sassanid Empire. Year 1901 ( MCMI) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year starting Amherst is a town in Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States in the Connecticut River valley Events 1287 - St Lucia's flood: The Zuider Zee sea wall in the Netherlands collapses killing over 50000 people Year 1988 ( MCMLXXXVIII) was a Leap year starting on Friday (link displays 1988 Gregorian calendar) New Canaan is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States, 8 miles (13 km northeast of Stamford, on the Five Mile River The Democratic Party is one of two major Political parties in the United States, the other being the Republican Party. Events 363 - Roman Emperor Julian is killed during the retreat from the Sassanid Empire. Year 1901 ( MCMI) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year starting Events 1287 - St Lucia's flood: The Zuider Zee sea wall in the Netherlands collapses killing over 50000 people Year 1988 ( MCMLXXXVIII) was a Leap year starting on Friday (link displays 1988 Gregorian calendar) A politician (from Greek " Polis " is an individual who is involved in influencing public decision making through the influence of Politics or a person Missouri ( or) is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee He served as the first Secretary of the Air Force (from 1947 until 1950) and was a Democratic United States Senator from Missouri (from 1953 until 1976. The Secretary of the Air Force ( SECAF) is the civilian head of the United States Department of the Air Force, a component organization of the Department The Democratic Party is one of two major Political parties in the United States, the other being the Republican Party. The United States Senate is the Upper house of the bicameral United States Congress, the Lower house being the House of Representatives )

Emerson Electric President

Symington was born in Amherst, Massachusetts and grew up in Baltimore, Maryland. Amherst is a town in Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States in the Connecticut River valley He graduated from Yale University in 1923. At Yale he was a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity and the Elihu senior society and served on the board of the Yale Daily News. Delta Kappa Epsilon ( ΔΚΕ; also pronounced D-K-E or "Deke" is a Fraternity founded at Yale College in 1844 by 15 men of the sophomore Elihujpg|left|100px|Emblem of Elihu]] Elihu, founded in 1903 is the sixth oldest secret society at Yale University, New Haven CT. The Yale Daily News is a Newspaper published by Yale University students in New Haven Connecticut since January 28, 1878 During World War I, Symington enlisted in the United States Army and was commissioned a Second Lieutenant at age 17. World War I (abbreviated WWI; also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All The United States Army is a military organization whose primary mission is to "provide necessary forces and capabilities. Second Lieutenant is the lowest commissioned officer Military rank in many Armed forces.

In 1923, Symington went to work for an uncle in the shops of the Symington Company of Rochester, New York, manufacturers of malleable iron products. Rochester is a city in Monroe County, New York State, south of Lake Ontario in the United States. Two years later he formed Eastern Clay Products, Inc. , but in 1927 returned to the Symington Company as executive assistant to the president.

Symington resigned in 1930 to become president of the Colonial Radio Corporation. In January 1935, he accepted the presidency of Rustless Iron and Steel Corporation, manufactures of stainless steel, but remained director of Colonial Radio Corporation.

When Rustless Iron and Steel Corporation was sold to the American Rolling Mill Company in 1937, Symington resigned and in 1938, accepted the presidency of Emerson Electric Company in St. Louis, Missouri. Emerson Electric Company ( NYSE: EMR is a major Multinational corporation headquartered in St During World War II he transformed the company into the world's largest builder of airplane gun turrets. A gun turret is a device that protects the crew or mechanism of a projectile firing weapon and at the same time lets the weapon be aimed and fired in many directions

First Secretary of the Air Force

Stuart Symington on the cover of Time on January 19th, 1948^[1]

He resigned Emerson in 1945 to join the administration of fellow Missourian Harry S. Truman.

His first positions were chairman of the Surplus Property Board (1945), administrator of the Property Administration (1945–1946) and Assistant Secretary of War for Air (1946–1947). The Secretary of War was a member of the United States President's Cabinet, beginning with George Washington 's administration

On September 18, 1947, the Office of the Secretary of the Air Force was created and Symington became the first Secretary. Events 96 - Nerva is proclaimed Roman Emperor after Domitian is assassinated Year 1947 ( MCMXLVII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full 1947 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Symington had a stormy term as he moved to give the United States Air Force (which previously had been part of the Army) respect. He had numerous public battles with United States Secretary of Defense James Forrestal. The United States Secretary of Defense ( SECDEF) is the head of the U James Vincent Forrestal ( February 15, 1892 &ndash May 22, 1949) was a United States Secretary of the Navy and the first United During his tenure there was a major debate and investigation into production of the Convair B-36 Bomber, which was the last of the piston powered bombers at the beginning of the jet age. Symington and others were eventually cleared of any wrongdoing. Major accomplishments included the Berlin Airlift and championing the United States Air Force Academy. The Berlin Blockade (24 June 1948 – 11 May 1949 was one of the first major international crises of the Cold war. The United States Air Force Academy ( USAFA or Air Force) is an accredited college for the undergraduate education of officers for the United States Air Symington resigned in 1950 to protest lack of funding for the Air Force after the Soviets detonated their first atomic bomb. A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from Nuclear reactions either fission or a combination of fission and fusion. He remained in the administration as chairman of National Security Resources Board (1950–1951) and Reconstruction Finance Corporation Administrator (1951–1952). The National Security Resources Board was a United States board created by the National Security Act of 1947. The Reconstruction Finance Corporation ( RFC) was an independent agency of the United States government chartered during the administration of Herbert Hoover

U. S. Senator and candidate for President

Stuart Symington on the cover of Time on November 24th, 1958 ^[2]

At the urging of his father-in-law James Wolcott Wadsworth, Jr., a former Republican (GOP) Speaker of the New York Assembly and a GOP U. James Wolcott Wadsworth Jr ( August 12, 1877 Geneseo, Livingston County New York &ndash June 21 The term speaker is a title often given to the presiding officer of a legislative body The New York State Assembly is the Lower house of the New York Legislature, the state legislature of the U S. Senator from New York who had also been a rancher in Texas from 1911-1914, Symington ran in 1952 as a Democrat for the U. A ranch is an area of landscape including various structures given primarily to the practice of ranching the practice of raising grazing livestock such as Cattle Texas ( is a state geographically located in the South Central United States and is also known as the Lone Star State. The Democratic Party is one of two major Political parties in the United States, the other being the Republican Party. S. Senate from Missouri.

He was elected in the 1952, a national Republican year, and re-elected in 1958, 1964 and 1970, three heavily Democratic years, but did not seek a fifth term. The US Senate election 1952 was an election for the United States Senate which coincided with the election of Dwight D The US Senate election 1958 was an election for the United States Senate which occurred in the middle of President Dwight D The US Senate election 1964 was an election for the United States Senate which coincided with the election of President Lyndon B The 1970 United States Senate election was an election for the United States Senate which was a midterm election in the term of President Richard Nixon He resigned on December 27, 1976, four days before the end of his final term so that his Republican successor, John C. Danforth, would gain a seniority advantage in the Senate. Events 537 - The Hagia Sophia is completed 1512 - The Spanish Crown issues the Laws of Burgos, governing the Year 1976 ( MCMLXXVI) was a Leap year starting on Thursday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. John Claggett "Jack" Danforth (born September 5, 1936) is a former United States Ambassador to the United Nations and former Republican Seniority is the concept of a person or group of people being in charge or in command of another person or group

Symington was an especially prominent opponent of Senator Joseph R. McCarthy, to the vexation of the latter, who nicknamed him "Sanctimonious Stu. Joseph Raymond McCarthy (November 14 1908 – May 2 1957 was an American politician who served as a Republican U " Symington took a lead role in condemning McCarthy during the Army-McCarthy Hearings, capitalizing upon his prominence and expertise as a former Secretary of the Air Force. The Army-McCarthy Hearings were a series of hearings held by the United States Senate 's Subcommittee on Investigations between March 1954 and June 1954

Symington ran in the 1960 presidential election and won the backing of former President Harry S. Truman, but eventually lost the nomination to Senator John F. Kennedy. The United States presidential election of 1960 marked the end of Dwight D John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy (May 29 1917&ndashNovember 22 1963 often referred to by his initials JFK, was the thirty-fifth President of Symington, unlike Kennedy or LBJ, refused to speak to segregated audiences in the South, and this hurt his chances. He was considered Kennedy's first choice for Vice President, but was dropped in favor of Texas Senator Lyndon B. Johnson in the politically tight race. The Vice President of the United States is the first person in the presidential line of succession, becoming the new President of the United States upon the death He advised President Kennedy as a member of ExComm during the October 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. The Executive Committee of the National Security Council (commonly referred to as simply the Executive Committee or EXCOMM) was a body of United States The Cuban Missile Crisis was a confrontation between the United States, the Soviet Union, and Cuba during the Cold War.

During Symington's tenure in the Senate, he was known as an advocate for a strong national defense. He was also a strong supporter of the Air Force Academy and, in fact, helped establish it. Symington was also committed to constituent services, answering letters from Missouri citizens both important, trivial, and sometimes even zany. As an example, Symington once formally requested a report from military sources regarding the possible existence of subterranean superhumans, which one of his constituents had become concerned about after reading a fiction book and mistaking it for non-fiction. This and Symington's other Senatorial correspondence and papers were donated to the Western Historical Manuscripts Collection (on the University of Missouri campus) in 2002, and are now available to the general public. The University of Missouri (also known as the University of Missouri–Columbia, Mizzou, or MU) is a public land-grant and research

In 1958, Symington accused the RAND Corporation of defeatism for studying how the United States might strategically surrender to an enemy power. The RAND Corporation ( R esearch AN d D evelopment is a Nonprofit global policy Think tank first formed to offer research and analysis The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Strategic surrender is a Strategy of attrition. What the loser avoids by offering to surrender is a last chaotic round of fighting that would have the This lead to the passage of a prohibition on the spending of tax dollars on the study of defeat or surrender of any kind. Surrender is when Soldiers, nations or other combatants stop fighting and become Prisoners of war, either as However, the senator had apparently misunderstood, as the report was a survey of past cases in which the US had demanded unconditional surrender of its enemies, asking whether or not this had been a more favorable outcome to US interests than an earlier, negotiated surrender might have been. Unconditional surrender is a surrender without conditions except for those provided by International law. ^[3]

His son James W. Symington served in the U.S. House from Missouri's Second Congressional District from 1969 to 1977. James Wadsworth Symington (born 1927 is a United States Attorney and Politician who served as four-term U The United States House of Representatives is one of the two chambers of the United States Congress; the other is the Senate. A congressional district is an electoral Constituency that elects a single member of a Congress. His cousin Fife Symington was Governor of Arizona from 1991 to 1997. John Fife Symington III (born August 12, 1945 in New York City) was the Republican Governor of the U The Governor of Arizona is the head of the Executive branch of Arizona 's government and the Commander-in-chief of the state's military forces His grandson Stuart Symington, of the same name, is in the U.S. State Department and is currently serving as the U. S. Ambassador to Djibouti. Djibouti ( جيبوتي Jībūtī, Somali: Jabuuti) officially the Republic of Djibouti, is a country in the

He died in New Canaan, Connecticut, and is buried in a crypt in Washington National Cathedral. New Canaan is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States, 8 miles (13 km northeast of Stamford, on the Five Mile River Washington National Cathedral, whose official name is the Cathedral Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul is a Cathedral of The Episcopal Church.

The Annie Lee Moss case

On March 9, 1954, Mrs. Events 590 - Bahram Chobin is crowned as king Barham VI of Persia. Year 1954 ( MCMLIV) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display full 1954 Gregorian calendar) Annie Lee Moss went before Sen. Annie Lee Moss ( 9 August 1905 c[[January 15]] 1996) was a communications clerk in the US Army Signal Corps in The Pentagon Joseph McCarthy and his committee under the accusation that she was a communist spy. Joseph Raymond McCarthy (November 14 1908 – May 2 1957 was an American politician who served as a Republican U Evidence supporting this claim was supposedly given by an undercover FBI agent that could not be cross-examined by Mrs. Moss or her counsel. As it became increasingly clear that a horrible mistake had been made, Sen. Symington proclaimed before the packed audience that he believed she was not a communist and had never been, receiving thunderous applause from those present. However, in September 1958, records of the Communist Party were released and proved Mrs. Moss was in fact a member of the Communist Party.

References

1. ^ List of Time magazine covers with Stuart Symington
2. ^ TIME Nov. 24, 1958
3. ^ Poundstone, W. (1992). Prisoner's Dilemma. Doubleday.  

External links

• Stuart Symington at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Official USAF biography
• "Hope on the Horn of Africa," an interview with Stuart Symington