Hull, Cordell

Hull, Cordell (1871–1955), secretary of state, 1933–1944.A Tennessee Democrat, Cordell Hull was best known during his quarter century as a congressman (1907–1921, 1923–1931) and senator (1931–1933), as the author of the income tax law of 1913 and as a party leader who appealed both to northern‐urban‐wet and southern‐rural‐dry Democrats. In 1933, those were sufficient credentials for President‐elect Franklin Delano Roosevelt to appoint him secretary of state.

Having little interest in diplomacy but convinced that world peace depended on free trade, Hull saw the office as a platform for promoting his reciprocal trade agreements program. Although initially stalled by Roosevelt advisers who favored an economic nationalist policy, Hull eventually triumphed, moving the nation permanently away from the protective tariff. Diplomatically, Secretary Hull implemented the Good Neighbor Policy in Latin America and jealously guarded his control over American policy in East Asia, where he insisted upon a cautious response to Japanese expansion.

Hull's influence waned during World War II as Roosevelt took greater control of foreign policy and Hull's health failed. Nevertheless, Roosevelt insisted that Hull, still immensely popular, remain in office through November 1944. He seized the opportunity to gain support for the United Nations and foster his vision of a postwar liberal economic order. For his support of the United Nations, Hull received the 1946 Nobel Peace Prize. An even more fitting legacy is the liberal commercial world order the United States embraced at the end of World War II.
See also Democratic Party; Federal Government, Executive Branch: Department of State; Foreign Relations; Foreign Trade, U.S.; General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade; Internationalism; New Deal Era, The; Tariffs.

Bibliography

Cordell Hull , The Memoirs of Cordell Hull, 2 vols., 1948.
Julius W. Pratt , Cordell Hull, 1933–1944, 2 vols., 1964.

Jonathan G. Utley