Cordell Hull

Cordell Hull , 1871-1955, American statesman, b. Overton co. (now Pickett co.), Tenn. Admitted to the bar in 1891, he sat (1893-97) in the Tennessee legislature and, after service in the Spanish-American War, was appointed (1903) circuit court judge. He served (1907-21, 1923-31) in the U.S. House of Representatives, where he was the author of important tax legislation. He was elected (1930) to the U.S. Senate, but resigned (1933) when Franklin Delano Roosevelt named him Secretary of State. Hull placed great emphasis on international economic relations. Through his efforts, pacts were signed with several nations under the Reciprocal Agreements Act (1934), and he fostered the "good neighbor" policy toward Latin American countries. After World War II broke out in Europe he pushed for aid to the Allies and recommended revision of the Neutrality Act. After U.S. entry into the war, he worked to improve cooperation among the Allies, visiting Moscow in 1943, and backed the establishment of a world organization to maintain peace. Ill health caused his resignation as Secretary of State in 1944. He was awarded the 1945 Nobel Peace Prize.

Bibliography: See his autobiography (1948); biography by J. W. Pratt (2 vol., 1964).

Hull, Cordell (1871–1955) secretary of state (1933–44) during the administrations of Franklin D. Roosevelt, born near Byrdstown, Tennessee. His continued push for freer trade resulted in the Reciprocal Trade Agreements Act (1934). The legislation, which established the “most-favored nation” status with trading partners that still exists today, remains the foundation for modern American foreign trade policy. Hull constantly sought to lower trade barriers, believing that economic intercourse fostered peaceful relations. Prior to the outbreak of World War II, he negotiated with the Japanese in hopes of halting their expansionist plans and lobbied for solutions to Sino-Japanese problems. He strongly advocated a postwar global peace organization, but, though he had the honorary title of senior delegate to the United Nations conference in 1945, he was too ill to play a role in the founding of that organization. That same year he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

Hull, Cordell (1871–1955),US lawyer who was secretary of state in all Roosevelt's administrations.

Born in a rented log cabin in Tennessee, Hull studied law before being elected to the Tennessee state legislature at the age of 21. In 1906 he won a Democratic seat in the House of Representatives which he held, with the exception of two years, until he was elected to the Senate in 1930. He resigned from the Senate to become secretary of state in March 1933, a position in which he served for twelve years. Throughout this time, Hull was dominated by Roosevelt who often by-passed him in matters of wartime foreign policy. None the less they were basically in accord, particularly in their dislike of de Gaulle and of colonialism.

Hull was not interested in the organization of the state department, but he was a canny politician whose rigid morality made him a hardliner in international affairs. From 1939 Roosevelt's main interest lay in Europe and Hull had little influence on early decisions and policies connected with helping the UK in the war against Germany and Italy. Roosevelt, however, left to him the business of negotiating with Japan (see also USA, 1) and in the spring of 1941 Hull began a series of meetings with the Japanese ambassador, Admiral Nomura Kichisaburō, at which he took an uncompromising stance against Japanese aggression in China (see China incident) and French Indo-China. While these meetings were in progress Hull was being kept fully informed of Japan's attitudes and decisions through MAGIC intelligence and by early November 1941 he knew from decrypts that the Japanese government had imposed a deadline on the negotiations. On 7 November Hull warned the cabinet that Japan might attack at any moment and on 26 November he responded to Japanese offers of a modus vivendi with a ten-point plan which required the withdrawal of all Japanese armed forces from China and French Indo-China. The Japanese regarded this as an ultimatum and after further negotiations the attack on Pearl Harbor was launched on 7 December 1941.

Nomura's last meeting with Hull took place after Hull knew of the attack. Hull received Nomura and another diplomat, Kurusu Saburō, icily and after scanning the fourteen point message they had delivered remarked that in all his 50 years of public service, he had never seen such a document that was more crowded with infamous falsehoods and distortions. As the Japanese, who did not know of the attack, withdrew in confusion, Hull muttered: ‘scoundrels and piss-ants’.

Following Pearl Harbor, Hull and his staff drew up the United Nations Declaration which was signed on 1 January 1942 by the Washington representatives of those nations then at war with Axis forces. He was also closely involved in formulating the document which by 1943 had become known as the ‘Charter of the United Nations’. This charter was the basis of US proposals at the Dumbarton Oaks conference and led Roosevelt to call Hull ‘the father of the United Nations’.

Roosevelt did not want Hull at any of the major Allied conferences, although he did attend the Moscow conference in October 1943 and created a deep impression there by his friendly and dignified behaviour. But political feuding and overwork left him exhausted; in October 1944 he collapsed and spent seven months in hospital. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1945 and was appointed a delegate to the San Francisco conference of April 1945, at which the United Nations was officially founded, but was too ill to attend.

Bibliography

Hull, C. , The Memoirs of Cordell Hull, 2 vols. (New York, 1948).