HARRIMAN, WILLIAM AVERELL 1891-1986

New york governor, 1954-1958

Truman Adviser

A longtime government administrator and ambassador to the Soviet Union from 1943 to 1946, Averell Harriman, along with Dean Acheson, supported the "peace-through strength" approach to dealing with the Soviet Union as President Harry S Truman's special adviser in 1951 and 1952.

Background

Averell Harriman was born into one of the wealthiest families in America. His father had amassed a $100 million fortune in the railroad and ship-ping businesses and had founded one of the leading Wall Street investment houses. Educated at Groton and Yale, Harriman was an international businessman before he entered government in 1941 as President Franklin D. Roosevelt's special representative to oversee land-lease assistance to Great Britain. In 1943 he became the first U.S. ambassador to the Soviet Union. He was subsequently ambassador to Great Britain, secretary of commerce, and President Truman's special representative to oversee distribution of funds under the Marshall Plan. Harriman brought a wealth of international experience to the political arena.

Presidential Candidate and New York Governor

Harriman unsuccessfully challenged Adlai Stevenson for the 1952 Democratic presidential nomination. In 1954, however, he was elected governor of New York as a New Dealer. As governor, Harriman supported an antidiscrimination commission, a war on poverty, and consumer interests. In 1958 he lost a reelection bid to Republican Nelson Rockefeller. Although he never harbored any conviction that the United States could agree on all matters with the Soviets, Harriman did advocate negotiations to reduce armaments and nuclear weapons. He traveled to the Soviet Union in 1959 to meet with Nikita Khrushchev and other Soviet leaders. He returned to the United States advocating "competitive coexistence with the Soviets," believing the two countries could continue in their power struggle without much threat of war.

Source:

Rudy Abramson, Spanning the Century: The Life of W. Averell Harriman, 1891-1986 (New York: Morrow, 1992),

William Averell Harriman , 1891–1986, American public official; son of E. H. Harriman . Expanding his railroad inheritance, W. Averell Harriman became a banker and shipbuilder and later (1932) board chairman of the Union Pacific. He was administrative officer (1934–35) of the NRA and an official (1937–40) in the Dept. of Commerce, then became (1941) chief overseas administrator of lend-lease. He was ambassador to the USSR (1943–46) and to Great Britain (1946). After serving (1946–48) as Secretary of Commerce, he was appointed (Apr., 1948) U.S. representative abroad for the European Recovery Program and later (1951–53), director of the Mutual Security Agency. He was elected governor of New York (1955–59) and was an unsuccessful candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1956. Defeated for reelection in 1958 by Nelson A. Rockefeller, he became in 1961 President John F. Kennedy's special roving ambassador. He was Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs (1963–65) and ambassador-at-large (1965–68) for President Lyndon B. Johnson. In 1968, when the Paris peace talks on Vietnam opened, he was chief U.S. negotiator. He is the author of Peace with Russia (1959) and America and Russia in a Changing World (1971).