Edward R. Stettinius, Jr. Autographs, Memorabilia & Collectibles

Edward R. Stettinius, Jr. was FDR's last Secretary of State (1944-1945). He was present at the United Nations Conference on International Organization which resulted in the United Nations' founding in San Francisco on June 26, 1945. The following day he resigned his office. President Truman had made clear to Stettinius that he wanted his own candidate, James F. Byrnes, to head the State Department, and offered him the position of U.S. representative to the United Nations which he accepted. In London in September, Byrnes and Stettinius met with the ministers of Great Britain and the USSR to conclude peace treaties with those countries that had aided Germany's aggression. There was a great deal of conflict between the Soviet Union and the United States over the latter's role in the occupation of Japan and little was accomplished. Frustrated with Truman's failure to use the U.N. as a means of resolving tension between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, Stettinius resigned his position in June 1946. He was only 49 when he died in 1949.