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Christian Herter
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Christian Archibald Herter | |
 Christian Herter as U.S. Secretary of State |
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| In office January 8, 1953 – January 3, 1957 |
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| Lieutenant(s) | Samuel G. Whittier |
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| Preceded by | Paul A. Dever |
| Succeeded by | Foster Furcolo |
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| Born | March 28, 1895 Paris, France |
| Died | December 30, 1966 (aged 71) Washington, D.C. |
| Political party | Republican |
Christian Archibald Herter (March 28, 1895 – December 30, 1966) was an American politician and statesman; Governor of Massachusetts from 1953 to 1956, and Secretary of State from 1959 to 1961.
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Herter was born in Paris, France, to American artist parents, Albert Herter and Adele McGinnis, and attended school there before moving to New York City, where he attended the Browning School. He graduated from Harvard University in 1915 and in the following year was made attaché to the U.S. Embassy in Berlin. He participated in the 1919 meeting that resulted in the U.S. Council on Foreign Relations.
Herter married Mary Caroline Pratt (1895-1980) in 1917. She was the daughter of Frederic B. Pratt, longtime head of the Pratt Institute and grand-daughter of Standard Oil magnate Charles Pratt. They had three sons and one daughter, including Christian A Herter Jr, who is active in international relations.
In 1931 Herter was first elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives, where he stayed until 1942, when he was elected as a Republican representative to Congress. There he became notable as a supporter of the Marshall Plan. In 1947, Herter founded the Middle East Institute with Middle East scholar George Camp Keiser. He stayed in Congress until 1953, when he was elected Governor of Massachusetts. In 1956, Harold Stassen attempted (unsuccessfully) to get Eisenhower to replace Richard Nixon with Herter as Vice-President.
Herter did not run for Governor in 1956. On (February 21, 1957) he was appointed Under Secretary of State for the second term of the Eisenhower administration, and later, when John Foster Dulles became seriously ill, he was appointed Secretary of State, April 22, 1959. (Dulles died a month later.) Herter received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1961.
As an unemployed "elder statesman" after the election of 1960, Herter served on various councils and commissions, and was a special representative for trade negotiations, working for both John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson until his death in 1966 in Washington, D.C. at the age of 71. He is buried at the Prospect Hill Cemetery in Millis, Massachusetts.
Christian Herter's lifetime reputation was as an internationalist, especially interested in improving political and economic relations with Europe.
In 1943, with Paul Nitze, Herter co-founded the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), which incorporated with the Johns Hopkins University in 1950. Today, the graduate school has campuses in Washington, DC, Bologna, Italy, and Nanjing, China, and is recognized as a world leader in international relations, economics, and policy studies.
In 1968, the American Foreign Service Association established its Christian A. Herter Award to honor senior diplomats who speak out or otherwise challenge the status quo. In 1948 Herter received a LL.D. from Bates College.
The World Affairs Council of Boston ("WorldBoston" as of 2002), which Christian Herter helped organize in the 1940s, also has a Christian A. Herter Award honoring individual contributions to international relations.
Christian Herter, Toward an Atlantic Community (1963)
G. Bernard Noble, Christian A. Herter (Cooper Square, 1970)
| Preceded by George H. Tinkham |
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Massachusetts's 10th congressional district January 3, 1943 – January 3, 1953 |
Succeeded by Laurence Curtis |
| Preceded by Paul A. Dever |
Governor of Massachusetts 1953 – 1957 |
Succeeded by Foster Furcolo |
| Preceded by John Foster Dulles |
United States Secretary of State 1959 – 1961 |
Succeeded by Dean Rusk |
| Preceded by None; first in line |
United States Trade Representative 1962 – 1966 |
Succeeded by William M. Roth |
| United States Trade Representative |  |
|---|---|
| Herter • Roth • Gilbert • Eberle • Dent • Strauss • Askew • Brock • Yeutter • Hills • Kantor • Barshefsky • Zoellick • Portman • Schwab |
| United States Secretaries of State |  |
|---|---|
| Jefferson • Randolph • Pickering • J Marshall • Madison • Smith • Monroe • Adams • Clay • Van Buren • Livingston • McLane • Forsyth • Webster • Upshur • Calhoun • Buchanan • Clayton • Webster • Everett • Marcy • Cass • Black • Seward • Washburne • Fish • Evarts • Blaine • Frelinghuysen • Bayard • Blaine • Foster • Gresham • Olney • Sherman • Day • Hay • Root • Bacon • Knox • Bryan • Lansing • Colby • Hughes • Kellogg • Stimson • Hull • Stettinius • Byrnes • G Marshall • Acheson • Dulles • Herter • Rusk • Rogers • Kissinger • Vance • Muskie • Haig • Shultz • Baker • Eagleburger • Christopher • Albright • Powell • Rice |