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Cordell Hull
47th United States Secretary of State
In office March 4, 1933 – November 30, 1944
Under President	Franklin D. Roosevelt
Preceded by	Henry L. Stimson
Succeeded by	Edward Stettinius, Jr.
United States Senator from Tennessee
In office March 4, 1931 – March 3, 1933
Preceded by	William Emerson Brock
Succeeded by	Nathan L. Bachman
Born	October 2, 1871 Olympus, Tennessee
Died	July 23, 1955 (age 83) Washington, D.C.
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Rose Frances Witz
Profession	Politician, Lawyer

Cordell Hull (October 2, 1871 – July 23, 1955) was an American politician from the State of Tennessee. He is best-known as the longest-serving United States Secretary of State, having held the position for eleven years (1933-1944) in the administration of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, a period that included World War II. Hull received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1945 for his role in establishing the United Nations, and was referred to by President Roosevelt as the "Father of the UN."

Hull was born in a log cabin in Olympus, which is now part of Pickett County, Tennessee, but had been incorporated from Overton County, Tennessee. Hull became the elected chairman of the Clay County Democratic Party at the age of 19.

In 1891, he graduated from Cumberland School of Law at Cumberland University and was admitted to the bar. He served in the Tennessee House of Representatives from 1893 to 1897. During the Spanish-American War, Hull served in Cuba as a captain in the Fourth Regiment of the Tennessee Volunteer Infantry.

He served 11 terms in the United States House of Representatives (1907-1921 and 1923-1931) and claimed authorship of the federal income tax laws of 1913 and 1916 and the inheritance tax of 1916. After an electoral defeat in 1920, Hull served as chairman of the Democratic National Committee. He was elected to the Senate in 1930, but resigned upon being named Secretary of State in 1933.

In 1933 Hull was appointed Secretary of State by Franklin D. Roosevelt; he served 11 years until he retired from public office. Hull became the underlying force and architect in the creation of the United Nations, drafting, along with his staff, the "Charter of the United Nations" in mid-1943. He resigned as Secretary of State in November 1944 because of failing health.

Hull died in 1955 in Washington, D.C. and is buried in the vault of the Chapel of St. Joseph of Arimathea in the Washington National Cathedral, which is an Episcopal church

There is now a Cordell Hull Museum located near his birthplace in Byrdstown, Tennessee, which houses his papers and other memorabilia.

Hull was born in Olympus, Pickett County, Tennessee, third of the five sons of William Paschal Hull (1840-1923) and Elizabeth (Riley) Hull (1841-1903). His brothers were named Orestes (1868), Sanadius (1870), Wyoming (1875), and Roy (1881). He attended college from 1889 until 1890. At the age of 19, Hull became the elected chairman of the Clay County Democratic Party. In 1891, he graduated from Cumberland School of Law at Cumberland University and was admitted to the bar. He served in the Tennessee House of Representatives from 1893 to 1897.

During the Spanish-American War, Hull served in Cuba as a captain in the Fourth Regiment of the Tennessee Volunteer Infantry.

Hull married Rose Frances (Witz) Whitney (?1875-1954) in 1917; the couple had no children.

From 1903 to 1907, Hull served as a local judge; later he was elected to the United States House of Representatives where he served 11 terms (1907-1921 and 1923-1931) totaling 22 years. After his defeat in 1920, he served as chairman of the Democratic National Committee. As a member of the powerful Ways and Means committee, he fought for low tariffs and claimed authorship of the federal income tax laws of 1913 and 1916 and the inheritance tax of 1916. Hull was influential in advising Albert Gore, Sr., then a state legislator, to run for the U.S. Congress in 1938.

He was elected to the Senate in 1930. In 1933, Roosevelt named him Secretary of State. Roosevelt often ignored Hull in making major foreign policy decisions, leaving the Secretary, in the opinion of most historians, to play the role of a highly popular empty suit. Hull did try to enlarge foreign trade and lower tariffs. In 1943, Hull served as United States delegate to the Moscow Conference.

Hull chaired the Advisory Committee of Postwar Foreign Policy, created in February 1942.

Hull and Chinese Ambassador Wey Daw-ming at the State Department exchanging ratifications of the treaty abolishing extra-territorial "rights" of the United States in China.

When the Free French Forces of Charles de Gaulle liberated the islands of Saint-Pierre and Miquelon (located south of Newfoundland) in December 1941, Hull lodged a very strong protest and even went as far as referring to the Gaullist naval forces as "the so called Free French." His request to have the Vichy governor reinstated was met with strong criticism in the American press. The islands remained under the Free French movement until the end of World War II.

Hull was the underlying force and architect in the creation of the United Nations, as recognized by the 1945 Nobel Prize for Peace, an honor for which Franklin D. Roosevelt nominated him. During World War II Hull and Roosevelt spent tireless hours working toward the development of a world organization to prevent a third World War. Hull and his staff drafted the "Charter of the United Nations" in mid-1943.

Never one to sit idly by if American interests were (in his view) threatened, Hull would think nothing of dressing down close allies, such as what happened to New Zealand Prime Minister Peter Fraser in early 1944, over U.S. objections to the Canberra Pact (a military treaty of alliance between Australia and New Zealand made in February 1944 without U.S. consultation).

Hull resigned as Secretary of State in November 1944 because of failing health. Roosevelt described Hull, upon his departure as "the one person in all the world who has done his most to make this great plan for peace (the United Nations) an effective fact". The Norwegian Nobel Committee honored Hull with the Nobel Peace Prize in 1945 in recognition of his efforts for peace and understanding in the Western Hemisphere, his trade agreements, and his work to establish the United Nations. Hull was the longest-serving Secretary of State: 11 years, nine months.

Cumberland School of Law's Cordell Hull Moot Court Room - Portrait at head of room

Hull died in Washington, D.C., and is buried in the vault of the Chapel of St. Joseph of Arimathea in the Washington Cathedral. His memory is preserved by Cordell Hull Dam on the Cumberland River near Carthage, Tennessee. Hull was portrayed by veteran actor George Macready in the 1970 film Tora! Tora! Tora!

Cumberland School of Law continues to honor Cordell Hull with a Cordell Hull Speaker's Forum and the pictured Moot Court Room.

A segment of Kentucky highway routes 90, 63, and 163, from Interstate 65 at Mammoth Cave National Park south to the Tennessee State Line, is named "Cordell Hull Highway."

The Shoreline School District in Shoreline, Washington, had a Cordell Hull Middle School, which was renamed in the mid-1990s to Meridian Park Elementary, after a renovation.

There is a Cordell Hull Lake, covering approximately 12,000 acres, in the vicinity of Nashville.

In the Worldwar series of alternate history novels by Harry Turtledove, Hull becomes president at some point in 1944, following the deaths of first Vice-President Wallace and then President Roosevelt.

• Cordell Hull. Memoirs (1948).
• The Papers of Cordell Hull

• Julius W. Pratt, Cordell Hull, 1933–44, 2 vol. (1964)
• Biography from U.S. Congress biography page
• Hull, Cordell by EB [1]

• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• The Cordell Hull Foundation, a non-profit NGO, based around furthering international peace and co-operation.
• The Cordell Hull Institute, a US think-tank focusing on furthering debate in international economic development and trade.
• The Cordell Hull Musuem, located in Byrdstown, Tennessee, focusing on Hull's life and work.

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

Cordell Hull

• Video of Cordell Hull speaking in favour of the United Nations in 1943

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