36 Facts About Stuart Symington

William Stuart Symington III was an American businessman and Democratic politician from Missouri.

Stuart Symington served as the first Secretary of the Air Force from 1947 to 1950 and was a United States Senator from Missouri from 1953 to 1976.

Stuart Symington resigned from Emerson in 1945 to take various positions in the administration of President Harry S Truman, becoming the first Secretary of the Air Force in 1947.

Stuart Symington was elected to the Senate in 1952, defeating incumbent Republican Senator James P Kem.

Stuart Symington joined the Senate Armed Services Committee and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and emerged as a prominent critic of McCarthyism.

Stuart Symington declined to seek re-election in 1976 and was succeeded by John Danforth.

Stuart Symington grew up in Baltimore, and was the oldest of his five brothers and sisters.

Stuart Symington attended Roland Park Public School and the Gilman School, a private all-male preparatory school in Baltimore's Roland Park neighborhood.

Stuart Symington was commissioned as a second lieutenant, becoming one of the youngest members of the Army to achieve that rank; being discharged as a second lieutenant in January 1919.

In 1923, Stuart Symington went to work for an uncle in the shops of the Stuart Symington Company of Rochester, New York, manufacturers of malleable iron products.

Stuart Symington resigned in 1930 to become President of the Colonial Radio Corporation.

When Rustless Iron and Steel Corporation was sold to the American Rolling Mill Company in 1937, Stuart Symington resigned and in 1938 accepted the presidency of Emerson Electric Company in St Louis, Missouri.

Stuart Symington, who was an active proponent of racial justice integrated the Emerson Electric work force, which resulted in increased productivity.

Stuart Symington resigned from Emerson in 1945 to join the administration of fellow Missourian Harry S Truman.

On September 18,1947, the Office of the Secretary of the Air Force was created and Stuart Symington became the first secretary.

Stuart Symington had a stormy term as he worked to win respect for the United States Air Force, which previously had been part of the Army.

Stuart Symington had numerous public battles with Secretary of Defense James Forrestal.

Stuart Symington resigned in 1950 to protest lack of funding for the Air Force after the USSR detonated its first nuclear weapon.

Stuart Symington remained in the administration as the Chairman of the National Security Resources Board and the Chairman of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation Administrator.

Stuart Symington was featured on the cover of Time magazine's January 19,1948 issue.

Stuart Symington was a strong supporter of the Air Force Academy.

Stuart Symington became a leading critic of US involvement in the Vietnam War.

Stuart Symington was an especially vocal opponent of Senator Joseph McCarthy, to the vexation of the latter, who nicknamed him "Sanctimonious Stu".

Stuart Symington involved himself in the case of Annie Lee Moss, who had been brought before McCarthy's committee under the accusation that she was a Communist spy.

Additionally, having concluded that the nomination would be determined by party bosses at the convention, Stuart Symington declined to enter any of the Democratic primaries, clearing the way for Kennedy to win enough primaries to be the frontrunner and probable nominee as the convention opened.

Stuart Symington was Kennedy's first choice for Vice President, but was dropped in favor of Texas Senator Lyndon B Johnson.

Stuart Symington advised President Kennedy as a member of EXCOMM during the October 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.

Stuart Symington was committed to constituent services, answering letters from Missouri citizens both important, trivial, and sometimes even zany.

Stuart Symington, saying Kansas City should not wait, continued to threaten the league, and the team began play in 1969.

Stuart Symington did not sign the 1956 Southern Manifesto, and voted in favor of the Civil Rights Acts of 1957,1960,1964, and 1968, as well as the 24th Amendment to the US Constitution, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the confirmation of Thurgood Marshall to the US Supreme Court.

In 1976, Stuart Symington did not seek a fifth term and resigned on December 27, a week before the end of his final term, so that his Republican successor, John Danforth, would gain a seniority advantage in the Senate.

Stuart Symington's grandson, named Stuart Symington, is employed by the US State Department, and has served as US ambassador to Djibouti, Rwanda and Nigeria.

Stuart Symington was an active member of the Grand Lodge of Missouri Ancient Free and Accepted Masons.

Stuart Symington retired in 1978 to his home in New Canaan, Connecticut, where he died on December 14,1988.

Stuart Symington is buried in a crypt in Washington National Cathedral.

In Jeff Greenfield's alternate history book If Kennedy Lived, Symington is featured as surviving-President John F Kennedy's running mate in the 1964 presidential election, after Vice President Lyndon Johnson was forced to leave due to financial scandals.