Edward R. Stettinius Jr. (1900-1949), Delegate from the United States to the United Nations

After a rapid rise through the ranks first of General Motors and then of US Steel, Edward R. Stettinius Jr. served as US Secretary of State from 1944 until 1945, overseeing the end of World War II and the creation of the UN. He chaired the US delegation to the 1945 San Francisco Conference that brought 50 nations together to create the UN, and he became the first US Ambassador to the organization, a post he held until his resignation in June 1946 over what he saw as President Harry S. Truman's refusal to use the UN as a forum to resolve growing Soviet-American tensions.