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William Averell Harriman (November 15, 1891 – July 26, 1986), better known as Averell Harriman, was an American Democratic politician, businessman, and diplomat. He founded Brown Brothers Harriman & Co., served as Secretary of Commerce under President Harry S. Truman, and was the 48th governor of New York, as well as a candidate for the ...
Mar 11, 2024 · W. Averell Harriman (born November 15, 1891, New York City, New York, U.S.—died July 26, 1986, Yorktown Heights) was a statesman who was a leading U.S. diplomat in relations with the Soviet Union during World War II and the subsequent Cold War. He also served as the governor of New York (1954–58).
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Averell Harriman, The Old Crocodile of Diplomacy. W. Averell Harriman was one of the more prominent public figures of the 20th Century, holding major positions in diplomacy, government, and business. Harriman served as Ambassador to the Soviet Union in 1943, and later to Ambassador to the United Kingdom in 1946.
- "To Whom Much Is Given, Much Is Expected"
- Early Negotiator with The Soviets
- The Cold War Begins
- Governor Harriman
- The Vietnam War
- Last Years
- For More Information
- The Special Skills of A Master Negotiator
William Averell Harrimanwas born on November 15, 1891, the son of wealthy railroad baron E. H. Harriman, who built and owned the Union Pacific and Southern Pacific railways. He imparted his ideals of hard work and obligation to his children. Harriman's father cautioned his children that possessing wealth creates a personal obligation to give back s...
The Harriman family had traditionally voted Republican, but Averell Harriman was drawn to the Democrats. The Republican Party generally advocated isolationism, a policy of national isolation that would have the United States withdraw from the rest of the world in order to avoid war and economic entanglements. However, Harriman began to see isolatio...
After the Soviets invaded Poland, Harriman began to believe that the United States must be increasingly firm with the Soviet Union. Harriman thought that the Soviets' goal of building a sphere of friendly states in Eastern Europewas an excuse for continuing communist expansion; he thought it was up to the United States to prevent such expansion. Fu...
When Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890–1969; served 1953–61; see entry) took office as president in 1953, Truman and his advisors, including Harriman, all left office. Harriman's influence on international events decreased. From this point on, his influence would seesaw as Democrats gained and lost power. He was influential under Democrats Roos...
In the 1960s, the new Democratic administrations called Harriman back to public service. In 1963, at more than seventy years of age, he became undersecretary for political affairs under President Kennedy. Harriman headed the U.S. team that negotiated the 1963 Limited Test-Ban Treaty with the Soviet Union. The treaty banned aboveground testing of nu...
Harriman continued trying to improve U.S.-Soviet relations until the end of his life. He visited Soviet leader Yuri Andropov (1914–1984) in 1983 as a private citizen. Convinced that the Soviet Union wanted peace, Harriman encouraged the administration of President Ronald Reagan (1911–; served 1981–89; see entry) to return to a policy of peaceful co...
Books
Abramson, Rudy. Spanning the Century: The Life of W. Averell Harriman, 1891–1986.New York: William Morrow and Co., 1992. Cooper, Chester L. The Lost Crusade: America in Vietnam.New York: Dodd, Mead, and Co., 1970. Harriman, W. Averell, and Elie Abel. Special Envoy to Churchill and Stalin, 1941–1946.New York: Random House, 1975. Isaacson, Walter, and Evan Thomas. The Wise Men: Six Friends and the World They Made.New York: Simon and Schuster, 1986.
Averell Harriman was a skilled negotiator who worked closely with the world leaders of his day, including British prime minister Winston Churchill (1874–1965; see entry), Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov (1890–1986; see entry), Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev(1894–1971; see entry), and Soviet leader Yuri Andro...
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William Averell Harriman (November 15, 1891 – July 26, 1986), better known as Averell Harriman, was an American Democratic politician, businessman, and diplomat. He founded Brown Brothers Harriman & Co., served as Secretary of Commerce under President Harry S. Truman, and was the 48th governor of New York, as well as a candidate for the ...
Jul 27, 1986 · W. Averell Harriman, the durable Democrat who was Governor of New York from 1955 to 1959 and served four Presidents in key diplomatic roles, died early yesterday at Birchgrove, his home in...
William Averell Harriman was born in New York City, one of six children of railroad baron Edward Henry Harriman [1848-1909] and his wife Mary Williamson Averell. The elder Harriman had worked his way from a $5 per week job as an office boy to the head of the Union Pacific Railroad, and left a fortune estimated at $70 to $100 million at his death.
