Stuart Symington
William Stuart Symington III (/ˈsaɪmɪŋtən/ SY-ming-tən; June 26, 1901 – December 14, 1988) was an American businessman and Democratic politician from Missouri. He 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.
This article is about the U.S. senator from Missouri. For the cricketer, see Stuart Symington (cricketer). For the diplomat, see W. Stuart Symington (diplomat).
Stuart Symington
Position established
December 14, 1988 (aged 87)
New Canaan, Connecticut, U.S.
United States
1918–1919
Born in Amherst, Massachusetts, Symington worked as an executive in his uncle's iron products company and for other companies before becoming president of Emerson Electric. He 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. He was elected to the Senate in 1952, defeating incumbent Republican Senator James P. Kem. He joined the Senate Armed Services Committee and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and emerged as a prominent critic of McCarthyism.
Symington sought the Democratic nomination in the 1960 presidential election with the backing of former President Truman, but the nomination went to John F. Kennedy. After the Kansas City Athletics moved to Oakland, Symington threatened to revoke Major League Baseball's antitrust exemption, which in turn encouraged the formation of the Kansas City Royals. Symington declined to seek re-election in 1976 and was succeeded by John Danforth.
Education and business career[edit]
Symington was born in Amherst, Massachusetts, the son of Emily Kuhn (née Harrison) and William Stuart Symington Jr.[1] His father, who received a Ph.D in French literature, was a romance languages professor at Stanford and Amherst College before pursuing a law career and becoming a federal judge in Baltimore, Maryland.[2] His mother came from a prominent Maryland family.[3]
Symington grew up in Baltimore, and was the oldest of his five brothers and sisters.[2] Symington attended Roland Park Public School and the Gilman School, a private all-male preparatory school in Baltimore's Roland Park neighborhood.[2] He graduated from Baltimore City College in 1918, and at the age of 17, Symington enlisted in the United States Army as a private first class during World War I.[4]
Stationed in an Officer Training Program at Camp Zachary Taylor in Louisville, Kentucky, Symington was never deployed to fight in World War I, with the war ending before he could seek deployment.[5] 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.[4]
He graduated from Yale University in 1923. At Yale he was a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity (Phi chapter), the Elihu senior society, and served on the board of the Yale Daily News. In 1924, he married the former Evelyn Wadsworth in a lavish ceremony attended by President Coolidge and other prominent politicians.[6] By all accounts, the two had a very happy marriage and were known for their devotions and faithfulness to each other, both of which were not always present among the social elite. When Evelyn died in 1972, Symington was devastated, telling his biographer that "he never knew this much loneliness could be around."[7]
In 1923, Symington went to work for an uncle in the shops of the Symington Company of Rochester, New York, manufacturers of malleable iron products. Two years later he formed Eastern Clay Products but in 1927 returned to the Symington Company as executive assistant to the President.
Symington resigned in 1930 to become President of the Colonial Radio Corporation. In January 1935, he accepted the presidency of Rustless Iron and Steel Corporation (manufacturers of stainless steel) but remained a director of Colonial Radio Corporation.
When Rustless Iron and Steel Corporation was sold to the American Rolling Mill Company in 1937, Symington resigned and in 1938 accepted the presidency of Emerson Electric Company in St. Louis, Missouri. During World War II he transformed the company into the world's largest builder of airplane gun turrets. Symington, who was an active proponent of racial justice ("All Americans should have their chance") integrated the Emerson Electric work force, which resulted in increased productivity.[8]
Legacy[edit]
In 1962, in recognition of his career, Princeton University's American Whig-Cliosophic Society awarded Symington the James Madison Award for Distinguished Public Service.
His son, James W. Symington, served in the United States House of Representatives from Missouri's Second Congressional District from 1969 to 1977. His cousin, Fife Symington III, was Governor of Arizona from 1991 to 1997. His grandson, also named Stuart Symington, is employed by the U.S. State Department, and has served as U.S. ambassador to Djibouti (2006–2008), Rwanda (2008–2011) and Nigeria (2016–2019).[20][21] Symington was an active member of the Grand Lodge of Missouri Ancient Free and Accepted Masons.
Symington retired in 1978 to his home in New Canaan, Connecticut, where he died on December 14, 1988.[22]
He 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.